With the “facts” presented by all sides being so diametrically opposite, it’s pretty clear that someone’s blatantly lying in the Jeremy Mayfield vs. NASCAR affair.
The cast of characters includes Mayfield; NASCAR; Dr. David Black and his Aegis Labs, which oversaw the initial testing of Mayfield, as well as a subsequent retest recently; and Lisa Mayfield, Jeremy’s stepmother, who claims to have witnessed him using methamphetamines more than 30 times over the years – yet did not turn her stepson into authorities.
Tuesday, another member was added to the menagerie: respected Broward County (Fla.) medical examiner Dr. Harold Schueler, who reportedly stated in an affidavit that the methamphetamine level allegedly found in Mayfield’s urine in testing by Aegis Labs not only was “astronomical,” but also “could not be remotely accurate, unless Mr. Mayfield was deceased or a chronic abuser,” according to the Associated Press.
Mayfield doesn’t look even remotely like a typical meth head, and he sure isn’t dead, so maybe Schueler is onto something there.
I can understand NASCAR being 100 percent behind Dr. Black and Aegis. The sanctioning body is paying Black and Aegis a lot of money to not only administer its drug testing program, but even more so for two other things:
To be honest and correct in their findings.
But with Tuesday’s story about Schueler’s affidavit coming to light, such a bold public statement by a respected medical professional casts things in a whole different light in my mind.
Let me give you a for-instance:
What do little kids do when they’re caught lying? They’ll either come clean and immediately tell the truth, or they’ll tell one lie on top of another to try and support the original falsehood.
It’s the same thing with spouses cheating on their wife or husband, businesses that blatantly rip off customers yet refuse to admit it, or politicians that try to cover up acts of corruption.
It’s when they’re finally caught, when they can’t lie any longer due to an overwhelming preponderance of evidence against them, that they throw themselves at the mercy of mom and dad, their spouse, their customers or voters – or yes, the court system – usually with tears in their eyes and sorrow and remorse for what they did.
Although I often wonder if it truly is because of remorse, or more so that they’re ticked at themselves for finally getting caught.
What if Aegis made an innocent mistake with the initial test of Mayfield, eventually realized it but decided not to make it public for fear of embarrassment and criticism of both itself and NASCAR, and then has continued to add “evidence” that supports its claims – but may not necessarily be truthful or accurate?
While NASCAR is right in standing up for Dr. Black and Aegis, at some point, and if additional independent test results from Mayfield’s camp and affidavits like Dr. Schueler’s continue to come to light showing Mayfield completely clean of drugs, NASCAR is going to be forced to look at that blind trust and faith it has in Aegis and Black and wonder if something might be amiss, either innocently or blatantly.
Sure, Mayfield had an “expert” come out on his side about a month ago whose credentials appeared suspect. I’ve wondered what happened to that “expert,” as he faded from view quicker than he came into it.
More recently, Mayfield has received endorsement from two sports anti-doping agencies that, like Schueler, were critical of NASCAR and Aegis.
With yet another true expert like Dr. Schueler coming out in defense of Mayfield, and I’m willing to bet even more will start coming forward to further back Schueler’s and Mayfield’s ascertations, NASCAR could wind up taking some huge criticism for the blind faith and trust it has put in Aegis and Black, particularly if Mayfield and his attorneys ultimately prove Aegis and Black unquestionably wrong.
Perhaps the best thing of all – the smartest thing, frankly – is instead of being so totally loyal to Aegis and Black, maybe NASCAR should bring in a second testing body to essentially make sure the first one didn’t make one very huge mistake, and then continued to add to it to cover it up.
And, if I were Dr. Black, who also has been stubbornly adamant that Aegis could not have made any mistakes, if I want to reaffirm my own credibility and that of my firm while also disproving any additional expert testimony or evidence from experts that Mayfield brings to the fore, I’d gladly welcome a second testing agency just to prove everything is correct and kosher with the first.
Because if it ultimately is found out that somehow Black and Aegis botched things and continued to do so to cover their respective butts, it’s going to cost NASCAR in so many ways, the least of which is the money Mayfield may be awarded by a judge or jury for defamation.
NASCAR already takes cars and motors back to its research and development center in Concord, N.C., for further inspection after each race, oftentimes with different officials involved in the secondary inspection there than at the race track, just to make sure that everything is above-board and up to snuff and that no team is in blatant violation of the sanctioning body’s rules.
It’s a checks and balances system that works.
Following that same thinking, really, what harm would it do if NASCAR were to bring in a second independent outside testing agency just to confirm what Aegis insists are the true facts?
If NASCAR were to do that and the results either were completely in line with or totally disproved Aegis’ findings, then we’ll come a lot closer to find out who truly is lying in this whole mess and who isn’t.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/22 at 12:56 AMJerry, quit being so darn logical.
Having a second testing agency is way too simple for NASCAR. Better yet, when a sample is taken it should be sent to both labs for analysis. The findings should be compared, and a decision made. Once the results are received; if, for any reason, the samples comeback with different levels of one or more items, the whole test should be void, and a second test ordered.
On top of that, NASCAR should not be making the call on who gets tested. The labs, working together as an independent testing agency, should be able to make the picks at random, including staff at the NASCAR offices and officials at the track. The labs, again working together, acquire and secure the samples as they are taken. In a sense, they would each be watching what the other is doing. On top of simple urine samples, hair, or blood samples, should be collected to be used in case a positive result occurs from the urine samples as a cross check.
I know, I know, this is all too logical, and makes far too much sense for NASCAR to ever use, but it sure was easy to come up with a better policy than the one in use now.
-Brian Battaglia – Taglia
Omaha, NE
I am going to stand behind NASCAR no matter what ,because they brought me over 5o years of what I wanted.
To be called every word in the book ,to be questioned on every move they make,to actually be called scum,to be blamed for everything wrong never prasied when right,put down by bloggers that for which there only purpose is to go to site to site to spread there word with no knowlegde of or actual concern for what they writeor what they write about.For all the “fans” of racing SIT down shut up this crap will blow over as always and you and me will once again enjoy are racing until the next couch potatoe quarterback wakes up and starts some more crap you and me TRUE DEVOTED RACE FANS dont give a rats ass about
I thought that when the judge lifted Mayfield’s ban, that he, the judge, should have chosen a credible, independent lab to have all of Jeremy’s future tests performed at, instead of either Aegis or one of Jeremy’s choosing. That to me, would have ended this mess once and for all. Instead it’s still Jeremy vs. Aegis. If I were the judge then I would have taken Aegis out of the equation immediately. Now of course the judge would have had to have made sure that the lab performing the tests was top notch because it’s my understanding that testing for meth is a complicated process, one that not all labs go to the necessary lengths to test for. Some are questioning whether the Labcorb that Jeremy used goes through the necessary steps to confirm the presence of meth in a sample. And of course the judge would have to order someone to observe Jeremy giving his sample every time as to prevent Jeremy from sneaking someone else’s sample in instead. If all of that had been done though, then this mess could have been over by now. Either an independent test shows that Jeremy is clean and that the first test was indeed a false positive or it confirms what Aegis’s results show and that Jeremy is on meth and needs help. So I think that the judge really dropped the ball here when he allowed Aegis to conduct another test on Jeremy. All that has done is create more confusion and dragged this mess on even longer. If Aegis had been taken out of the equation then this would probably be over by now.
You certainly had this part right:
“...Although I often wonder if it truly is because of remorse, or more so that they’re ticked at themselves for finally getting caught. “
I wonder when Jeremy will realize that he’s been caught?
NASCAR did send the samples to an independent lab, MedTox in Minnisota, and the results came back “identical.”
When will you do a column explaining how his test results are coming up clean for amphetamines, when Jeremy has already acknowleded Adderall use?
I AGREE WITH KERORV/TAGLIA N J ALL POSTS ARE PRETTY MUCH ON, I JUST GOT ONE QUESTION,DO YOU REALLY CARE ENOUGH OF NASCAR RACING TO WANT THIS OVER?
I KNOW SOME WANT NASCAR TO FAIL BIG PUT THEM IN THERE PLACE [WHERE EVER THAT MIGHT BE?]DESTROY RACING HAVE PUTT PUTT AUDIS RUNNNIG WITH GAY BLACK DRIVERS AND SO ON
AND PEOPLE LIKE ME JUST WANT MY RACING BACK A LIL BITCHING HERE N THERE BUT I JUST WANT MY RACING HOW ABOUT YOU.
I work very closely with Dr Schueler and let me tell you something about this man. His ethics are impecable. I recently saw some numbers atributted to JM’s test and wondered to myself if it was someone playing a terrible joke. Those numbers couldn’t be true unless someone added meth to the urine sample. I was on the fence about this before but now I’m backing JM.
I definitely want this whole chapter in NASCAR history to be over. At the same time, I want the guilty party punished to the full extent of the law.
Did you notice how I didn’t indicate who the “guilty party” is?
At this point I am just reserving judgment until this whole soap opera plays out. One day I read a story and think Jeremy is innocent, then the next day a read a story and think he’s guilty. I don’t know what to believe anymore.
Check out:
The Daly Planet
Stock Car Science
NASCAR did send the samples to an independent lab, MedTox in Minnisota, and the results came back “identical.”
When will you do a column explaining how his test results are coming up clean for amphetamines, when Jeremy has already acknowleded Adderall use?
Would you trust NASCAR, if they still had the original two samples? I would wonder which samples were sent. Did Jeremy initial and see which samples were sent to MedTox??
I agree with Kenorv. Why couldn’t court or even Jeremy’s attorney stop all this bs by having someone court appointed - having nothing to do with NASCAR and NASCAR not knowing who or when this court appointed person who request a urine sample along with hair samples.
The contining saga is getting dumber by the day. Mayfield’s arrogance is showing more and more - part of what keeps getting in trouble and NASCAR…well being NASCAR…the ever pompous corporate entity that’s it WWF show continues to loose tv viewers along with fans at the track.. Go Brian Go….just make your dad and granddad roll in their graves…
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