NASCAR Driver Jeremy Mayfield Suspended After Failing Drug Test

Fox News ^ | May 10, 2009 | Associated Press

[Peter Horry]

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Jeremy Mayfield was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR on Saturday for failing a random drug test, becoming the first driver to violate a toughened new policy that went into effect this season.

Mayfield tested positive for a banned substance last weekend at Richmond International Raceway.

"In my case, I believe that the combination of a prescribed medicine and an over the counter medicine reacted together and resulted in a positive drug test," Mayfield said in a statement. "My doctor and I are working with both Dr. (David) Black and NASCAR to resolve this matter."

Black is the CEO of Aegis Sciences Corp. in Nashville, Tenn., which runs NASCAR's testing program.

NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter would not reveal what banned substance Mayfield used, but Hunter said it was not an alcohol-related offense.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Problem is the factory platforms aren't raceable any more.

Well, the SCCA Trans Am series thinks otherwise. I'm sure there will be plenty of Mustangs, Cameros, Firebirds, Corvettes and foreign entry cars out there engaging in real racing which does not include demolition derby style behavior.

Would you pay to watch a pack of V-6, auto trans, front wheel drive cars take laps at Daytona?

No, and I don't know about automatics nor Daytona, but they do have a format where they race sedans on a sports car track. They are modified cars with racing gear and the springs are about one third the height of stock (ground scrapers)

Once again, it is civilized racing where you turn right AND left, the strategy is complex and there is quite a bit of action.

There's plenty of real racing going on if you get away from the Pro-wrestling/demo-derby mind set.

[PAR35]

The ‘show’ associated with NASCAR may be on the level with the WWF, but the comparison stops there.

There was that driver who spilled the beans to the press a year or so ago. He was brought in for a talking-to, and backed away from the story, but never really recanted.

[Peter Horry]

I kind of liked it better when the cars resembled, and performed similar to those in the showrooms. Freddy Lorenzen thought that things were getting out of hand years ago, he quit. I believe there would be more “model identity” if the cars more closely resembled the cars they represent and had stock specifications with only safety and durability being the only allowed modifications. Then I am “old school” that remember Curtis Turner, Buck Baker, and Lee Petty in their prime.

[devane617]

I follow NASCAR daily and have not seen or read the story of the driver you refer too.

I assume you believe that NASCAR is scripted like the WWF. If that is the case, how could it be done?

You believe that Carl Edwards, two weeks ago in Talledega, leading the race on the last lap, at speeds in excess of 200+mph, flipped his car end-over-end, into the catch fence, and totally destroyed his race car to follow a script so another driver could win?

You believe that Mark Martin won the race last night because the other 42 drivers were following a script, and they kept the secret? And you believe this is the case week after week?

You believe Dale Earnhardt killed himself in Daytona on the last lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001 to fulfill the NASCAR mandated script?

If you believe this, then I have no argument for you.

[Professional Engineer]

He can kiss his career bye-bye.

Yeah, too bad he doesn't play something with a ball. He'd get a frickin bonus.

[cva66snipe]

I enjoyed the days of unlimited racing, when a Petty could show up with something like a Superbird and blow the doors off everybody, or a Yarbrough with an overhead cam monster motor, and no one pissed and moaned because the car didn’t fit some silly template. If you could still do that but include all the great safety advances that have been made people would come back in droves.

Marty Robbins once told a story about a joke he pulled on Richard Petty during a race. They were in a race and Robbins dropped out his restrictor plates and passed up Petty just to see the look on his face. Robbins promptly disqualified himself after doing so but said NASCAR frowned on it.

Yea I'd like to see it go back to being what cars the teams could build. I can understand safety but limiting the engines is ridiculous.

[cripplecreek]

The only team orders in NASCAR are try not to crash your teammate and don’t cause him to lose to anyone but yourself. Even those don’t always hold.

Last night I heard Carl Edwards sarcastically state “It sure is nice to be crashed by my teammate” after a bump from Biffle that sent him into the wall.

[MediaMole]

NASCAR isn’t scripted, per se, but they have plenty of questionable cautions to close up the field, green-white-checkered to ensure a racing finish, red flags when dozens of laps would be used up in yellows, the “free pass” to help get cars back on the lead lap.

They don’t care about getting any particular driver the win, they do mess around with the rules to bunch up the field and make all the races as close as possible. It actually hurts dominant drivers who would run away with the race without meddling from NASCAR. How many times has a driver lead 300 of 400 laps and lost the race?

It will be interesting to see what Mayfield was taking. If it was a steroid or similar, who cares, but if he was taking a recreational drug he should get a lifetime ban. There is no excuse for driving while impaired on the street or on the track.

[isom35]

ok I’ll ask, would he be taking a drug to stay awake? or?

[Peter Horry]

“ok I’ll ask, would he be taking a drug to stay awake”

Don’t know but I would guess, if it is not recreational, that it is a drug designed to limit fatigue and increase endurance (started to say stamina but that’s a whole different drug).... 500 miles with no breaks at those speeds is extremely taxing.

[Joe Boucher]

I have friends that went to Homestead for the seasons finale race or to one of several races in the south but it just got too expensive.
Tickets for a reasonable seat can be very expensive. Then there is getting to whatever venue, and some of them are not the easiest to get to.
Restrictor plate racing ugh,
moving in to areas not traditional while shunning those that brung ya there.

[devane617]

If ten different people were in charge of the caution flag switch, we would get ten different sets of cautions per race. It is a judgment call made by a human, but not to 'bunch the field' as you state.

To create scenarios that you mention may work once, or twice, but would eventually become very obvious to even the casual fan. That is not the case. When you have 43 cars running at speed anything can, and does, happen.

Think about it this way: What if an opportunity does not present itself to throw a questionable caution flag? Then what? To 'bunch' the field you would first have to have a field that needs 'bunching.' That in itself would be impossible.

As long as humans are in charge of the caution flag there will be some that say it is rigged. But, that is not the case.

[Yogafist]

Yeah, I saw that, very sad.