The latest article on Crash.net (royalties, please) just begs more questions to be asked. Most importantly, is there cheating in racing?

Crash.net's Button v. Schumacher Article Here

So what is your opinion, Freak Nation?

Did Michael Schumacher cheat to win more than one of his F1 titles?

Not only did he park his car in qualifying one year and crash out his nearest rival another year as the article mentions, but remember the infamous race finish in Indy where teammate Rubens Barichello was told to slow down to allow Schuey a win… Is it cheating to win a championship or is it just part of the game to win?

Isn't it just like NHRA driver/owner John Force taking a dive for one of his teammates as in the recent US Nationals?  Was that right or wrong?

The bigger question may be this: Are these on track antics able to be called 'cheating' in racing, or are they money driven behaviors for the sponsors who pay for it to happen? Ala Ferrari or Castrol or Ford…

This was a huge topic on our September 13 show (listen to the segment on drag racing with Bobby Bennett) as I personally called out Mr. Force for cheating… basically cheating the fans of a solid heads up race so as to please the sponsors. 

I'm not stupid… I know the world is run on money, and I know racing only survives if money is continually spent in the sport… but to me this sort of thing IS NOT FAIR for the overall reality of the sport.  Though as my co-hosts, along with Bobby Bennett, argued, it IS necessary for the overall health of the sport.

Regarding racing's health, my co-hosts mentioned that if John Force didn't lay down in the race against teammate Robert Hight, that another one of his Ford and Castrol sponsored cars wouldn't make the Championship 'Countdown' and that would affect various contracts moving forward… affecting contracts moving forward would affect the overall money spent in the sport, which would in turn affect the overall presence in the sport, affecting the fans.  Oh the tangled web we weave.

Same with Ferrari and Schuey… if Michael didn't win all those championships, would Formula One be where it is today?  Does Ferrari, whether or not they helped secure MS's championships with antics, get credit for elevating F1 to another, even higher level?  In other words, were the antics really that bad?

This sort of argument is one of the reasons I love racing so much… it will only bring about extremely passionate debates that may never truly be answered… sort of in the same vein as the chicken or the egg.

But in my opinion, call me a purist, I just want to see the best driver win, NOT the best contract-driven, money influenced, side betting sub-standard schmo who forces his/her way into a manfactured result.

Hey, I absolutely love Michael Schumacher and John Force.  This is not about them as people and this is not about either of their talents as they are both extremely amazing at what they do.  What my argument is about is antics and unfair practices.

So again, I'll argue to my grave that these sorts of on track 'things' are just NOT fair racing and NOT fair sport behavior, and that yes they ARE cheating!

I may be poor at my grave (no sponsors to manufacturer my opinions), but at least I'll have a clean conscious.

CrashG@SpeedFreaks.TV

Update:
Since I published this article, I received an interesting bit that further helps explain my reasoning for this article… and this person is speaking from the sponsor side of things… I'll keep him/her anonymous and shorten/condense his/her IM's to help protect his/her job! Ha, ha!

     Hey Crasher, Nice article. I work on the sponsorship end of things, so I
     sort of understand where they would come from… But if your sponsorship
     is soley based on track performance, you are seriously wasting every
     dime you put into it!… Yes, the fans deserve better!… [Basically]
     why is the sponsor putting all of their ROI on just race results? Sure,
     they want to win, but the bottom line is the fans can smell the bullsh$t
     a mile away!… [Regarding the Force stuff], Do you want to go out and
     buy more Castrol?… I want to see [drivers] win because [they] earn it.
     Not because someone gave [him/her] a break and allowed [him/her] to win.