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I apologize to all ColumbusSports.com readers for being gone for so long. The last time I submitted an article was before my rotator cuff surgery. I am happy to say that I finished my last rehab session today, and the shoulder is almost as good as new, or at least as good as it was before last December. Unfortunately during that time my Dad had surgery to remove a cancerous brain tumor and was hospitalized in Omaha-a 40 mile one way trip-from May 13^th to Jun 19^th. He came back to Fremont on June 19^th for hospice care, but passed on Father’s day, June 21^st. My Dad led a great life and he was 84 when he died. Still, it is hard to lose a loved one. If you want to read more about that month of my life, you can check my Ron Speaks Out blog on my website, www.therestofthedirt.com. I fell far behind at work, but am finally digging myself out, and feeling like writing again. This article is the fourth I have written on the crazy case of Jeremy Mayfield and false positive test for meth. The others are on my blog The Rest of the Dirt.

Going for the Gold.

Jeremy Mayfield just won’t go away. The Mayfield meth case just keeps getting better and better, or crazier and crazier depending upon your interpretation of the “facts.” I have to admit that I have been leaning to the NASCAR viewpoint, despite my normal bent toward cheering on the underdog and despising arrogance. Now I am not sure of anything anyone says about this case.

My thinking has been that NASCAR would not dare screw up a second random test on Mayfield, that NASCAR drug testers would be more than diligent in ensuring all procedures were correctly followed. Not only is the credibility of the NASCAR drug program on the line, so is the credibility of testing programs of all major sports. That would seem incentive enough to get it right.

I understand that a false positive could happen any time, but it seems a remote possibility for it to happen to the same person twice. Or at least it did. Below is an email sent to me by my son Matt. The information included is courtesy of the AP and CBSSports. It makes a serious case for Mayfield’s claims and portrays NASCAR as a less than shining knight in this instance.

Tuesday, another member was added to the menagerie: respected Broward County (Fla.) medical examiner Dr. Harold Schueler, who reportedly stated in an affidavit that the methamphetamine level allegedly found in Mayfield’s urine in testing by Aegis Labs not only was “astronomical,” but also “could not be remotely accurate, unless Mr. Mayfield was deceased or a chronic abuser,” according to the Associated Press.
 
CBSSports:  http://www.cbssports.com/columns/story/11978765   

So, is Mayfield a liar? NASCAR? Both? Neither? My friend Randy from Lincoln calls it a conspiracy. Of course he is also one of the people who are vocal in stating the NASA moon landings were faked. Anyway, Randy says this is a way for Mayfield to earn far more than he ever would on the track, and for NASCAR to have some drama in a time when every one of their races seems to be a ho-hummer. It is an interesting theory, and probably has as much fact as any other theory.

This would be a great story for cable TV legal shows or internet blogs, but the saga of Michael Jackson is even crazier. Still, NASCAR is striving to be as dysfunctional as possible. 

That noise you hear is me shaking my head. Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: jeremy mayfield, nascar, nascar sprint car series