NASCAR's Credibility Continues To Erode In Mayfield Case

By Jerry Bonkowski
JerryBonkowski.com

Let me pose a hypothetical case to you.

Let's say you go out for a night on the town, have a few too many beers and try to drive home.

And, let's say that an observant cop sees you weaving and pulls you over.

Busted.

You know you're drunk, the cop knows your drunk, the folks watching you embarrass yourself on the side of the road while laughingly failing a battery of field sobriety tests know you're drunk.

But before you can perform the "official" test on a Breathalyzer machine back at the police station, the cop lets you get back in your car so that you can drive yourself to the police station to take that "official" test.

Ludicrous, right?

So, then, why in the world would NASCAR allow Jeremy Mayfield to practice and attempt to qualify at Darlington last weekend if it already knew he had failed a first test for having an illegal substance in his system, and were awaiting results of a second test – from the same exact sample that the first test was taken from?

Logic would tell you that if the test was positive the first time, and the second test sample is taken from the same, original specimen, the result of the second test would also be positive.

Ergo, Mayfield should not have been allowed to compete at Darlington, period.

Here's another hypothetical: let's say that the results from the second test didn't arrive in time, that Mayfield had actually qualified and made the race, and then miraculously somehow went on to win the race – only to be told the next day that he was being suspended indefinitely for use of a banned substance?

Fans would ask if NASCAR was crazy to let a guy drive if tests indicated he had illegal juice in him from a week earlier.

According to an unnamed source that spoke with the Associated Press on Thursday, both test results indicated that the substance within Mayfield system was NOT a performance-enhancing product.

That only gives more credence to Mayfield's explanation that he had both prescription and over-the-counter medications in his system, something that NASCAR's drug czar, Dr. David Black, ridiculously refuses to believe, even though it's a logical and reasonable explanation.

So, Mayfield "failed" both tests – and understandably so, if you follow Dr. Black's logic. Which then puts the ball in NASCAR's court.

As Ricky used to say to Lucy, "NASCAR, you'se gots some 'splainin' to do!"

How in the world can a sanctioning body that calls itself professional and legitimate allow an athlete to go out and potentially risk his life and the lives of his peers if he's already technically under indictment for testing positive for having an illegal substance in his system?

I don't care how NASCAR's PR gurus try to spin it, this new revelation in the Mayfield saga is just another example of the sanctioning body digging itself even deeper into the pile of dog doo-doo that this situation has devolved into.

The way I see it, NASCAR is either too proud – or too stupid – by continuing its refusal to reveal more pertinent facts. It keeps letting Dr. Black, who oversaw the tests to Mayfield, be the point person.

Why doesn't Brian France have the guts to say, "Enough," man up and address the media this weekend in Charlotte? Give specifics and particulars, Brian, instead of hiding behind your golden office door, sucking on your golden thumb – which, by the way, may very well be against NASCAR's substance abuse policy, too, since it seems pretty much everything else is.

And, unless I'm mistaken, sucking your thumb is also against NASCAR's own rules governing "actions detrimental to stock car racing."

In a courtroom, every witness is asked to swear on a Bible and vow to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. In NASCAR's case, it doesn't seem to care about getting to the truth -- or at least letting fans of the sport and the media know the real truth.

Any other pro sports league would likely turn over an investigation of this nature to an independent, outside source, but not NASCAR. It revels in its ability to be judge, jury and executioner all in one.

So now we're left with yet another example of NASCAR intentionally staying quiet for as long as it feels it has to, hoping that the critics will eventually be worn down by the wall of silence and that the whole fiasco will then simply blow over.

Sorry, but the only thing that's getting blown is NASCAR's credibility – what little, if any, it has left.