No two ways about it; Penske was cheating, before and after caught at it. Not the first team/persons/manufacturer to do it and not the last. Cheating is for people who can't compete otherwise. Yunick tried it with his 7/8 scale Chevelle, but it didn't help him win and he still got caught. On the other hand, "Ohio" George Montgomery never got caught purposefully

breaking any rules, but he was blamed by many for "killing gasser racing" because no one else was either willing or able to do the kind of hard, innovative and brilliant work he did. NHRA regulated him out of the gasser class. Which certainly didn't save that class, BTW. Rule bending is something else again. It is working technically within the rules to get around

the physical limit(s) imposed by the rule. That takes really hard work or genius, or both. If you succeed, and your techinique discovered, there will likely be a rule made to block or standardize your technique. Part of racing, and, to anyone in this graceless age who still believes morality has merit, a morally sound way to compete. "Ohio" George and many, many

others have worked at it, some being successful, some not. Cheating is immoral, amoral or morally indefensible...take your pick. Mark Donahue's book, "The Unfair Advantage" showed how working within the rules, IIRC, a team could make itself dominant. If you have a sound vehicle, outstanding skills, or just a combo you thought about that is not in the

rules or not specifically disallowed in them, and a serious work ethic, why would you need to cheat? If you're lacking one of those ingredients, change things or lose. It's very telling that lots of people who would hate their spouse cheating on them, a person selling them a car or a house cheating them, or a sharp cheating them at cards say "if you ain't cheating,

you're losing" about racing. Or, "ingenious"? Penske and company did not invent acid-dipping to lighten a vehicle. What would have been ingenius? Acid-dip the body, then put weight in the car, to bring it back up to the legal minimum, but now the weight is where you want the weight. Like a 911 with weights in the front bumper. Then you are within the rule, but still

perhaps more competitive than you were before. Somebody who beats me because they have a superior car/combo, is more brilliant than I (lots of people in that group, I'm sure), worked harder than I, or figured a way to make a rule work FOR them has my respect and admiration. Somebody who cheats to beat me, and I know about it, has me after them.