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Top 5 Motorsport Scandals in 2008

We don't want to spend that much time introducing this article, mainly because the title speaks for itself. The year 2008 has brought us little hush-hush to talk about, but the ones that have made the headlines were simply astonishing. Here's the Top 5, as we see it.

1.   News-worthiness became overrated as of March 30th, 2008. It was the morning of that particular day that changed Max Mosley's life for good. Imagine the FIA president getting up in the morning, having a nice cup of coffee and going through his usual newspaper-reading routine. And stop right there, as we're absolutely certain that there's not a single place in the whole wide world one would want to be rather than in Mosley's shoes that morning.

British tabloid News of the World gave the world a glimpse of Max Mosley's view of a 'night out', revealing video footage of Mr. Mosley and 5 prostitutes in the middle of what was later called “the Nazi orgy”. Why? Well, because the 5 hookers were dressed up as both Nazis and concentration camp prisoners and featured in a Nazi theme play with Mosley playing both a dominating and a submissive role.

The orgy took place in a $4 million apartment near Mosley's home in Chelsea, London. The thing that led to the Nazi-theme allegations was Mosley accepting to be inspected for lice, just like the detainees in the concentration camps during World War II. Also, the FIA president purposely lied to the five prostitutes in order to be “severely punished”. While being whipped, the orgy entered the”pause mode” in order for Mosley to be applied a small bandage to stop his bleeding.

Mosley's father, Oswald, was a British fascist leader very close to Adolf Hitler. Oswald Mosley presumably married his wife (and Max's mother) Diana in the presence of  Hitler in the home of Nazi arch-propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

Despite this scandal, Mosley received a vote of confidence in the Extraordinary General Meeting of the FIA, on June 3rd. Later on, Mosley brought News of the World into court and won on the base of privacy invasion. He was also absolved by the judge from all Holocaust-related accusations. Nevertheless, things will never be the same.

2.   Two-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves was indicted with tax evasion in early October. The 'Dancing with the Stars' winner – who finished the 2008 IndyCar season as the second best driver of the series – was charged with failing to report no less than $5.5 million in income to the Internal Revenue Service from 1999 to 2002. His business manager and sister Kati and his lawyer Alan Miller are also defendants in this case.

In the 25-page report filed by the IRS, it is shown that Helio avoided paying taxes to the US government through several offshore accounts in South America and Europe. The companies involved included the Panama-based Seven Promotions, Dutch licensing company Fintage Licensing and a Brazilian sponsor.

According to the aforementioned document, some of the money paid by Penske Team during his first 3 years of contract were redistributed to Fintage Licensing – at the request of Helio's lawyer Alan R. Miller – in order to avoid paying taxes.

If found guilty, Helio is facing 5 years in prison per charge – as he is indicted on 7 counts, one for fraud and 6 for tax evasion.

Penske Team have already reaffirmed their support for the Brazilian driver, who continues to state his innocence.

“One day obviously the truth will come out. It's very sad, but who said life gets to be all happy? I try (to be happy). Don't get me wrong, I'm Mr. Positive . . . and just continuing to be myself. That's what brought me up to this point,” commented Helio a few days ago, ahead of his court hearing later this month.

3.   National auto racer Ananda Mikola – driver for the A1 Team Indonesia in the A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport – was named one of the main suspects for his involvement in the torture of 20-year old Indonesian Agung Setiawan.

Central Jakarta Police Resort Chief Adjunct Senior Commissioner Angesta Romano Yoyol revealed to the media that, after conducting a thorough investigation in this case, it emerged that Mikola was one of the 4 suspects to be involved in the case. Another racing driver for A1 Team Indonesia Moreno Soeprato and Marcella Zalianty were also declared suspects.

Just for the record, here's a short part of the report shown by the police in the case of Setiawan's torture.

“Agung has his anus stabbed with a spoon, his genitals kicked and his pubic hair burnt. He was even told to drink the sperm of perpetrators after being locked up in three locations”.

If found guilty, Mikola and three of his friends are facing a jail sentence of five years.

4.   Well, maybe not so much of a scandal, but motorsport cheaters also fall into our category of scandalous moments of 2008.

On August 20th, Joe Gibbs Racing got a little taste of NASCAR justice after being handed the most severe penalties in the history of the Nationwide Series. When inspectibe Joey Logano's car, the NASCAR officials found some quarter-of-an-inch-thick magnets placed under the accelerators, aiming to prevent the pedals from being fully depressed during dynamometer tests.

While admitting they were the only ones to blame, Joe Gibbs Racing officials insisted the magnets were placed by some mechanics who acted on their own.

Nevertheless, NASCAR proceeded in handing both Joey Logano and teammate Tony Stewart some 150-point penalties in the drivers classification and suspending 7 crew members of JGR (including Logano’s crew chief, Jason Ratcliff and Stewart's crew chief Dave Rogers). Also, Logano was placed under probation for the remainder of the season.

5.   The year 2008 also brought some AFTER-scandal light for some people. And MotoGP ace Valentino Rossi was sure one of them. Following a long and controversial tax-evasion trial with the Italian tax authorities, Rossi finally decided to buy his way out and wrote a 35 million Euros check to finally close the tax case. He was initially accused by the Italian prosecutors for registering most of his earnings on his home in Great Britain and therefore exempting himself from paying taxes to the Peninsula government. The investigators had pointed out that, although Rossi's residence is in Great Britain, the MotoGP champion spends little time there and stays most of the year in his house in Italy.
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