The recent arrest of Craftsman Truck Series driver Aaron Fike on charges of heroin possession has brought new calls for NASCAR to toughen its drug-testing policies.
Driver Kevin Harvick, who Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will try to win the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard for a second time, has been outspoken in favoring mandatory testing.
“I believe every driver in every national series should be drug tested a couple times a year randomly, regardless of who you are,” Harvick said recently.
July 24, 2007
Frankly, the numbers suggest that drugs aren’t rampant in NASCAR. Five drivers, none of them Nextel Cup competitors, have tested positive in five years. The numbers are higher in other sports, especially when it comes to steroids, substances that have not been detected in the garage area – for now.
But if NASCAR has been relatively clean when it comes to drugs, perhaps it would be a smart move to make it cleaner. And random drug testing might be the best method. At least it would be a proactive move rather than a reactive one. Steve Waid, SceneDaily.com
July 21
Denial, denial, denial.
That’s how Charles E. Yesalis, a Penn State health policy professor and sports drug expert, describes NASCAR’s mind-set when it comes to the belief that it doesn’t need a more stringent drug-testing program.
“Every sport organization, and I’ve been doing this for almost 30 years, has been at one point or another in a period of denial,” said Yesalis, who has testified six times on Capitol Hill for issues involving drugs and steroids in sports. “The NCAA. The NFL. The Olympics. You name it. Hell, the NCAA and NFL are still beating that crap. David Newton, ESPN.com
July 20
“I believe every driver and every national series should be drug tested a couple times a year randomly regardless of who you are and what you’re doing. Shame on NASCAR for not policing our garage better than what they police it right now.”
By Bill Whitehead in TC Palm
July 19
The only tweaking that NASCAR might want to think about is perhaps doing a few surprise drug tests every week, and not just the drivers. Test some team members, some of the pit crew, heck, check the person that answers the phone back at the shop. It’s not just the drivers that are at risk of getting sucked into the pits of drug abuse…it’s everyone, in every capacity. Amy Hair, Cup Scene Daily
July 19
John Schwarb from ESPN.com: In a courtroom outside Cincinnati, Aaron Fike will stand for his first court hearing Thursday on charges of drug abuse and possession of drug paraphernalia.
No matter what a judge says, for Fike, the damage is already done.
In the wake of an arrest two weekends ago at a Cincinnati-area amusement park, where the 24-year-old Fike and his 21-year-old fiancée, Cassandra Davidson, were found in a sport utility vehicle with syringes and what police believed to be heroin, a promising Craftsman Truck Series season and young career were lost.
David Newton from ESPN.com: Kevin Harvick questioned NASCAR’s drug testing policy after Craftsman Truck Series driver Aaron Fike was arrested and charged with possession of drugs last weekend.
“I believe that every driver and every national series should be drug tested a couple of times a year randomly regardless of who you are, what you are doing,” Harvick said on Friday at Chicagoland Speedway.
“We owe it to the sponsors and the fans to 100 percent know this is a clean environment. It would eliminate a lot of those problems of the younger guys that disrespect the sport and the system.”
Unlike a lot of sports that randomly test for drugs during a season, NASCAR has a preseason test and then randomly tests the rest of the season based on suspicion.
July 13
Jane Miller of the Journal Star: Don Fike was as shocked as anyone to learn his younger son, Aaron, had been arrested Saturday on drug-possession charges.
“I had no idea,” Don Fike said Wednesday afternoon at his office. “I don’t think anyone did - not NASCAR, not his race team or his crew chief. There just wasn’t any indication.”
July 12
Auto Racing Daily: Aaron Fike, driver of the No. 1 Toyota in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, has been suspended indefinitely from NASCAR for violating Section 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing) of the 2007 NASCAR Rule Book. The violation occurred July 7.
July 10
Scene Daily reports: Red Horse Racing officials announced Monday that David Green would drive the No. 1 Toyota in this weekend’s Built Ford Tough 225 Craftsman Truck Series race at Kentucky Speedway.
Green replaces regular driver Aaron Fike, who was arrested on drug charges in Ohio over the weekend.
July 9
Josh Stewart, Long Island Press: Former up-and-comer Shane Hmiel failed three NASCAR-administered drug tests before receiving a lifetime ban from the sport, but something tells me that Fike won’t get his last two strikes. Even if NASCAR was ever to reinstate him after the Siberia-like expulsion he will soon receive for his July 7 arrest on heroin possession in Ohio, no owner would ever touch him again.
In racing, there are more good drivers than there are good rides. So there has never really been the motivation to provide the second chance for that middle reliever or nickel cornerback under the weak pretence of giving a misguided soul some “structure in life.”
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