Some may be wondering what the top priority on Manny Ramirez’s to-do list is now that he’s not going to be doing anything for the next 50 games of the Major League Baseball season, while others may not even care.
But if Ramirez is at least a little smart — and that may be a stretch — he’s looking for Jeremy Mayfield’s address to add to his Christmas card list as you read this week’s column.
Mayfield did Ramirez a huge favor last weekend by testing positive for a banned substance in a NASCAR-mandated random drug test; he took some of the heat off the embattled Los Angeles Dodgers slugger, who himself was suspended for 50 games after testing positive for a drug on MLB’s banned substance list.
NASCAR instituted its new, more stringent random drug testing policy in the offseason, and Mayfield is the first driver to test positive under the new policy, although NASCAR officials have been tightlipped as of yet about what exactly for what drug Mayfield has tested positive.
According to media reports, under the new testing policy, NASCAR crews, including drivers, crew chiefs, spotters and race-day support staff and pit crew members all must submit to random testing for several amphetamines, ephedrine-based drugs, narcotics, 10 possible benzodiazepines and barbiturates, marijuana, cocaine, zolpidem, nitrites, chromates and drugs “that can increase specific gravity.”
Testing is done if there is a “reasonable suspicion” that would warrant such testing.
According to a NASCAR press release issued on Saturday, Mayfield, and crew members from one other Sprint Cup race team, as well as a crew member from a Nationwide Series team, were each suspended for violating Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and 7-5 (violation of the NASCAR substance abuse policy) of the 2009 NASCAR rule book.
Mayfield allegedly failed a test that was given to him at Richmond International Raceway two weeks ago and failed to qualify for last weekend’s race at Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Mayfield has tried to downplay the positive result by saying he was taking two different allergy medicines that, when combined, would produce a positive result, but David Black of Tennessee-based Aegis Labs, which handles the NASCAR drug testing, told USA Today on Monday that the explanation is just not plausible.
Mayfield’s excuse is already filled with holes, and now he needs to be made an example of.
Whereas steroids in MLB lead to tainted records, a whole lot of suspicion and the destruction of individual careers, drug use in stockcar racing is much, much worse.
NASCAR’s swift response in taking away Mayfield’s ability to drive has been a great first step, but now it must act even further.
If NASCAR is going to back up its argument that its drug testing policy is the best in sports, then it needs to make an example out of Mayfield and suspend him for the rest of the season, and maybe even longer. A true one-year ban from racing and mandatory drug rehab may be just the statement to make NASCAR’s drivers, crew members and race-day personnel think twice about screwing up.
Drivers aren’t just hurting themselves when they get behind the wheel while under the influence of a controlled substance. They can severely hurt, or even kill, others.
NASCAR has had too many accidental deaths over the years, and a death as a result of a driver under the influence would put a permanent black eye on the sport forever.
Major League Baseball has shown the professional sports world what bad can come from turning a blind eye. NASCAR can now take the lead in fighting drug use among its athletes and provide some sort of silver lining in this whole mess. Now is the time to act. Now is the time to keep setting the standard even higher. The professional sports world doesn’t need any more black eyes.
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2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Points Standings
Rank…Driver…Points…Behind
1.…Jeff Gordon…1601…---
2.…Tony Stewart…1572…29
3.…Kurt Busch…1546…55
4.…Jimmie Johnson…1465…136
5.…Denny Hamlin…1445…156
6.…Jeff Burton…1384…217
7.…Kyle Busch…1380…221
8.…Ryan Newman…1363…228
9.…Greg Biffle…1345…256
10.…Matt Kenseth…1326…275
11.…Mark Martin…1316…285
12.…Carl Edwards…1271…330
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