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

Testing 3 drivers per night you would not test all the drivers at Knoxville in 1 season. You may end up testing all but the 1 that is using! And if a driver should test positive he will get a lawyer and the track/sanction will have to prove his sample was not contaminated or mixed up with anouther between the track and the lab. More expense for the track/sanction. 

I can give you a clean sample then turn and go into my truck/trailer and snort a line of coke. So with your testing you still have a guy racing who is high!!

But the biggest problem is .... unless you can get the test results BEFORE the races start the guy who's sample is positive for drugs will race that night and may cause the fatality we all dread! Bang, anouther big lawsuit! The biggest effect of drug testing sprint car racers will be to make some lawyers a lot of money.

How are you going to test all the entries for the Knoville Nationals in time to get the results back before they race?

Lot and lots of problems trying to do this. The NFL has a lot of problems and has had lawsuits over their testing and they are a much more confined group with signed contracts and personal conduct policies in place. Nascar only has a certain number of drivers to contend with. With out a national policy enforced equaly at all tracks this would just be a huge can of worms. And the WoO has not shown a desire to lead and make decisions or policy so who will put the effort together nationaly!

People are hurt and killed every day by drivers that are drunk or on drugs on the highways of our country! Shoud we all be drug tested regularly in order to have a drivers license?

With money being tight for promoters, track owners and a lot of race teams perhaps a good question would be .... Who is going to pay for the testing if it is done? Labs do not do blood or pee tests for free. It is easy to say testing is needed but someone needs to figure out where the money to do it is going to come from first.

How much would it cost Knoxville Raceway to test 80 drivers? 

Or say all drivers must bring a clean test with them to be allowed to race? Then how do you know no cheating was done? NFL players have used masking agents to pass blood tests. 

Before I could say yes it should be done I would need to know how it would be done. Random? Every driver x# of times per season? Just WoO drivers or all that race with them? All drivers at the major sprint car tracks and series? Draw blood or take a pee sample at the track? Drivers required to have it done on their own by a doctor and lab chosen by the track or sanctioning body?

Once you say sprint car racers need to be drug tested there are a whole lot of other questions to be answered too! I sure hope your 5 part series covers some of the other issues involed here than just should it be done, is it needed and how to penalize those that fail a drug test.

Playing the devil's advocate....How would you enforce it in states with medical marijuana laws? Or drivers/crew members who are residents of Washington or Colorado?

The short of it is that racing is a voluntary event and the event manager can dictate what they wish.  

Playing the devil's advocate....How would you enforce it in states with medical marijuana laws? Or drivers/crew members who are residents of Washington or Colorado?

Playing the devil's advocate....How would you enforce it in states with medical marijuana laws? Or drivers/crew members who are residents of Washington or Colorado?

I'm in favor of mandatory drug testing in sprint car racing.  Most, if not all of the WoO drivers, want it and think it is time.  

the penalty could be from 1 race to months Depending on the policy set up.  An example....First offense, weekly testing and as long as the numbers continue to decrease (working itself out of the system), all is ok.  Seek a drug counciler for help, short suspension.  Second offense, longer suspension, more drug counciling.  Third offense, longer suspension, if not permanent.  Kind of like a three strike policy similar to NASCAR.

It doesn't cost as much as one might think. It cost $28.00 to test for all street drugs and synthetic drugs.  You don't have to test everyone every night.  What one could do is test 4-6-8 people each night of racing.  Maybe 3 drivers and three crew members...or three local drivers and three WoO (replace organization name here) each night.  That way it minimizes cost to the track/organization and deters every driver from taking drugs on the chance they might be tested.  Cost each night would be anywhere from $125.00 to $$250.00 each night of racing, depending on how many people you would want to test.  Now, I'm aware some things may need to be tweaked but this plan could/would work at minimal expense to the track/organization.

This is just one possibility.....My 2 cents worth.  

THE COST IS NOT THAT CHEAP, I WORK FOR A TRUCKING COMPANY AND IT COST'S US BETWEEN $125 TO $150 PER TEST. AND THE RESULTS ARE AT LEAST 2 DAYS OUT. NOW THERE ARE THE SWABS YOU CAN USE AND IF I AM RIGHT THEY ONLY CHECK FOR THE HARD STUFF AND THE REUKTS ARE RIGHT AWAY, BUT I DO NOT KNOW THE COST OF THEM. ALLCHOL TESTING WOULD BE EASY EVERYONE BLOWS WHEN THEY CK IN, I AM SURE THE COST OF A MACHINE IS HIGH BUT THERE MAYBE CHEAPER ONES OUT THERE THAT DO THE SAME JOB. JUST AN INSIGHT FROM THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY

Drug testing is only needed if a problem exists. Are those in favor of drug testing saying that they know for sure drugs are an issue among Sprincar drivers? Or is this just an assumption based on a couple bad apples? When was the last time drugs were an issue in a sprintcar racing incident AT THE TRACK? Please dont say Kevin Ward Jr. because Marijuana had zero to do with that incident, yes it may have been in his system, but aparently he wasnt too impared to race a 700 hp sprintcar and battle with one of the best ever, if thats what marijauna does to a driver they should all smoke (no pun intended).  Of all of the recent horrible on track fatalities (Kreamer williamson, Leffler) has drugs been an issue with any of them? Dont try to fix somthing thats not broken, unless someone is visably intoxicated or someone witnesses them drinking or using in the pits before a race, I think drug testing is an invasion of privacy and should be kept out of Sprintcar racing.

 Ibracin claimes all the Woo drivers are in favor of drug testing, what would you say if you were a casual pot smoker on the Woo tour and were asked about drug testing? Of course your gonna say your in favor so you dont look like a possible drug user. Why would you need to test a crew member? These guys dont have a right to privacy about what they put in their bodies because they work on a sprint car? Thats rediculous, what ever happened to our right to privacy?  Be careful what you wish for, maybe they will start to drug test fans as they come through the gate to make sure they dont hurt another fan while under the influence, and ban beer drinking at tracks, because those drunks could kill someone on the way home from the track. where does it end folks?

Drug testing is only needed if a problem exists. Are those in favor of drug testing saying that they know for sure drugs are an issue among Sprincar drivers? Or is this just an assumption based on a couple bad apples? When was the last time drugs were an issue in a sprintcar racing incident AT THE TRACK? Please dont say Kevin Ward Jr. because Marijuana had zero to do with that incident, yes it may have been in his system, but aparently he wasnt too impared to race a 700 hp sprintcar and battle with one of the best ever, if thats what marijauna does to a driver they should all smoke (no pun intended).  Of all of the recent horrible on track fatalities (Kreamer williamson, Leffler) has drugs been an issue with any of them? Dont try to fix somthing thats not broken, unless someone is visably intoxicated or someone witnesses them drinking or using in the pits before a race, I think drug testing is an invasion of privacy and should be kept out of Sprintcar racing.

 Ibracin claimes all the Woo drivers are in favor of drug testing, what would you say if you were a casual pot smoker on the Woo tour and were asked about drug testing? Of course your gonna say your in favor so you dont look like a possible drug user. Why would you need to test a crew member? These guys dont have a right to privacy about what they put in their bodies because they work on a sprint car? Thats rediculous, what ever happened to our right to privacy?  Be careful what you wish for, maybe they will start to drug test fans as they come through the gate to make sure they dont hurt another fan while under the influence, and ban beer drinking at tracks, because those drunks could kill someone on the way home from the track. where does it end folks?

The Ward incident wouldn't have happened if he was stopped! It was more bad light shed on out sport that wasn't needed, when we are trying to entice sponsors to the sport not scare them away! 

The threat of the random test deters the participants from using.  You don't have to test all of them but the threat that it could be done will deter most (probably not all) from using.  You test before, during, and after the night of racing.  The unpredictability of he test keeps the deterrent effective all night long.  There are ways around every rule/policy but having no policy make drug use in auto racing to easy.

I drug test daily and they are just that cheap...if your trucking company is paying that price for a drug test then they had better find a new company to use.  Now if you add in a steroid test, the price goes up.  $28.00 is what we pay for each drug test and like I said above, it tests for all street drugs as well as synthetic drugs.  Now the drug test kit (a plastic cup and 2 plastic containers that the urine gets poured into and seald that is sent into the lab which is in Tennessee) would add a little price to the test but not much.

Enough already with all this stupid drug testing talk. Sprint car racing is fine as it is. We dont need more regulations in this sport! The crap that was spread about Ward having cannabis in his system DOES NOT prove he was high that day AT ALL! Thats the god damned problem with all this drug testing non sense. You're going to expose a driver that you like ( I can guarantee there will be more than few) to a drug test that won't prove they're currently under the influence of cannabis but the test can still show residual levels from weeks before. Is this is the shitty world you idiots want to live in??? Good grief get another damn hobby and leave this sport alone.

Enough already with all this stupid drug testing talk. Sprint car racing is fine as it is. We dont need more regulations in this sport! The crap that was spread about Ward having cannabis in his system DOES NOT prove he was high that day AT ALL! Thats the god damned problem with all this drug testing non sense. You're going to expose a driver that you like ( I can guarantee there will be more than few) to a drug test that won't prove they're currently under the influence of cannabis but the test can still show residual levels from weeks before. Is this is the shitty world you idiots want to live in??? Good grief get another damn hobby and leave this sport alone.