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| A season of hope that started bad at Daytona and ended worse at Daytona |
As kids, we were all raised with values taught to us by our parents and elders. They would teach us about respect, manners, and key virtues that have made some of us the people we are today.
For people like me, at times we had to learn the hard way. By not taking the advice to heart or straight defiance of authority, things didn’t always go according to the plan of a child’s when dealing with parents.
Despite the trials and tribulations we experienced as kids, there’s one virtue that I learned shall never let you down, honesty.
For AJ Allmendinger, the truth shall set you free.
As most of you should know by now, Allmendinger was suspended by NASCAR prior to the July 7th race at Daytona International Speedway after failing a random drug test.
The announcement came as a shock to the NASCAR community and the story continues to be the buzz of the sport every, single, day. Why is this? It’s because everyone is pulsating for the truth.
NASCAR writer Jim Utter is infamous on Twitter for stating the “facts.”
The only facts of this case prior to today were that AJ failed a drug test and it was a positive test for a stimulant.
Originally I was at odds with the conversation about this suspension. I felt like the substance didn’t matter and the media and fans should just let it play out rather than rip him apart with speculation like the Jeremy Mayfield saga.
In that case Mayfield eventually brought it on himself with straight up lies, denial, and a barrage of legal issues that followed. However the thing that makes Mayfield different is the fact that he actually spoke up for himself and tried to fight NASCAR. He lost, but he was open to media and fans after the initial suspension.
Despite the speculation by the media and fans, both NASCAR and Allmendinger have been reluctant in exposing exactly what caused the positive test. AJ is in no way comparable to Mayfield, but both men should have remembered that honesty is the best way out.
Today it was announced by Allmendinger’s manager, Tara Ragan, that the failed test was for some type of amphetamine and they are working hard to find out where it could have came from.
This is indeed a “fact” but it’s the fact that we still don’t know what the exact substance was that triggered the positive test. This keeps the debate going.
To be clear, I am not a physician and have no credibility when it comes to medicine. However, it does not take a rocket scientist to know that there is more to the story that we still don’t know.
In the United States, stimulants and amphetamines are either legal via prescription medication or they’re illegal narcotic drugs. Both are on NASCAR’s illegal substances list, but like other important documents, it’s apparently locked and sealed stories below the ground because we don’t know what substances are on the list.
In Allmendinger’s case, it’s pretty simple. But, why are they trying to hide it?
If AJ were prescribed a drug like Adderall, which is a common drug to treat ADD/ADHD, then he could have told NASCAR about it or been upfront with the media and his fans. It is a legal form of amphetamine and his use of it would have put the pressure on NASCAR to answer the critics about its policy.
Any prescribed amphetamine to Allmendinger would have been examined by his doctors and NASCAR would have to allow him to use the medicine during race weekends. Case closed.
So was it illegal? The fact is we don’t know.
In a recovery program the first step is to be open about your problem. Allmendinger is faced with the trials and tribulations that plagued me as a child. Some of us learn the hard way and for AJ no one knows what his fate will be.
The best option is for him to let the truth set him free.
The view expressed are those of the writer, send comments and follow me on
Twitter, @Dontae_Allen
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