With the recent news of NASCAR racer Jeremy Mayfield failing a random drug test, it has brought to light a debate among racing fans, journalists, and competitors about the merits of drug testing in the world of racing.

I am 100 percent for random drug testing of professional racers and it’s something that other sanctioning bodies should take up, sooner rather than later. The reality is that professional racers need every ounce of their talent, bravery, and highly developed skills to compete and win. They also need those things to maintain the safety of the other competitors on the track. Someone racing a car at more than 200 mph in NASCAR or more than 300 mph in the NHRA while impaired in any way is completely unacceptable.

There are lots of people who object to drug testing because they claim that it intrudes on people’s private lives and decision making. That’s precisely what it does and in situations where someone’s job dictates that they perform work that puts others in danger, like say, driving a big rig. I want to know that the dude in the Kenworth didn’t polish off an eight-ball with his pals recently. The same goes for the racers.

Having spent a fair amount of time around the world of professional drag racing on both the NHRA and IHRA trails, I can attest to the fact that drivers range from ultra-religious teetotalers, to all out party animals. I also know that all of the competitors had respect enough for one another to not put themselves or anyone else in intentional danger by racing in an impaired state.

At the time this was being written it was not announced what Mayfield had been busted for, only that it was a substance that fell within the realm of stuff banned by NASCAR. It seems logical to assume that the drivers were not being tested for steroids, or so-called “performance enhancing drugs.” Instead I believe they were looking for recreational type drugs that would ultimately detract from the racers’ performance on the track. We also do not know the testing method as many drugs leave the body relatively quickly, so a urine sample would only be so good. If a hair sample was taken, the presence of drugs can be found for a longer period. The reality is that we do not know if Mayfield is paying for a mistake he made weeks before or hours before the test. In the end it doesn’t really matter.

Drugs have always been on the fringes of racing and, especially in drag racing, several teams during the 1970s and ‘80s existed on funds that were procured in the “pharmaceutical industry.” Many of those racers went to prison and spent long periods away from the sport, never to return to the level they were at when caught.

In modern times, Darrell Alderman was caught and plead guilty to federal charges tied to cocaine. That happened in 1992 and the NHRA announced an “indefinite suspension” after Alderman plead guilty to the crime. Alderman came back and was competitive again, but the sitgma from the arrest followed him for the rest of his career.

To the best of our knowledge, NHRA does not have an active random testing program in its professional ranks. The rule book has provisions for such testing as well as outlines on what can constitute a situation where they can request someone take a test, but we’ve neither seen nor heard of a pro driver being asked to whiz in a cup. It seems as good a time as any to get on the bandwagon.

I am all for personal freedoms and the ability to do what you want so long as it does not have an ill effect on me or my family. The old analogy is, “Your liberty ends where my nose begins,” meaning that you can do anything you’d like to do right up to the point where it harms me.

You can argue all day long that they never did drug testing in the past and it was never a problem, but it’s not an honest argument. There are wild stories of guys climbing into Stock Cars a couple of hours after they finished carousing the local ladies and were having trouble walking unassisted. Just because those guys didn’t wreck doesn’t mean that their sloppy actions did not cause someone else to or create a situation that ended up with someone else wadded up into the wall. The good old days were fast and loose. While that makes for great reading, it didn’t always make for the best environment for competition.

Jeremy Mayfield will drive a Stock Car again. This is the country of second chances. He’ll go to rehab, appear on magazine covers, television shows, and wherever else he can promote his comeback and someone will give him a ride for a race or two to get his legs back under him. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but it seems to be the pattern we are living in these days.

Come to think of it, we may not pass tat NASCAR drug test. They probably consider No-Doze a banned substance and we need at least one or two of those puppies to watch a race from start to finish.