Image by Getty Images via @daylifeBy reading all accounts of the penalty that took away Newman's fourth consecutive win and grounded car owner Kevin "Bono" Manion from the NWMT series due to unapproved manifold changes resulting in more horsepower, I'm not convinced that Newman knew anything about it.
A scathing story written by Shawn Courchesne of Courant.com, state that Newman and Manion proved themselves disgraceful thieves to short track racers. I can't speak for Manion because I have not followed his career, but I have followed Newman's.
I see no indication, let alone proof that Newman knew anything about an unapproved intake manifold on Manion's car. While Newman has earned an engineering degree at college, all that means is that he can understand what occurred. But, he is not the engineer or crew chief of that car. There is no indication that he knew anything about what was under the hood of that race car. He is the driver. All he cared about was that it responded when he gave it the gas.
What has been proven is Newman's sincerity. I will never believe that he would intentionally cheat to win a race. I must take issue with Courchesne for his criticism of Newman's intentions and respect for the NWMT series in particular and short-track racing in general.
To me, this is just another stroke of Newman's bad luck. Someone tampered with the car to purposefully make it beat the competition. I do not believe it was Newman.
