Indefinite Suspension Issued to Jeff Oakley Following Dominion Post Race Disqualification
Mooresville, NC 3/30/17- An increase of penalties has been issued to the #11 Late Model Stock Car owned and driven by Jeff Oakley following post-race disqualification from the duel races held at Dominion Raceway on March 25th.
Upon engine testing at an independent engine dyno the series has implemented for technical use for the last three seasons; Jeff Oakley’s Chevrolet 604 crate engine, claimed by Oakley to be built by Kowalsky Racing Engines, dynode at 503 horsepower at 6600 RPM. These results were 73-77 horsepower more than any Chevrolet 604 engines the series has researched over the past two years at the same location. In addition, all research and data provided by industry and factory outlets also indicated transgressions in the results collected from Oakley’s engine test.
After the test driver and car owner Jeff Oakley made the decision to not let CARS Tour officials disassemble the engine to remove the suspected illegal parts. The decision by Oakley to keep his engine and not let CARS Tour officials recover suspected illegal parts, to ensure the parts don’t show up at another Late Model Stock Car event, regardless of the sanctioning body, will result in an indefinite suspension from CARS Tour competition as both an owner and driver.
CARS Tour Series Director Chris Ragle issued the following statement concluding the ongoing event.
“First, it is disappointing to have to go through all this and put so much time, energy, and money into such a thing. Jeff (Oakley) has been professional to work with throughout this situation, but his decision to not let series officials do their job by breaking down the engine is unacceptable. We feel that having an engine with no serial numbers out on the market with almost obvious illegal parts in it is bad for not just the CARS Tour, but for all Late Model Stock Car tracks in general. We attempted to keep the data and wrongdoing confined to the guilty party, but when the decision to take the motor home with him was made it left us no choice than to suspend Jeff indefinitely.”
The CARS Tour returns to action next at Orange County Speedway on Saturday April 22nd in Rougemont, North Carolina. Complete event information on the Orange Blossom 300 pres. by The Grilling Store will be available in the coming days at www.carsracingtour.com.
Sources: Chris Ragle/CARS Tour PR