Rule 12-4-A: Exploring NASCAR's ultimate catch-can

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. used a four-letter word during a postrace interview following his 2004 victory at Talladega -- about eight months after Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" spurred a crackdown on obscene material -- NASCAR couldn't allow its star driver's slip to go unpunished.

However, there is no specific rule about four-letter words in the rulebook.

No problem. The sanctioning body went with an old standby -- Rule 12-4-A: "actions detrimental to stock car racing."

The rule has become, in racing parlance, the "catch-can" of NASCAR rules -- a catch-all into which virtually any infraction can be tossed.

The Earnhardt case was an exception for NASCAR's application of 12-4-A. In that instance, it was the only rule listed among the driver's violations, and NASCAR hit him with a $10,000 fine and docked him 25 points.

Typically, 12-4-A isn't used alone when NASCAR hands out a penalty. It is an add-on, cited in nearly every announcement when NASCAR fines or suspends a driver, takes points away or puts someone on probation. Whether it's something to do with shock absorbers or an illegal fuel additive, 12-4-A is almost always among the rules violated when NASCAR doles out penalties. Through mid-May of 2007, each of the 25 penalties handed out to Cup competitors this year included 12-4-A.

Earnhardt appealed the penalty to no avail. He didn't think points should be taken away even if he burned the eardrums of a 5-year-old in Hickory, N.C. By the way, NBC stations never got in trouble with the FCC for airing the expletive.

"There is no way you can justify saying anything like that and I expected to be penalized for it ... ," Earnhardt said. "I told NASCAR that in my opinion -- if not this time, but the next time for the next guy -- change the penalty to $100,000 or $200,000. Taking points off the scoreboard, whether it's fair or not, is not something I believe in."

But it's what NASCAR believes in. The appeals commission noted that "Earnhardt Jr. is an important ambassador of the sport and a role model for young people. With the rewards and accolades afforded top-tier NASCAR drivers, also goes responsibility."

Thus, saying a four-letter word violates that responsibility. And therefore, Earnhardt was guilty of an action detrimental to stock car racing.

So what does the rule actually say Earnhardt violated?

Here is the rule in its entirety:

Any member who performs an act or participates in actions deemed by NASCAR officials as detrimental to stock car racing or to NASCAR: a fine, and/or disqualification, and/or loss of championship points, and/or loss of finishing position(s) in the event, and/or probation, and/or suspension.

In other words, whatever NASCAR decides is detrimental at any given time can be considered a violation of 12-4-A.

The vagueness of the rule can be frustrating.

It is the first subsection under the opening paragraph for "general scope of penalties."

The rest of section 12-4 enumerates specific things that would require penalties. They include:

• using another person's NASCAR license;
• signing a NASCAR release form for somebody else;
• assaulting or threatening to do bodily harm to a NASCAR official;
• using alcohol or drugs during an event;
• fighting on race premises;
• assaulting with a weapon on race premises;
• refusing to follow the rules of an entry (for example, Tony Stewart not following the entry blank rules which require drivers who finish in the top three to attend a postrace news conference);
• missing the prerace drivers meeting; and
• allowing an unlicensed driver, an ineligible driver to race a car or not notifying NASCAR of a change in drivers.

While the specifics of 12-4 cover a lot, NASCAR relies on 12-4-A to cover anything that they haven't addressed directly.

"There are so many things that could occur," NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Communications Jim Hunter says. "We started off with 'actions detrimental' and then we started defining them. But it's still a catch-all. If nothing else fits, we can go back to 12-4-A if it's not in the best interest of the sport."

One of those things was the Earnhardt slip of the tongue. Another was Tony Stewart's outburst after the 2001 Pepsi 400.

Following that race, Stewart slapped a tape recorder from the hands of a newspaper reporter and engaged in a shouting match with NASCAR official Gary Nelson.

NASCAR responded by fining Stewart $10,000 and putting him on probation. The only rule violated: 12-4-A.

Rule 12-4-A says nothing about "swatting a tape recorder out of a reporter's hand." It wasn't a fight or an assault with a weapon and no reporter is a NASCAR official. But 12-4-A served its purpose by being the catch-all it was designed to be.

"It's like a last-page-blank in the rulebook kind of deal," says Joe Gibbs Racing's Jimmy Makar, who was a crew chief at JGR for Bobby Labonte at the time of the Stewart incident. "It's always there. It's kind of a catch-all phrase. I guess that's what it's meant to be. ... It comes with the territory.

"You don't worry about it. You know the general phrase, and you know kind of what it entails."

Hunter has been around NASCAR for more than 40 years. He says that 12-4-A has always been part of the NASCAR rulebook.

The 12-4-A rule isn't only in the Nextel Cup rulebook. It's also in the Busch Series rulebook and the Craftsman Truck Series rulebook. Even the Busch East and NASCAR West Series have it in their rulebooks.

When a couple of truck series crew chiefs didn't have weight in the approved weight container, they were fined $500 for not having parts that conform to NASCAR rules. While most fans couldn't care less about weight being in an approved weight container, at the end of the penalty announcement was a section that said the crew chiefs had also violated 12-4-A.

The biggest fines in NASCAR history -- the $100,000 and 100-point fine to Michael Waltrip Racing (right) for an illegal fuel additive this year at Daytona and the $50,000 fine for unapproved suspension parts handed out to team owner Ray Evernham in 1995 while at Hendrick Motorsports -- both cited 12-4-A on the penalty sheet.

NASCAR also applied 12-4-A when Jimmie Johnson (below) was fined $10,000 for knocking a Powerade bottle off his car in victory lane at Pocono in 2004. At the time, Johnson had a sponsorship tie-in with Gatorade and didn't want to be photographed celebrating with one of his sponsor's competitors. Johnson was found guilty of threatening the orderliness of a NASCAR event (as part of rule 12-2) as well as an action detrimental to stock car racing.

Hunter says NASCAR could have even used 12-4-A to discipline Stewart for his recent remarks about NASCAR's officiating. But NASCAR has never penalized a driver for critical remarks. NASCAR couldn't bring itself to punish a driver for what it thinks is one of its best attributes -- the drivers and teams are part of the "family" and are given the liberty to speak their peace.

But isn't trashing NASCAR or questioning whether cautions are legitimate, detrimental to stock car racing?

NASCAR, apparently, isn't worried about that. One team owner, asked if he has seen a list of things detrimental to stock car racing replied, "No, but if you get a list, can you give it to me?"

The list grows every time an infraction happens and NASCAR invokes it. NASCAR recently used it to fine Juan Pablo Montoya for an obscene gesture. Because NASCAR had penalized drivers in the past for such gestures, most assumed that Montoya would be penalized under 12-4-A.

"When Juan shot a bird, you know that's an action detrimental to stock car racing," says Petty Enterprises Executive Vice President Robbie Loomis (below, with Jeff Gordon). "There's lots of ways to view it. That's a rule that's been in place a long, long time. It seems to follow up when the hammer is dropped."

Loomis remembers when he got fined for an illegal manifold at Richmond in 2000. His driver, Gordon, was allowed to keep the win, but Loomis was fined $10,000. The manifold wasn't made of the required aluminum.

That, NASCAR says, was detrimental to stock car racing.

"It's always there," Loomis says about 12-4-A. "I got in trouble that one time and I believe [12-4-A] was on that.

"There's lots of ways to view things, but NASCAR tries to protect this garage and this sport. They felt like what we did was outside of that."

Loomis accepts the logic in the argument that the manifold was detrimental to stock car racing. If people think someone is cheating or that a person they don't like wins with the perception of cheating, it could hurt the sport.

"We've got to protect our sport, and that's the main reason they put that stuff in place," Loomis says.

Others think NASCAR uses 12-4-A as a safeguard so the sanctioning body can always have a rule to fall back on during an appeal.

"When they issue a penalty, they tack it on there in case someone challenges the penalty and it's hard to explain the other parts," says Penske Racing head Don Miller.

"I think it's a self-defense program.

"It's not detrimental to stock car racing in our minds, but then we're not making the choice. I don't even know where it came from."

Hunter wouldn't necessarily agree that it is a self-defense program. He just says that is the way the sport has evolved.

When NASCAR first started, a vague rule such as 12-4-A likely was necessary. NASCAR drivers weren't as polished as they are today, so NASCAR needed a rule that could cover any unsavory actions by drivers, crew members or owners.

"12-4-A sets the standard for certain penalties," Hunter says. "It's just the way things have evolved over the years."

Roush Fenway Racing's Geoff Smith says he can't remember ever getting a penalty and not seeing 12-4-A on the list of infractions.

"It's just thrown in there for every violation," he says. "Because you've violated one rule; therefore, you're always doing something that is detrimental to the sport."

Roush Racing faced one of the biggest sanctions -- a $40,000 fine and a 46-point penalty for crew chief Robin Pemberton and driver Mark Martin (below) for an illegal carburetor spacer found on the team's car following their 1990 win at Richmond.

Pemberton now runs NASCAR's competition department. He's in charge of handing out penalties and giving the 12-4-A stamp of disapproval.

Of course, not everyone will agree that violations are actually detrimental to stock car racing, and Smith takes it even further.

A lawyer by trade, Smith argues that when NASCAR catches someone violating a rule, it shouldn't automatically be considered detrimental to stock car racing.

"Most violations of that rule generate more favorable publicity to the sport, not negative publicity," Smith says.

Huh? How could that be? How could someone using foul language, someone having an illegal fuel additive or someone using an illegal intake manifold be favorable publicity to the sport?

"Because it shows what great enforcers they are and how diligently they want to keep their rules," Smith says. "So every time a team gets a penalty, NASCAR gets a chance to reinforce their anti-cheating image."

• Mentioned Drivers:
• Bobby Labonte