By DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
A lawsuit filed by a former Richard Childress Racing employee includes specific allegations that engines the team used in events at 2006 Speedweeks at Daytona were designed to defeat NASCAR rules.
The team denies the allegations.
Anthony Corrente, who lost his job as assistant manager for engine research and development for RCR earlier this year, filed his suit Wednesday in Mecklenburg County superior court. It alleges wrongful termination, defamation and breach of contract against the team, which fields Nextel Cup cars for Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer.
Corrente said he inspected an engine from Harvick's No. 29 Chevrolet after the Budweiser Shootout and found it had been altered to allow more air to enter, which would be contrary to the purpose of carburetor restrictor plates used at the Daytona track.
"Inserts were placed in the four outside corners of the cylinder head where the manifold is attached," the lawsuit says.
When tightened, the bottom of the bolts hit these inserts, leaving room for air to get in between the intake manifold and the cylinder head. Such air would get to the engine beneath the restrictor plate, which is designed specifically to limit the flow of air. More air means more power, at least in theory.
The suit also says that Burton won the pole for this year’s Daytona 500 with another engine that had the same modifications. Burton's engine passed NASCAR inspection following the qualifying session.
Corrente said he found the inserts when he checked over the engine from Harvick's car after four pistons were damaged in the Shootout.
"I called Richard in Daytona because I was concerned about his reputation," Corrente said. "He said we would talk about it when he got back from Daytona."
When Childress returned, Corrente's lawsuit says, Childress responded by saying "all teams do something to enhance performance."
David Hart, a spokesman for Richard Childress Racing, said Thursday that Corrente’s allegations are untrue. "We will deal with them in the courts," Hart said.
Corrente left Joe Gibbs Racing in July 2005, signing a three-year contract with a two-year renewal option at RCR. He said he was fired after a conversation with Harvick in May during a test at Lowe's Motor Speedway, where Harvick’s team had tested an engine built to Corrente’s specifications that differed from what the team had been doing.
Corrente said Childress recruited him to help RCR improve its engine performance. Corrente said he and Childress discussed the fact that Corrente would need “open communication with the drivers and crew chiefs.”
On-track performance of RCR cars has improved markedly in 2006.
Harvick has won four Cup races this year and he and Burton both made the Chase for the Nextel Cup after RCR was shut out of the championship “playoff” in each of the previous two seasons.
“I did everything I told him that I would do,” Corrente said.
Corrente said that from the first day he went to work at RCR, people at his new team started asking him questions about how engines were constructed at Joe Gibbs Racing.
“Plaintiff (Corrente) refused to divulge any information about his former employer’s engines,” the lawsuit states. “At this time Plaintiff began to be a little suspicious about why he had been hired.”
Corrente said he met resistance when he tried to bring ideas for changing RCR’s engines to the production department. After being asked by a manager why performance was not improving as rapidly as hoped, Corrente spoke about the problem and was told he needed to prove his formula was better.
That’s when the test engine for Charlotte was built to Corrente’s specifications.
“Kevin was extremely happy with the performance of the engine and asked Plaintiff if he could have it for the upcoming race,” the lawsuit says.
“Plaintiff told Harvick he could have it for every race if the employees he had been hired to help would do as Richard Childress instructed.”
Corrente said Childress told him not to talk to Harvick because Childress didn’t want the driver to lose confidence in the engine department.
At that time, Harvick was about to sign a contract to stay with the team after considering offers from several other teams.
On the second day of the test at the Charlotte track, Corrente said, he was about to leave the track when Harvick approached him again.
“I was kind of venting,” Corrente said of that second conversation. “I said, ‘Here’s why we don’t have this every week.’ I told him about all of the stuff that was going on and I asked Kevin to help me fix it. I said, ‘I just don’t know what else to do, but we got what we need and I can’t get them to listen to us.’
"And I said, ‘I will probably wind up getting fired over this, because I knew Richard would be upset.’”
He was right.
The next day, Corrente said he was summoned to a meeting. The next week, he was asked to agree to resign for two months’ severance pay, but declined to sign that deal and his employment was eventually terminated.
“I still think Richard is a good person and a man of his word, and I hope he will do what he promised me,” Corrente said.
But the lawsuit also alleges that RCR “has ‘black-balled Plaintiff from the racing industry” and “Defendant has told others in the industry that Plaintiff has an ‘attitude problem’ and that he is a ‘trouble-maker.’
