Champs, Chumps & Sleepers Play Our Free Fantasy Game & Win Prizes!

One of the prominent topics in sports these last few years has been drug abuse and drug testing. NASCAR has a “”zero tolerance” drug policy, and testing positive can lead to a suspension of indefinite length. What NASCAR doesn’t have is a random testing policy. Personally, I feel this is a mistake. Relying upon observation skills of track officials, or whistle blowers on the teams, to detect suspicious behavior just doesn’t cut it for me. I agree with Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick that there should be completely random drug tests each season. I’d take it a step further and put it with an outside agency to perform and police. There are far too many lives at risk, both on and off the track. One thing I’ve not heard a lot of talk on is if the teams themselves have random drug testing. If they do, can NASCAR trust them to self police? And who tests the NASCAR officials, or are they tested? Speaking of trust, what is the chance that some track official or rent-a-cop with a dislike for a driver doesn’t decide to say that Kasey Kahne’s actions off the track are “suspicious”, or that Steven Wallace’s smacking the post on pit row isn’t “suspicious” and thus, possibly drug related. Granted, I do have more faith in the officials than that, and I have more faith in Steven Wallace too. But I guess I am playing devil’s advocate a bit here. What if it’s worse than this? What if NASCAR itself uses drug testing as means to unjustifiably remove a competitor from Cup competition? As we reach car #25 on the countdown to the Daytona 500 we’ll see that it’s not entirely impossible, and in fact has happened.

Stats for all cars running the #25:

• Number of Races: 1,303
• Number of Wins: 21
• Number of Top 5s: 123
• Number of Top 10s: 340
• Number of Poles: 37
• Number of Drivers: 88

Spotlight Subject: Driver Tim Richmond

I consider myself a longtime fan of NASCAR. Sure there were times in my youth where I was more interested in G.I. Joe and later, girls. I’ve always been a fan of NASCAR though, even if I didn’t keep up with it to the level I do today. So how is that I remember little to nothing about Tim Richmond? Eight years, 185 races with 13 wins, 42 top fives and 78 top tens, yet it’s like I missed him somehow. Oh, I have since familiarized myself with Tim Richmond, and it seems that his place in NASCAR is one that NASCAR would just as soon forget. But while doing the research on him for this spotlight I learned even more details about him and how NASCAR really damaged this man’s character, public image, and emotional well being. And it started with a suspension from a drug test.

Tim Richmond was a hard driving and hard living individual with a different style in NASCAR. Tim’s style was more like an Armani suit with a Rolex watch and snake skin boots vs. the typical jeans and cowboy hat of some other NASCAR drivers at the time. Tim was “cool” back in those days, and he hung out with friends in various social circles from truck drivers to millionaires. It’s reported that Tim had a tuxedo already custom made in anticipation of winning the Cup championshp. With it, he had a silk shirt with a checkered flag pattern that he was to wear with it. In 1986 Tim would make a move to drive for Rick Hendrick and begin his championship title hunt. That ‘86 season would become his last full season in Cup racing. Driving the #25 Folger’s Coffee car, by the thirteenth race Tim would get his first win for Hendrick, along with 6 top tens. By the time the 1986 season was over, Tim would have a season best record in the Cup garage with 7 wins and 8 pole position starts. However his title hunt would come up short. He would finish third in the standings, a mere six points out of Darrel Waltrip in 2nd, while Dale Earnhardt would win the championship.

As the season closed on 1986 Tim would be diagnosed with HIV. At this point in history very little was known about the disease and the impact it would have on society. Those who were aware of the disease knew it was very scary, and with it came the worst prognosis. Rick Hendrick hadn’t even heard of HIV when he was informed of Tim’s condition during the off season. Due to his deteriorating health Tim would miss the 1987 season opener Daytona 500 and state the reason being pneumonia. With that, the rumors began to fly. Some, always suspicious of his “Hollywood-like” lifestyle, began to say it was drug abuse, or cancer, and yet other’s suspected HIV/AIDS and assumed a homosexual lifestyle or drug abuse as the means of contracting the virus.

Tim would make it back to the track later in 1987, and he would do it in grand fashion by winning his first two races back on the circuit (Pocono & Riverside). However, those would be his last wins and he would race only a total of 8 races in the 1987 season. NASCAR had developed it’s first drug testing policy and some felt it came about because of Tim Richmond. Tim took NASCAR’s test. However, six weeks earlier Tim stopped taking all of his prescribed medication for treating his HIV infection (so it wouldn’t show up on NASCAR’s test). He also had his own doctor test him prior to taking NASCAR’s test to make sure it was clean. It wouldn’t matter though. After taking NASCAR’s drug test they suspended him indefinitely for testing positive for a banned “substance.” It absolutely devastated Tim, but he demanded another test. After nearly a week NASCAR had retested Tim and would announce that his first test actually showed nothing more than over-the-counter cold medicine, and the second test was indeed clean too.

Tim would eventually file a lawsuit against NASCAR for defamation of character. However, he later withdrew the suit after NASCAR countered his suit by requiring him to surrender records of his personal information from the previous eight years. This was to include all tax returns, drug tests and medical records (including psychological and counseling visits). NASCAR reportedly also were prepared to put Richmond’s friends under oath to learn more. Tim was a vain individual and couldn’t stand for people to see him in his deteriorating condition. Also, considering the stigmata that came with HIV, Tim withdrew the suit rather than to subject himself and his friends to such public scrutiny. At 5:12am on August 13, 1989 Tim Richmond passed away.

I found several internet articles with more information on Tim Richmond’s career and personal struggles with NASCAR. One such article is Remembering Tim Richmond. The other, which in part provides accounts of his life story by friends and family, is Grant’s Tribute to Tim Richmond. While we like to think it’s unlikely that NASCAR itself, race officials, whistle blowers, or rent-a-cops, would mis-use the existing “drug policy”, it’s easy to see from Tim Richmond’s life that one’s character, public appearance, and career can be destroyed by ignorance, prejudice, and the like.

Grant’s Tribute to Tim Richmond shares some perspectives on the subject from those in the sport, like “Humpy” Wheeler, Dale Earnhard, and Kyle Petty. The following was taken from that article:

“Driver Kyle Petty talked to Richmond by phone that last year, but he and his wife, Patti, wish they had done more. “We had regrets the year before he died,” Patti Petty said. “I think everyone should feel a touch of regret. They dropped the ball. They really let him down. It goes back to NASCAR did not want that. It was like at some point, his name was white-washed from the list.” “…We’re as guilty as the next. But if you went to see him, made a friend out of this guy, is NASCAR going to let you through inspection? They wanted it swept under the carpet at that point.” Kyle Petty says, “It all boils down to AIDS. I don’t care what anybody tells you. Noboby knows how to handle AIDS - especially in a sport as backward-thinking on so many things as this sport is.”

It’s also reported in Grant’s Tribute article that with every new calendar Jimmie Johnson gets for his desk, he’ll turn to Aug. 13 and copy the words “Tim died, 5:12am.” I’d love to find out if that’s true.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 12:32 pm and is filed under 50 Days to Daytona, Car Numbers, Countdowns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.