Full Throttle

So what do you do if your Steve Hmiel and your son is “indefinately suspended” from NASCAR competition?

You get his ass off the couch take the can of Pringles out of his hand and stick him into a race car.

[Shane] Hmiel, 25, plans to drive an entry in Saturday night’s Carolinas-Virginia USAC Ford Focus Midget Series at South Boston, Va. It will mark his first race of any type since his suspension in June.

“What he had to do was pass the same urine analysis that NASCAR uses and he got that done this week. USAC headquarters got that this week,” said Steve Hmiel, Shane’s father and interim crew chief for Cup driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“This is first time we’ve gotten him off the couch, he’s been so depressed about everything,” Hmiel said. “USAC had an interest in him to drive their new Silver Crown car that is going to run at tracks like Kentucky and Chicago.”

Steve Hmiel said Shane would run a few Focus Midget races, then run full Midgets this winter and run the full season in Silver Crown next year.

“We just need to get him on the right track and keep him busy,” Steve Hmiel said.

It would be hard to argue against keeping Shane busy, “idol minds” and all that.

NASCAR, USAC, Auto Racing, Sports