September 29, 2008
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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Despite having many critics, NASCAR’s new drug testing policy is the best in sports.
Unlike football or baseball, where athletes can take performance enhancers, NASCAR only needs to concern itself with drivers who take drugs that impair themselves and endanger other drivers on the track. Could a driver taking steroids make the car drive any faster as a result?
Ron Hornaday recently admitted taking a steroid cream prescribed by a doctor to treat a medical condition and was slammed in the media as a result. There are times when it is proper to take some drugs, but any drug can be abused, even something over the counter like cough syrup.
Craftman Truck Series driver Aaron Fike, who admitted to using heroin, was caught by law enforcement in July and not by NASCAR. Why? Because NASCAR drug testing policy used to be virtually non-existent, allowing for random testing only when there was reasonable suspicion a driver may have a drug problem. But that will be changing in 2009.
NASCAR’s new policy calls for all drivers to be tested in January before next year’s Daytona 500. And all over the wall pit crew members are required to be checked before the start of the season as well. In addition, two drivers per series and about a dozen pit crew members will be randomly tested each weekend.
What more can NASCAR officials do?
The first failed test results in indefinite suspension and three failed tests causes the individual to be banned for life from NASCAR.
The arrest of Aaron Fike in July caused many Cup competitors to call for more random testing. Kevin Harvick instituted a random testing policy at Kevin Harvick Inc. Drivers Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr., have called for more random testing.
"I don't want to be involved in a race with anyone that's not playing by the rules and not making good judgment decisions," Earnhardt said in a recent article by Dustin Long of the Roanoke Times.
One of the major criticisms against NASCAR’s new drug policy is that there is no list of banned substances. Instead, the policy allows NASCAR to limit the abuse of any drug.
Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR's vice president of racing operations was quoted in the Long article as saying, "The reason we don't have a list is we believe that a list is restrictive. As you've seen with a lot of other leagues, the policy is constantly changing. We know that there's new drugs out there every day.”
Which makes a lot of sense. Why ban only certain drugs and allow serious abuse to slip through the cracks only because it’s not on a list?
A broad policy such as the one adopted by NASCAR works better than that in any other sport because drug abuse is already limited in the nation’s largest racing series. Most drivers are intent upon winning and know that drug abuse impairs not only their abilities, but their judgment as well.
Racing at speeds approaching two hundred miles an hour is dangerous enough and many great drivers have lost their lives in on track accidents. So why push the limits?
If you would like to learn more about Matthew, please check out his web site at matthew-pizzolato.com.
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