(Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Jeremy Mayfield’s indefinite suspension after testing positive for a banned substance got one expert thinking, according to a news article posted by ESPN’s David Newton published on Tuesday morning.
Dr. Charles Yesalis, a Penn State Professor who has done studies on drug testing in the past, said suspending an athlete for an undefined substance wouldn’t go over well in the NFL, NBA, MLB, and other professional sports organizations—organizations with players’ unions.
“That just kind of violates your sense of fair play,” Yesalis told ESPN. “It never would fly in MLB or the NFL because they have a union.”
Along with franchising NASCAR, the idea of a drivers’ union has been tossed around for years, and the forgone conclusion is that it would be a bad idea. Even without a banned substances list out in the open and Mayfield’s positive test for a negative substance up in the air, it’s a bad idea.
NASCAR has been good about honoring the complaints of upset drivers—and if they want a list, they’ll eventually get it.
When the drivers said they wanted Lowe’s Motor Speedway repaved after a disastrous Coke 600 in 2005, they got it. When they wanted a safer car, they got it.
“The drivers don’t have a union, but if somebody did that to me (like NASCAR did to Mayfield) I’d go get a nasty lawyer. What if somebody in management or ownership doesn’t like you? They can use that as a weapon against you,” Yesalis told ESPN.
In the past, the only weapons NASCAR has used are those of second chance. In the case of former Busch Series drivers Shane Hmiel, a third chance to pass a drug test before Hmeil was banned from NASCAR competition.
Tyler Walker and Kevin Grubb were both reinstated after failing a test, too.
Right now, though, drug testing isn’t the priority for drivers who know they’re innocent, including Dale Earnhardt Jr. The driver of the No. 88 car was more concerned about the handling of his car than Mayfield’s positive test last weekend at Darlington.
“I don’t do drugs, so I don’t have nothing to worry about,” Earnhardt Jr. said.
The top levels of NASCAR’s management do listen. They need to keep the driving forces of America’s most prestigious racing series happy, and that’s the stars of the Sprint Cup Series.
Arbitration between NASCAR and its drivers isn’t needed.
Deep down, Brian France knows that NASCAR needs Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Kasey Kahne more than those drivers need NASCAR. The big guns already have money, fame, and talent, and could exercise the three in almost any racing series around the world if they wished.
So when someone decides it’s a bad idea to not know what tests positive and what over-the-counter medicines and supplements are approved by NASCAR, they’ll make a list.
Right now, though, drivers seem content with the system.
“That policy is in place, and it’s there for a reason,” Jimmie Johnson said. “If you use something that’s illegal, per the substance abuse policy, you get in trouble. It is what it is.”
The drug policy is what it is, just as NASCAR’s union-less existence of good communication and mutual respect is what it is.
And it’s working.
This article is also featured at SpeedwayMedia.com.
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