Harvick wants random drug testing in all series

[harvick#1]

http://www.thatsracin.com/242/story/5441.html

[Galveston dunes]

At the speeds there going I would have thought they allready had random testing in place.I think it should be a mandatory deal in ALL sports.Natural ability not robotic funtion.

[Sparky1329]

I agree with him. A race track is no place for an impaired driver. Most people are subjected to random drug testing as a condition of employment. If NASCAR was proactive rather than reactive random drug testing would already have been implemented. There's no excuse for not having a serious policy.

[blakebeatty]

for Harv to bring this up... I wonder if there is significant drug use out there?

[Aussie12]

How far will NASCAR take their drug testing policy? Just illegal drugs or should they include “performance enhancing” drugs as well? What is a performance enhancing drug for a NASCAR driver? Are steroids to be banned even if they are only to assist with the healing of an injury? Can painkillers be taken? Will the drug policy vary from week to week and driver to driver? Questions questions questions...

[Jonesi]

I suspect Nascar may be somewhat gun shy on drug testing considering the embarassment they suffered over Tim Richmond's (faked) false positive. Back in the 80s they were still treated like a small regional organization by the media. If something like that reoccured today they would never recover from it.

[Sparky1329]

for Harv to bring this up... I wonder if there is significant drug use out there?

Good point. Unless somebody reported their suspicions to NASCAR who would know?

NASCAR could hire an independent testing company like most businesses do. I don't know why they're dragging their feet on the issue.

[ShadowCar]

There's got to be some kind of informal policy in place, though, because when Junior got burned in 04 he had to stop taking pain medication on Wednesday before the race. He didn't want any question about his ability to drive so would something like that be under "random" testing?

My only qualm is how convoluted NASCAR makes everything in general. I could just see a whole mess come out of this but I agree, there's no place for it on a track going 200 mph!

[blakebeatty]

As much as there are complaints about the way NASCAR handles penalties and issues, there is nothing but consistency here... ZERO TOLERANCE

[Mark in Oshawa]

This is one of the few areas where NASCAR is YEARS ahead of all the professional sport in the US and a lot of Amateur sport. I commend the for their efforts, and look at a few of the young turks in the sport they have nailed with or have been caught by the law for stuff like Cocaine and Heroin. It does make you wonder what makes these guys think they can do serious drugs and be in racing.

If only the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL so open and transparent about their drug testing.