Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

As much as a applaud WRG for drug testing, I have more questions now though. I think there is a misconception on they type of drug testing that is going to take place. Commonly we hear about drug testing in athletics, IBracn probably knows way more and can shed light but from what I understand is that along with testing for Marijuna, cocaine, and drugs of that nature there are also performance enhancing drugs like steroids. 

I would like to think that recreation type drugs would not improve the performance of a driver, I also dont think that PED steroids would increase the performance of a driver, so to me it would seem like a waste of time and money to test for PED, I dont know, 

My question is what about the cognative enhancers? Caffene and Nicotine are legal drugs people use every day, there are prescriptions people use every day such as adderall, if you have a prescription what stops you from taking it? Would something like cognative enhancers make drivers better?

While it seems like a good first step from the side facing everyone who is looking, the backside seems openended. Could just be be though.  

Anyone else have thoughts?

Firstly take a look at your co-workers and tell me how effective drug testing is? I personally know construction workers who get tested for every job and get high on the way to the tests!!

That aside, testing in racing is for SAFETY!! Being drunk, stoned, high in a 900+ HP car is just asking for problems. I don't see where any PEDs would be beneficial in racing. Athletes use those mainly for healing from training/long seasons/ injuries. Car owners like lean lightweight drivers, not roided up line backers. 

another thought, the fulltime drivers on the WOO series probably arent worried as much about each other as they are about the locals. there is still a lot of "grass root" weekend racers that aren't as dedicated to the sport that will def make you question what they do for recreational fun!! 

You're looking at it from the wrong angle.  This isn't a "performance enhancing" move, this is a "safety / impairment" type move.  I'm also sure there are provisions in place for perscription type drugs (with proper documentation obviously) (you mention adderall) and things such as caffeine and nicotine.  Those latter two do not typically lead to impairment (I guess unless you pop a ton of Vivarin, but then your caffeine levels would be off the charts) and while they may aid in focus are not necessarily "performance enhancing."  Full time drivers (who taking a cursory glance at reactions via social media and articles have pretty much all applauded this move) whether its the WoO, All Stars, KWS, true outlaws, etc. will abide because it's their job.  Weekend racers maybe not, but then they just don't show up to a WoO sanctioned event...

The drug testing is because of the Kevin Ward situation. They are worried about someone being high or drunk while driving. If they do a piss or blood test, they can fail somebody who smoked weed three weeks prior. So for example,  john doe gets high at a party on June 10th. Nowhere near a racetrack. And because marijuana stays in your system for roughly a month, john doe  is disqualified for the kings royal. That is NOT right. Nor does it affect the drivers ability to race. The only reason they are doing this is because of the bad press from the Kevin ward deal. If it didn't come out that he was smoking weed before he climbed in a car, we wouldn't even be having this discussion. And by the way, I've been in the pits around race teams my whole life and 95% of the drug problems come from guys in the support classes. So what happens when they only test the WoO drivers at the track and then a late model or street stock driver gets fucked up, climbs in a car and kills someone? What happens then?  They're still sweeping the majority of the problem under the rug just to cover their ass. This is going to be a circus I promise you.

As for your last sentence, are they testing support class drivers?

Then don't smoke weed a month before the kings royal to guarantee you can race or risk it and smoke. Its up to you if you want to take that chance or not.

This is gonna turn into another Tweekers verses Straight People post.

You smoke or shoot or snort, you don't drive. Pretty simple.

I agree with Big Slim, just don't do drugs and you don't have to worry about all this. Seems pretty simple to me. Come to the track and race, have a few beers and go home. Why is that so hard? Maybe an IQ test would help more than a drug test. You can't fix stupid!

Reading some of these posts i'm guessing these same people are perfectly fine with people running nuclear plants, refineries, airplanes, tractor trailers, school buses, surgeons, etc while under the influence of drugs and or alcohol too....

if it is illegal to drive a car 55 mph while you are screwed up...who wants to be on the track at 130 mph with a screwed up driver?

Tony Stewart clearly won in court by making this case...

Lincoln 1845 ft/.35 mile T1=118MPH 
Eldora 2287 ft/.43mile T3=135MPH
Port 2716 ft/.51 mile T3=TBD
Grove 2792 ft/.53 mile T3=135MPH
Selinsgrove 2847 ft/.54 mile T1=136MPH
"I didn't move to PA from El Paso in search of better 
weather." Van May

Damn, I thought this was about testing the purity of drugs, oh well  

ps does drinking beer the night before and having a huuuuuuge hangover constitute violating the drug abuse policy.  The most abused and dangerous drug, that kills people on and off the road is alcohol.  just saying

from a former casual drinker and  non street drug user.  (I still have a few drinks a year, cuz you know what they say about someone who doesn't drink (other than alcoholic's)  don't trust them.  Look at last few presidents, didn't they all try street drugs?  Are new president has never had a drop of alcohol in his life, damn I shouldn't have said that.  It doesn't matter if you drink or not, use some street drugs or not.  But I hope we can all agree its not good to have anyone high from anything (alcohol, pain meds, or street drugs) while driving street cars or racing.  I've seen a midget driver thinking he wasn't racing that night, kicking back and drinking some beer, than get a ride, and flip his new ride racing that night.  I grew up watching sprint cars in the 70's, and I gotta say I was a little disappointed when i learned some of them smoked a little weed.   As I get older, I get less judgemental about some things and judgemental (iike driving high).  I've driven when I likely had too much to drink.  THANK GOD I never injured anyone, nor even dent my car.  I never take a drink if I know I am driving, just makes life easier

Anyway, I applaud the attempt to monitor the drivers.  There will be some mistakes along the line.  It's a priviledge to race sprint cars, not a right.

cheers  any attempt at humor is just that, 

Wow! Surgeons and sprint car drivers, if you say so. I don't think this has anything to do with being fine with drivers being under the influence, of course nobody wants that. Other than Kevin Ward Jr, who was driving the wheels of the car and holding off one of the best to ever strap in, name me the other on track accidents or deaths that were caused by a driver under the influence. Somthing as inexpensive as mandatory halo cross bars would have saved countless lives and reduced the severity of many injuries but the WoO decided to urine test. Bottom line, this has nothing to do with saftey, the WoO is trying to appease our societies need to make everything a "safe space".  Piss test all you want it won't make racing any safer than it was before. 

Cmon man, tweekers? Im pretty sure everyone in the pits would know it if someone was tweeking on meth. The main issue is marijuana. Alcohol is far more destructive and can impair someone to the point of death, marijuana can impair you to sleep. Thats why its being legalized across the country. As has been stated countless times on here, marijuana stays in your system for up to 30 days or more. I wonder what some of you would be saying if beer stayed in your system 30 days and a driver got DQ'd for beer that he drank last month, would that be fair? Hell no!  So open your mind a little Slim, this is not a black and white issue, lots of gray area that needs to be considered before lumping snorters shooters and smokers together, I'm guessing you drink alcohol since you left it out of your simple view of this situation. Yeah alcohol is a drug too, kills more people and ruins more lives than all the smokers, shooters and snorters put together.

Thats pretty funny coming from "Oppermanfan"! Jan Opperman was probably the first big herb smoker in sprint car racing, right?

Yea, don't be lumping us peaceful, groovy ganja smokers in with "Tweakers"... that means meth heads or as we used to call them, "speed freaks".  Not in the same category as "snorters & shooters" by a long shot, either

All that nasty stuff is out of your system in a few days, & ONCE AGAIN, herb stays in your fat cells for a month, you can test positive and be totally straight

Nobody would smoke herb before racing... you'd chicken out & let everybody pass

Yeah & his biggest critic / competitor did like 5 years in the pen for what ?

Drug and weapons charges I believe. That from one who was early on considered the clean cut upstanding racer. KW.

Good point and they'd probably pull off in the middle of a race and head to the concession stand for some munchies. 

Since this conversation is dealing with the subject of the dangers of racing under the influence I've got a couple of true confessions from my youth back in the 60's and early 70's. 

In the late 60's we used to get smoked up and drive around checking out the Christmas lights.  I remember everyone piling in the car a couple of times when the snow was coming down heavy and there weren't many other cars on the road except for us kids.  I hate to admit it but it brings back fond memories because I got lucky when we got back to the apartment.  The result that Christmas tree lights smokathon is sitting in the dining room with cup of coffee looking at her computer right now.  Ah yes, the dangers of weed, over 45 years of marriage, 4 kids and 7 grandkids because of getting smoked up and driving around looking at Christmas lights.  I hope my story scares any users who happen to be reading this straight. 

Turn the page up a couple years to 1972 on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier.  I ran the port catapult (left side for you sand crabs) deckedge controls and pushed the button that fired the catapult.  The guy who ran the starboard (right side for you land lubbers) catapult was very fond of the Turkish hash he was getting from a German hippie chick whenever we'd get liberty in Barcelona.  Now to put it in perspective this was before testing had been developed so aside from an occasional dog going through the cat machinery compartments trying to  catch a whif over grease and hydraulic fluid there wasn't much of a deterrent. 

I want to make it clear that I didn't partake before flight ops but the starboard deckedge operator and some of the hookup guys were stoned to the gills during some of the launches.  Hookup is when cat crewmen go underneath a jet and hook it up to the cat.  Take one wrong step running out from under an  aircraft when it's turned up and your boondockers (boots) sicking out of a jet intake will be all that's left of you.  Our cat PO saw a guy get sucked up into an A7, had the pilot cut the throttle and pulled the guy out.  The jet engine sucked out his eyeballs and pulled his guts out his mouth so you get the idea, it was very dangerous work.

Anyways, now I'm a 65 year old who doesn't even drink beer anymore and I can look back at some of the things I did in my younger days and wonder how I survived (I think we can all say that).  Fortunately nobody got hurt, we lost some planes and a couple pilots due to mechanical failure but nothing that could be attributed to the aforementioned indiscretions.

So yeah, I'm on board for testing of WoO drivers but I'm guessing that we'll go through this first season with zero positives.  It's a different day and age, the Opperman era is over and I think these drivers making a living in Sprint Cars today know the stakes.  Drivers are much more professional now than they were in my youth, they've got to be on account of the amount of money involved and speed of these cars.  On the other hand am I going to get freaked out about weed and lump it together with all the hard stuff mentioned in this thread?  No.  The truth lies somewhere between the folly of my youth and the hysteria expressed by some in this thread. 

Stan Meissner