When #24-Jeff Gordon couldn’t do a decent post-race victory burnout at Atlanta, rivals were quick to question whether he might have been running traction control, the illegal system that prevents rear wheels from spinning out of control. Many teams suspect use of traction control is rampant this season, and one driver says he suspects as many as 16 teams [none named…..again] have used the device, which is believed to be impossible to detect. Some wonder why NASCAR couldn’t modify its engine chassis dyno to detect traction control. Others say that NASCAR uses a sophisticated sound analysis system that can detect traction control. Robbie Loomis, Gordon’s crew chief, says Atlanta wouldn’t be a very good track for traction control, and some fellow crew chiefs agree. “I don’t really know enough about it,” Loomis said. “Obviously it would work at the short tracks and anywhere you have a lot of wheel-spin. But at Atlanta the car stays pretty hooked up and you have a lot of traction. Me personally, I don’t think it’s out there that much. Somebody might slide in and use it every now and then on you. But my hat’s off to any team that’s got an engineer good enough to dial that stuff in.” The chassis dyno wouldn’t be a good detection system, Loomis said, “because they talk about the driver being involved in putting it in the car and taking it out.” One question rivals had was about the sometimes erratic performance of Gordon’s car off the corners at Atlanta. Loomis said that was a fuel line problem. “Unfortunately we were having trouble with the fuel system. It scared me early in the race. We’ve got some stuff out here to look at it, and hopefully we’ve got it fixed.”( Winston Salem Journal )(11-1-2003)
