Full Throttle

(For the non-hockey oriented NASCAR fan the 5 hole is the the spot between he legs of the goalie)

Brian France, a/k/a People’s Commissar of NASCAR Affairs (PCNA), for some reason has decided to come out and defend the sports drug testing policy. Again.

Speaking to sports editors bobbleheads from some of the nation’s largest news organizations dying print media, Brian France said NASCAR currently tests with “probable cause” and is still clutching to the “privacy issue” as if it were the last life-rail above water on the Titanic.

“If there is an issue, we take that action and we make it public. We do not on a week-in week-out basis, every time we test a driver, make that public,” he said.

“Sometimes people have told us, ‘I don’t mind being tested. I’ll comply with your policy, but just the idea if you said you tested me this weekend it might imply there was some problem with me and I don’t have a problem. Happy to do it, happy to test, but we all know guilt by association.’ You get indicted in this country, right? It hasn’t gone to court yet, but most people think you did something wrong,” France said.

Sometimes PCNA?

How about nearly everyday in the last two weeks a driver or team owner of some stature has come out in favor of a change in policy that would allow random testing on a regular basis?

Spinning faster than a frog in a blender PCNA continues:

“I always tell people you can have . . . all the testing you want, but what do you do when you catch somebody? What happens?” France said. “In our situation, we have several people on a real lifetime ban. We’ve got a number of drivers who on first infractions are gone for a year or longer. So we have a very strict, severe punishment should there be a problem. Between that and the way that the corporate involvement is in our sport, it probably ends your career.

“If you’re going to have a drug problem in our sport, you’re going to have a tough time having a career in our sport.”

Well D’OH, that much we know.

What we don’t know, is where the problem lays with the current policy. As Aaron Fike’s team owner has stated he didn’t have clue #1 his driver was an addict, it’s the don’t know that will eventually create a furor of possible epic proportions if some tragedy occurs in the future by someone slipping thru the “privacy crack.”

And it’s on the privacy issue PCNA’s argument collapses of it’s own weight. With a random policy in force everyone is covered and it only becomes a public matter if and when someone gets busted. Just as it is now.

If anyone inside or outside the organization has a problem with knowledge of a random test being given when it’s policy to do so they need to be shoved away from the Kool-Aid jar and discounted out-of-hand.

Now, lets move away from the spin and discombobulation of the issue PCNA is using and go to Kevin Harvick who has taken the bull by the horns and instituted a company-wide drug abuse policy at KHI:

“After the whole drug testing thing in Phoenix we went home and changed the whole policy we have at our company,” said Harvick. “Our drivers and crew chiefs volunteered to take drug tests.

“We then put a random drug testing policy in place for the entire company.”

Goooooal… right through France’s five hole. The more cynical among us, including me, might believe Harvick is playing into the hands of NASCAR and giving them just what they hope will happen, all teams strengthening programs at the team level and leaving NASCAR to ditch all responsibility.

The even more cynical, like me, most especially me, would think the current drug policy would mirror the same one in effect with NASCAR not having it’s own safety/medical teams travel to each track vice leaving it to the individual tracks to handle medical issues.

But that’s just me.

Harvick believes anyone issued a NASCAR season credential - commonly referred to as a “hard card” - should be covered by any new NASCAR policy. His suggests any employee tested by a team that passes a test, which obviously wouldn’t be “random” at that point, should be given certification of passage and used when applying for NASCAR’s hard card.

“When a driver is taken to the infield care center after an on track incident, he should also be tested,” said Harvick.

Also a good idea, if a driver takes a hit and has to be cleared medically to drive the next week, or even to get home that day, why not to ensure drugs weren’t part of the equation during the accident.

“We fully support their actions,” said Pat Suhy, GM Racing NASCAR Group Manager. “I think it’s awesome that Kevin and Delana have stepped up to the plate and taken the issue into their own hands.

“From what we’ve seen, it’s (substance abuse in racing) a cause for concern. I hope others follow suit.”

Can you feel me now?

NASCAR sits back playing spin the urine specimen bottle until all teams institute a similar program, and not so incidentally catch more flack from other manufacturers or outside critics, and somewhere down the road proclaim how great the teams have done and require certification of a clean bill of health drug-wise for the issuance of a NASCAR hard card.

Accompanied by the obligatory Media Festa similar to the pre-season dog & pony show put on each year.

Clearly, that’s far from acceptable, and by leaving the entire burden on the teams it stretches them more financially than they already are to conduct testing programs that are by all accounts very expensive to run.

France and the rest of the Suits need to get off their high horse and make something happen not sit around and let things unfold without them and possibly take credit later for any improvements that took place without their assistance.

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