Roush Says Toyota Team Stole “Proprietary Part”
“From our perspective this is an issue that appears to be between two race teams and does not involve a manufacturer," White said in a statement. “As always our focus continues to be on enhancing our hardware, improving our performance and winning races. This year, we have eight cars in the top-35 in owner points – and at this time a year ago we did not have any. We know we’re headed in the right direction and will continue to focus our efforts on the race track rather than away from the track."
03/28/08 NASCAR officials say they will not intervene in the dispute between Roush Fenway Racing and an unspecified Toyota team that allegedly took a part from the Ford organization.
Team owner Jack Roush is asking NASCAR for “relief" on the issue, but NASCAR Vice President of Competition strongly dismissed that idea on Friday.
“If they’ve got issues with each other or other teams, then they’ve got to talk to those other teams," Pemberton said. “I didn’t take a part or a piece, all right? Nobody in this [NASCAR] trailer took a part or a piece.
“We know Jack said that, and apparently some other team acknowledged having a part or a piece. Those people need to work their deal out."
Michael Waltrip confirmed Friday afternoon that it was his team that Jack Roush was alluding to when saying a Toyota team had stolen a sway bar from Roush Fenway Racing at Dover last September.
“It was a mistake," Waltrip said. “Look at the back of these toolboxes. There are sway bars, there’s jack handles, and it wound up in our possession. We called them and said, ‘We want to give this back.’ " Scenedaily.com
03/28/08 The Roush Racing, Toyota feud could be escalating. According to team owner Jack Roush a proprietary part belonging to a Roush-Fenway Ford turned up in a Toyota camp, sources say Michael Waltrip Racing, after a post race teardown.
Roush cried foul and earlier this week threatened further action.
“We are considering legal action, or getting NASCAR involved," Roush was quoted as saying.
Wednesday, president and chief executive officer of Toyota Racing Development Jim Aust said the part was a spring and as soon as it was learned that it belonged to another team, it was returned.
"I don't understand the whole procedure when a teardown happens," said Aust, referring to a post-race process in which several cars are torn down by NASCAR inspectors. "The only thing I know is it wound up with parts we had and they were returned to Roush."
Aust also said that no one at Toyota knows exactly how they ended up with the part to begin with.
"It's unfortunate it happened the way it did. It wasn't anything intentional," Aust said. “There's no reason to be done intentional. I have no idea how it happened to begin with."
However, late Wednesday Roush Fenway president Geoff Smith said the part in question was not a spring but would not say what it was.
"Jack is the only one to talk to at this time," Smith said “And he presently doesn't want to make any additional comments."
Formula 1 racing was rocked by a scandal in 2007 when one team was found to be in possession of a 780 page technical manual belonging to a rival team. Cupscene
03/26/08 ESPN the Magazine has an interesting and potentially explosive quote from Roush Fenway Racing co-owner Jack Roush as part of its 10th Anniversary issue, which is on newsstands this week. Two weeks ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the magazine quotes Roush as saying, “We had a proprietary Roush Fenway part go missing from one of my race teams, and we recovered it from a Toyota team. I’m not going to say which team it is, but we are considering legal action, or getting NASCAR involved." If Roush’s allegations prove to be true, this could become NASCAR’s version of the recent spy scandal that rocked Formula One racing, in which the McLaren-Mercedes team was caught with confidential, proprietary test information belonging to rival Ferrari. We contacted Roush Fenway Racing today in search of further information – including the team that was involved and the specific part in question — and we [SIRIUS Speedway w/ Dave Moody] hope to have a statement from them later today.