NASCAR Talks – says no Traction Control being used: NASCAR officials spent an hour Saturday explaining why they believe, contrary to rampant rumors in the garage, that electronic traction control is not being used in Winston Cup, Grand National and Truck series racing. “We cannot say anything for sure. But we can say it’s very highly unlikely that anybody has run it,” said Gary Nelson, NASCAR’s managing director of competition. “If they did, they’re pretty slick. Any car that we’ve looked at it hasn’t had anything like that. We would react if we found it.” Nelson, Winston Cup director John Darby and Winston Cup technical director Steve Peterson said the key reason NASCAR believes it can police its rule against traction control is that no electronic processors are allowed in its racing vehicles.(story at ThatsRacin.com and see the Transcript of traction control discussion)(7-6-2002) AND NASCAR has started using a special listening device at the curves to monitor engines during races. If they are running on a traction device, it would make a distinct sound and teams could be caught. At least that’s NASCAR’s claim. John Darby of NASCAR said if a team is caught, it “would probably be one of the largest (fines) that NASCAR has ever levied.”(Florida Today)(7-7-2002)
