My friend tells me that when the team discovered that they were unable to squeeze the transponder in its allocated position they had a talk with one of the officials. The official informed them that it had been a problem last year as well but that it was solved by putting the transponder in the nose, where there was enough room. But because of the way last year's race evolved, USAC's officials wouldn't allow that anymore and insisted the sidepod had to be modified to make room for the transponder. From that point, the discussion between the two of us went on something like this:

"Because of last year's race?" I asked, not understanding instantly what this could be all about. With a smile on his face my friend replies: "Remember the finish last year?" Two seconds later it dawns on me. "Wait a minute, if Al had his transponder in the nose and Goodyear carried his in the sidepod, Al would have been declared the official winner by Timing & Scoring as long as his transponder was ahead of Goodyear's one even if he was behind Scott!"

"Yep! Can you imagine what that could have caused? And do you understand by now why USAC want that transponder in the sidepod this year?"

"You bet! Had Goodyear passed Unser with only a nose wing length, then Al's transponder would still have crossed the finish line first and Timing & Scoring would have declared him the winner instead of Scott", I answer in sheer amazement.

"That was what we came up with too. Oh man, we had something to talk about when those USAC officials had told us what to do and why."