'Partgate' proves Roush needs to lighten up a bit

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- This just in. Jack Roush is very upset.

Again.

Friday the latest in the big Partgate scandal broke loose at Martinsville Speedway when Roush, who owns Roush Fenway Racing, met with the media for a, um, lengthy question-and-answer session. Well, mostly it was an answer session that left only more questions (Garage Pass).

• Send Joe your thoughts
• Joe's Community page

Roush rambled on for seemingly ever in the cramped confines of the Martinsville infield media center, trying to explain why he is considering restraining orders and issuing theft allegations. In case you missed it, Roush is furious with Toyota -- again -- and this time because he says he can prove that "a non-descript Toyota team" (which just might be Michael Waltrip Racing, but then again it might not be) stole one of his "proprietary parts" after the fall race at Dover last year.

"A number of the teams had a number of proprietary parts in our car as we attempt to work within NASCAR's bounds and do things uniquely for our car that are within the rules that will allow us to get an advantage," Roush said. "One of the challenges this car has is it's heavy in the front end. It's hard to achieve the balance you'd like to have and get enough nose weight off the car to let it balance properly from a weight and balance point of view.

"One of the areas that we've worked in is the front sway bar. It's not subject to a NASCAR teardown inspection. It was not a part that would have been mixed up with other Toyota parts -- a front anti-roll sway bar. And within the confines -- the package that NASCAR gives you, the material, the dimension, all those things -- we designed our own part and we did an analysis of it. We optimized the torsional effect of it with minimizing the weight of it through heat treating and material selection and the way the components were machined and the way it was assembled. ..."

Roush wasn't finished talking. He droned on for about 20 more minutes before taking some questions.

By then, most of the assembled media was long done listening. Sorry, Jack, you lost us at the "optimization of the torsional effect." Most of us just hope none of our kids suffer from the torsional effect, because it sure sounds serious.

Supersonic and clandestine

The bottom line, after many more minutes of ranting and finally some answers to questions from the assembled throng, was that a Toyota team -- maybe MWR, maybe not -- ended up with a Roush Fenway part, called a front anti-roll sway bar, that apparently helps with the front sway bar in NASCAR's new car -- which used to be called the Car of Tomorrow but now isn't.

Roush rightly was furious. It's wrong. There's no doubt about that.

He also mentioned that the part was missing for months before anyone at Roush Fenway Racing realized it, including himself. (Continued)