So where are NASCAR's cops when we really need them? They're out there busting Rusty Wallace for speeding on pit road when they should be helping owners protect the trade secrets that make the cars go fast in the first place.

Money does buy speed, and technological innovations that give one team an edge over another are priceless.

Owners never want information to leave the shop, whether it's in notes in someone's pocket or in the brain of a departing employee. Crew chiefs and drivers share that sentiment. Just ask Jimmie Johnson.

When car chief Jason Burdett left Johnson's team recently to take the same job with Dale Jarrett's team at Robert Yates Racing, Johnson wasn't worried about filling the vacancy. What concerned Johnson was the knowledge that left with Burdett.

After winning the Coca-Cola 600, Johnson is fifth in the Winston Cup standings and was a contender for the title in 2002. It's understandable that Yates Racing would want Burdett and the Hendrick Motorsports playbook. Any of the powerhouse organizations would pay handsomely for them. This is industrial espionage, NASCAR style. The secret agents are the crew members, and the prize is the knowledge that can improve performance.

There's not much an owner can do to safeguard his secrets. It's standard practice for contract employees to sign noncompete provisions that include nondisclosure clauses, but it's difficult to enforce such provisions. Owner Richard Childress, though, has sued--and won.

"There's certain things you can't take out of a guy's mind," Childress says. "But if something is developed that is strictly RCR's and if they take it and give it to someone else and we can prove it, then we have the right to take action. If they take something to another team and just build a car that's similar, you can't beat it"

While the teams scramble to protect themselves, NASCAR does nothing to police the problem.

"NASCAR loves it because it keeps the competition close," says Chad Khaus, Johnson's crew chief. "If I hire you, I'm buying whatever you know and taking your secrets."

Knaus has been on both sides of the equation. When he was a fabricator and tire changer for Jeff Gordon's team during the Rainbow Warrior days, Dale Earnhardt Inc. hired him to be car chief for Steve Park. Knaus knows he was hired for the knowledge he had gained working on Chevrolets at Hendrick Motorsports, but it also was an opportunity to climb the career ladder. Knaus became a Winston Cup crew chief at age 28.

Tony Furr, crew chief for Jack Sprague, has been a dedicated General Motors man for most of his career, but in 2002 he needed a job. Working for Jim Smith's Dodge team last season, Furr used the aero savvy he gained working on Monte Carlos to help Dodge engineers develop the grill configuration on the new nose.

The Dodge people picked Furr's brain, then let him go after the 2002 season. In working for Sprague, he has returned to Chevrolet.

Furr has learned to protect himself in contracts by including a clause that voids noncompete provisions if he's fired. In 30 years of racing, he also has learned the hard way not to share his entire playbook with any of his employees. In 1996, when Felix Sabates offered Furr's top assistant a crew chief job, the employee thought he could leave with the team notes. Before the exit interview, Furr made the assistant empty his briefcase, revealing the notes.

Knaus agrees with Furr, adding that the crew chief should limit the information he shares with an employee to just what is necessary, so anyone who leaves won't have a complete picture.

"Everybody knows their specific area, but that's all they know," Knaus says. "I'm the only one who knows how all the pieces fit together. If Jason (Burdett) was leaving and taking Jimmie with him, yeah, that would be an advantage. But different drivers like different setups, and what works for Jimmie may not work for D.J."