Full Throttle

Jeremy Mayfield on Saturday became the first Cup driver suspended for violating NASCAR’s substance abuse policy that went into effect last fall. Since the shock announcement Saturday there have been a couple updates.

First out of the box was a defense by Mayfield.

His claim was a combination of an over-the-counter drug and one given by a private physician for a reoccurring allergy caused a false positive.

That may be true, it’s certainly possible. For example someone taking Motrin, Bayer Select Pain Relief Formula or Excedrin can pop a false positive for Marijuana. Nyquil, Contact, Sudafed, Allerest and Dimetapp can all turn up as Ecstacy or Amphetamine usage.

A well run drug program requires the “testee,” for the lack of a better term, be asked at the time of a test whether they have taken any of the drugs noted above and many others.

That said, Mayfield’s excuse has been used by so many athletes in the past few years its reached cliche status, you have to take it for what it’s worth and with a skeptical eye.

Mayfield’s defense was quickly rebutted by one of the experts that administer tests (Aegis Labs) for NASCAR, in short he said in all his years of testing experience he’s never seen the combination taken by Mayfield give a false positive. Again, for what’s it’s worth.

Now, to get to the singing to the choir bit, in this case the choir being me and the “buddy” doing the singing is an expert in the field of testing and drug policy.

Dr. Charles Yesalis, a Penn State professor who has testified before Congress on performance-enhancing drugs has called into question NASCAR’s lack of a published list of banned substances something I’ve called an “egregious error” when the new policy was first announced.

“That alone to me is ludicrous,” Yesalis said Monday. “That just kind of violates your sense of fair play. It never would fly in MLB or the NFL because they have a union. “The drivers don’t have a union, but if somebody did that to me I’d go get myself a nasty lawyer. What if somebody in management or ownership doesn’t like you? They can use that as a weapon against you.”

Yesalis has a valid point although as cynical as I am about some NASCAR policies even I wouldn’t believe NASCAR would use a lack of a union, or of being so vindictive in nature, to resort to the tactics the doctor suggests.

If the Daytona Suits were to act in such a manner there are many other ways to remove a driver from the track without risking the inevitable firestorm of bad publicity failed drug tests bring.

Given the current economic climate when some sponsors and major car manufacturers may be on the teetering edge of pulling support for NASCAR it makes zero sense to use that path for punishing a driver or race team.

As far as the “nasty lawyer” the doctor eludes to, given the tone of some of Mayfield’s quotes the last couple days that may very well be on the horizon.

In response to Dr. Yesalis’ claim Dr. David Black, the Aegis Labs expert noted above, has come out with a rather ridiculous claim himself.

According to Dr. Black the “lack of a [banned substance] list makes the program stronger because it gives the governing body more flexibility.”

“We’ve had a policy since 1988 without a rift where we always allowed ourselves on any given case to determine whether or not a drug we identify will be prohibited by the policy in the program,” he said. “We’ve actually had positives on drivers in our reasonable suspicion program.”

That’s just flat-out horse-hockey, operating under the “reasonable suspicion program” is what created problems for NASCAR in the first place.

Ron Hornaday admitted to using testosterone and Human Growth Hormone at the time of Aaron Fike’s arrest and conviction for heroin usage, there never was any “reasonable suspicion” to test Hornaday, the system in place at the time failed. And to say it failed in Aaron Fike’s case is an understatement of epic proportions.

Fike was busted along with his skank girlfriend in a parked car along with heroin and the “works” utilized to inject it. There was never any “reasonable suspicion” by family, friends of Fike or NASCAR he was using such an addictive and destructive drug.

Although Mayfield hasn’t named the drugs in question ESPN “sources” have said the over-the-counter allergy drug Claritin D is what he was taking. It’s also said the drug is one that “contains pseudoephedrine, a substance banned by most sports.”

If that’s the case, I rest my case.

For the benefit of Dr. Black, it took a Google search exactly .013 seconds for me to learn Claritin D does contain pseudoephedrine and has a very long list of cautions up to and including “serious, life-threatening side effects can occur” if taken in conjunction with other drugs.

Claritin-D also causes side effects that “may impair your thinking or reactions” and to be “careful if you drive or do anything that requires you to be awake and alert.”

Something tells me driving 190 mph in close proximity to 42 others qualifies.

And BTW, Claritin-D, along with many of its variants like Sudafed, is on the lists of banned drugs given athletes by the Olympic Committee Medical Commission, the World Anti-Doping Agency, the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball, to name a few.

Dr. Black, any rebuttal?

…. I thought not.

Look this is a serious issue and will be the first to admit I said good riddance to Mayfield when his suspension was announced. It remains to be seen if he employs any “nasty lawyers.”

If what’s been reported is true more power to him it may serve to a change in policy so both competitors and their private doctors and can make informed decisions when treating them and dispensing drugs to them.

If not we can assume we’ll be reading more feckless defenses of NASCAR’s policy (and not so incidentally his large contract to administer the program) by Dr. Black in the future.

And I’ll still be here excoriating both NASCAR, its flawed policy and some individuals in the Lame Stream Media who are clueless lapdogs for NASCAR - and fail to answer legit concerns relayed via email - but I digress.

UPDATE: A couple things, I’ve moderated my stance on Dr. Black’s comments a bit in a comment below. Not much, but some.

Secondly, I should have seen this coming. This mornings news bring the first whine-fest by the media, “what did Mayfield take, we gotta know, public’s gotta know, everyone in the known universe Has. Got. To. Know!!!”

Surprisingly it’s Jenna Fryer who’s normally pretty level-headed. To the general public, who for the most part aren’t aware of the ins and outs of testing programs and the legalities involved part of her argument makes sense.

Aegis Sciences Corp. informed Mayfield his “A” sample failed Tuesday, three days after the Richmond race. NASCAR was informed two days later. On Friday, the series reported to Darlington Raceway, and Mayfield requested his backup “B” sample be tested. He was allowed to participate in two Sprint Cup Series practice sessions and attempt to qualify his car for Saturday night’s race while Aegis analyzed the backup sample.

Mayfield failed to qualify, and he was told a few hours before the Southern 500 that his “B” sample had come back positive, too.

Her obvious point is NASCAR allowed Jeremy to drive during practice and quals and potentially endanger others.

Sorry, like it or not these tests are not fool proof no test in the world is. Hell the U.S. Military’s program has been operating for over 25 years - far longer than 99% that exist - they take two samples for every test to ensure they have a second sample to test in case of a positive.

Fryer’s over-riding interest to inform drivers and or the public has caused her to skip past an important right.

The presumption of innocence.

Mayfield took the first test and it was positive, because of false positives and other factors he is still considered innocent. He takes the second test as he requested and it mirrors the first. At that point he’s guilty as hell. Like it or not, thats the facts Jack.

I agree it puts NASCAR in a rather untenable position having to allow a driver on the track between the two tests but the alternative is bar him from driving, wait for the second test. If it comes back clean as it does sometimes it’s Katie Bar the Door, the driver/crew member sues the bajesus out of NASCAR for not allowing an innocent man/women to pursue his/her chosen profession. And wins.

I won’t even tread on the privacy issue, Jenna Fryer should know better than even broach that subject considering the profession she’s in. Journalists run up against privacy issues all the time. Privacy is privacy and all testing programs allow release of results and names involved and that’s it. The substance found is strictly off-limits. The single exception is if the subject of the test releases the info themselves.

One last item, Jenna’s piece points to another flaw in NASCAR’s system I hadn’t thought about.

For example, a driver/crew member is “dirty” and is selected randomly for a test. He takes Test A knowing full well he’s dirty and in all likelihood will pop positive.

What does any self-respecting druggie/abuser do? He’s got 2-3 days to flush his system before the results are returned and is required to retest. Because some drugs are easily flushed either by a persons deliberate actions or naturally he does just that and BINGO! His wee-wee is clean enough to drink. Well, maybe not that clean but you see the point.

EVERY test administered should consist of two sample given at the time of the first test. As a sidenote, that first wee after getting out of bed is LOADED with all kinds of nasty things including illegal substances. That’s also a fact Jack.

NASCAR, fix the damn system, give all hard card holders a list of banned drugs and those not banned but can result in positive tests, AND take two samples at the time of the first test.

If you dimbulbs don’t, lawsuits will be sure to follow. Assuming Mayfield hasn’t already contacted a Parade of Shysters.