'Bad' pitstops

[Hazard]

Of the 'crashing while in them kind'...Fernandez & Mo-Nunn's parking attendants get their hands slapped with a $2.99 fine.

Chief Mechanics Penalized For Infractions at Michigan

INDIANAPOLIS, Thursday, Aug. 5, 2004 -- IRL IndyCar Series chief mechanics Mike Sales and Don Lambert have been fined an undisclosed amount by Indy Racing League Senior Vice President of Operations Brian Barnhart for separate pit road incidents that occurred on Aug. 1 at Michigan International Speedway.

Sales, the chief mechanic for the No. 5 Quaker State Telmex Tecate Panoz G Force/Honda/Firestone, and Lambert, the chief mechanic for the No. 12 Pioneer Mo Nunn Racing Dallara/Toyota/Firestone were each penalized for violating Section 1.4(B)(7)(c) (Permitting the Car to come in contact with tires, other pit equipment and/or personnel while entering or leaving the assigned pit) and Section 4.2(A)(2)(b) (Chief mechanic is responsible for Car complying with all specifications at all times during an event) of the IndyCar Series rule book.

Sales and Lambert were placed on probation through Dec. 31, 2004.

Sales and Lambert may appeal their penalties as prescribed in Section 12.1 of the IndyCar Series Rule Book. An appeal may result in an increase, decrease or no change to the penalty.

Okay, the fine was undisclosed, and I've probably guessed the amount wrong.

Source: Motorsport.com

(Probably available at your local Autosport for a infinate amount of the same money)

[Kicking-back]

Not unexpected.

Hopefully the teams will show a bit more sense now.

[GP Racer]

Yeah, those fines seemed deserved. You just cannot allow these pit incidents to continue. Pit crews trying there best to get there cars an edge, and thats understandable, but it marred what was a very clean race.

I think the IRL and Brian Barnhart deserve some blame here though to. With only 22 cars in the race, they easily could have spread the cars when they come in the pits. I think those pits can hold 43 cars for when NASCAR is in town. So they kind of created the situation themselves.

Can the IRL fine itself?