<font face=\"Verdana, Arial\" size=\"2\">...325 heads are on Ebay all the time...</font>
Well, as unique as the gesture may have been, and given that it may have served its purpose by possibly intimidating the perceived cheater into bailing, it would have been pointless in a true protest situation. No good tech inspectors worth their salt would have used a competitor-provided part as a standard against which to compare for legality. Nope, the whole shebang would have had to been bagged up and sent to an objective third party (like a new-car dealer) for comparison to verifiable stock parts or against known standards (like the workshop manual).

<font face=\"Verdana, Arial\" size=\"2\">What about a cheated-up car that is still a loser? </font>


It's still a cheater. Book 'em, Dan-o. Which would lead to my next point...

<font face=\"Verdana, Arial\" size=\"2\">How about putting some kind of 'scarlet letter' on the car?</font>


A fine idea. Make them wear the red badge of shame for 12 months and let everyone know that they have been proven to cheat.

Know why this would be effective? Think of the psychology of cheating in motorsports, especially club competition. Where's the value in winning? One competes to win, one desires winning for some intangible reason. It can't be for money, because we get none. It can't be for glory, because we get none. Fame? None?

We compete for competition's sake, and I suggest that we compete for acceptance and respect of our peers most of all. However, the basis for that respect and acceptance is that we are competing on a level playing field, or at least to a level set of rules. When that level set is lost, so goes the respect.

Think about your attitude and feelings towards the guy that consistently beats you weekend after weekend. Now think about your atittude towards your victor if you knew, for a fact, that they are/have been cheating. INSTANTLY your repect for that person is lost.

Now, put yourself in the other shoes: you're consistently winning. I suggest you do it again and again for the respect and admiration of your peers. Consider what would happen if they found out you're cheating? Instant loss of respect, and now what do you race for? Every time you beat someone in the future, even if you are 110% legal, you know that they think you're cheating. It would take a lot to over come such a severe psychological hurdle.

Which brings us back to our prior guy, the one cheating AND losing. Imagine how this guy must feel! Not only does he suck, but no amount of blatant cheating gets him up the grid! OF COURSE everyone must be cheating, thus I have to cheat some more! What a terrible never-ending circle.

We've beaten this dead horse in the past, and it will never go away until the rules change. Since all we have to win is a psychological battle, that's the only thing we're got to punish with.

As an off-the-wall metaphor, consider what would happen with society if we did not have police, instead we relied on self-policing and "citizen's arrests." What do you think would be the result? I predict the result would be very much like Club Racing is today: a core group of honest folks that do not partake in the rampant crime, but also do not wish to risk life and limb to bring the scofflaws to justice; a core group of criminals that believe there's very little risk in crime because the core group does not wish to risk the citizen's arrest; and a middle group of folks that commit crimes on occasion because "hell, everyone else is doing it" and they gotta 'get their fair share.'

Gotta change the system, boys. Otherwise, b*t*hing won't do anything.

GA