(Or, why NASCAR is better than other professional sports.)
It's not like Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s new interim crew chief Steve Hmiel doesn't have enough on his mind. Now his son Shane has gone and gotten himself kicked off the NASCAR series for the rest of this and next season.
Bad for 'Shame' Hmiel, good for NASCAR. Hmiel's suspension was consistent with Association's effective, anywhere/anytime policy on this...
At this point, each person who competes in NASCAR-sanctioned events must review the Policy, and he must sign an acknowledgement that he has read the Policy. Of course, any use, possession, purchase or sale of illegal drugs is strictly prohibited by the Policy. But NASCAR's Policy goes further. It permits NASCAR to ban any substance, or the use of any substance, even if legal or medically indicated, that may affect adversely the safety and well being of competitors, officials and/or spectators or the performance of competitors or officials at a NASCAR event.
It's effective because it's fair, it's tough, it's enforced, it doesn't play favorites and it maintains the integrity of the sport.
NASCAR takes safety very seriously--and rightly so--and the last thing they're gonna let happen is let someone under the influence of anything besides their ego get behind the wheel on their watch.
By the way, my mom has been going on the past few weeks about how Jimmie Johnson's nothing-is-ever-my-faultness has been wearing on her. I either hadn't been paying attention or hadn't been bothered by this... But I did raise an eyebrow when I read his comment about this...
"I think it's the employer's obligation to test [for abuse of illegal substances],” said Johnson. “I don't think it's NASCAR's responsibility. In our form of sport, we are not using our bodies physically to make the cars perform. We don't have any type of drug policy or evaluation that's taking place to find anything like that, like you would in the NFL, NBA and other sports that test people."
I never heard anything so dumb come from a driver. I could be here all night pointing out the flaws of this (huge potential for offenders to escape accountability), but I'll spare you (it's hard) and narrow it down to this...
Marijuana affects many skills required for safe driving: alertness, the ability to concentrate, coordination, and reaction time. These effects can last up to 24 hours after smoking marijuana. Marijuana use can make it difficult to judge distances and react to signals and sounds on the road. There are data showing that marijuana can play a role in crashes.
Ok?
Now let's consider that they are using their bodies physically to make 3,000 pound metal heatboxes go around in circles 200 mph within inches of 42 others doing the same.
I wonder if Jimmie Johnson's calculated the risks of this...
Tag: NASCAR has the best drug policy in sports.
Someone needs to test Jimmy for brains.
Posted by: Joe Greenlight | June 23, 2005 at 07:44 AM
We know Jimmy has brains because unlike all other pilots of any vehicle anywhere ever, Jimmy uses telekinesis, rather than his body, to drive.
Posted by: Aaron | June 23, 2005 at 02:06 PM