By Mel Kizzidek
Major League Baseball could have a permanent black eye after widespread use of performance enhancing drugs became common knowledge. Substance abusers have already tarnished the sport of professional football. The international Olympics will be under a microscope this summer after decades of drug scandals. And the PGA is discussing whether to test pro golfers as the world notes the sudden bulk of a once wiry Tiger Woods, who is evasive on his private workout regimen.
NASCAR has had a written drug policy for over 20 years that has never been enforced. No driver-unless it was done in secret-has been given a random drug test, but calls for change are getting louder and more frequent.
Craftsman Truck Series driver Aaron Fike was suspended indefinitely after making claims to a national magazine that he used heroin on race days. His condition was unknown until his arrest in 2007, and drivers are now demanding a stiffer policy. Fike, who has also run in over 50 Busch Series events, competed in a truck event at Memphis the day of his arrest, admittedly while under the influence.
Former NASCAR driver Shane Hmiel was banned for life after failing his third drug test in ‘06, and now races late models on dirt tracks. Hmiel recently won a USAC Sprint Car Series race in California but is still banned from NASCAR events. A failed test in 1988 by driver Tim Richmond, who died from AIDS a year later, still haunts the sport.
The sanctioning body’s official policy calls for testing anytime, anywhere, but only on “reasonable suspicion,” and leading drivers say they have never been tested for drugs. They want a tougher stance in place and loudly call for a random drug test at least twice a year. NASCAR president Mike Helton sidesteps the call by commending his drivers for speaking out-allegedly “proving” they’re clean. Moreover, Helton says the sport’s teams have their own drug policies in effect, which NASCAR does not override.
It was Richmond’s death at age 34 that persuaded NASCAR to put a drug policy on paper, though the rules aren’t enforced and random testing is not mandatory. Drivers sign a contract with NASCAR agreeing to certain conditions when applying for a competitor’s license, but unless “reasonable suspicion” is evident, nothing more is done. Many drivers who raised suspicions, such as Fike, were arrested first before NASCAR got wise and took action.
Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman claims that Fike’s situation was neither the first nor the last of its kind, while long-time veteran Mark Martin was thunderstruck by Fike’s arrest. Dale Earnhardt Jr. calmly says that if enough people speak out on NASCAR’s guiding principle-one of ‘hear-no-evil, see no evil’-changes will come.
NASCAR drivers are not part of a union, and participants are employed by teams that are largely independent of the sanctioning body. Thus, mandatory testing for drugs or screening for alcohol is harder to implement and enforce.
NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France says his sport has the most effective drug policy already in place, one that promises swift and sure punishment-purely reactive rather than proactive. France avoided a DUI arrest in ‘06 by leaving the scene of an accident before police arrived. He continues to turn a blind eye unless evidence is shown after the fact.
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