NASCAR turns wide left on Hornady decision

We see what NASCAR thinks of doping...they don't care.  Not only did driver Ron Hornaday not inform NASCAR about his impromptu taking of testosterone, and not only did this come to the forefront when ESPN discovered the steroid use, and not only did Hornaday threw his wife under the HGH bus ala Roger Clemens, but now NASCAR looks the other way.  No advantage for a driver doped on testosterone...eh?  Who are they kidding?

Testosterone should reduce fatigue, improve aggressiveness, and overall give a drive an advantage in a lengthy race.

Furthermore Hornaday's story does not hang together...he decided to treat himself for a unknown illness with an anabolic steroid.  Either that is unbelievable or this guy is one of the world's greatest dunces.

And then, BTW, he got HGH for the wife.  Reduces wrinkles.

NASCAR should suspend the guy for any number of things: deception, lying, PED use, and just plain simple-minded abuse of a medicine.

Apparently NASCAR doesn't care.  But Dale Earnhart Jr. Cares. Auto Racing Daily:

At New Hampshire Motor Speedway concerning the story that Craftsman Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday had used a testosterone cream during the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

Hornaday said he used the substance not for any type of performance enhancement but rather to battle a mysterious illness that doctors were struggling to diagnose. It was later found that Hornaday was suffering from Grave’s disease, a thyroid disorder that he continues to be treated for.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he understands the situation Hornaday was in. But that doesn’t mean Earnhardt isn’t ready to see some harsh drug testing standards in NASCAR.

“I hope we get a strict consistent policy,” Earnhardt said at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “I would like to have drug testing every two weeks or something like that.  That would be awesome.”

“I want to catch somebody who is fooling around,” Earnhardt said. “I don’t want to be a jerk about it but I don’t want it anywhere around me. I don’t want to be involved in a race with anyone that’s not playing by the rules and not making good judgment decisions.I don’t really see anything right now that gives me reasonable suspicion and I didn’t before and then Ron comes out with his deal so maybe we need more than reasonable suspicion.”

Anabolic steroids, HGH, opioids, and you can bet amphetamines...does NASCAR care?

Comments

[CheatorBeat.com]

Apparently they don't care. I am sure they will bust some no-name drivers within the next year or so, to preserve the illusion that the new testing program and policies are working. Meanwhile what are those top drivers doing in order to stay responsive and effective during a 4 hour race?

[Jeremy]

Steroids have been used for patients with mass wasting due to known & unknown causes. HIV +/AIDS patients, burn victims, underweight individuals (often including underweight women), & those with hyperthyroidism or Graves Disease find benefit in regaining muscle mass &/or restoring testosterone within *the normal physiological range* (for men, 300-1000 ng/dL, depending on the lab reference).
Question is, has a blood test confirmed Hornaday competing with supraphysiological levels of testosterone?

A snippet from drugs.com shows that there is nothing wrong with using steroids to treat unexplainable weight loss. This excerpt specifically pertains to Oxandrolone, but other anabolic steroids could be named. The * are added for emphasis. I doubt it differs significantly from a Physician's Desk Reference: "Adjunctive therapy to promote weight gain after weight loss following extensive surgery, chronic infections, or severe trauma, *and in some individuals who, without definite pathophysiologic reasons, fail to gain or maintain healthy weight*; to offset protein catabolism associated with prolonged administration of corticosteroids; for relief of bone pain frequently accompanying osteoporosis." http://www.drugs.com/ppa/oxandrolone.html

Hornaday was treated at the Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center. Whether the doctors/medical staff there are credible is one issue, but there's no specific reason to attack Hornaday's character. People travel all the time for specialists who take certain diseases/conditions more seriously than other medical professionals. Those with thyroid issues such as Graves' Disease, hyperthyroidism, & hypothyroidism have found out the hard way that docs pay way more attention to labs (often TSH to the exclusion of T4 or T3) than correlating labs to the signs & symptoms of patients.
Frankly, if a man needed TRT due to orchiectomy or hypogonadism (which can be induced by hyperthyroidism), that isn't anyone's business but his & his doctor's. & regarding the performance advantage, what about the performance *decrease* while his T level was diminished? If sports want to test for steroid usage, let them- individuals can & will find other ways to gain competitive advantages.

HGH "reduces wrinkles"- is that a performance advantage to actors & actresses? Does that make them "cheaters" in their "sport"? Botox also helps diminish appearance of wrinkles. So we should ban that too. After all, anything that gives competitive advantage is wrong.

Nascar doesn't care, but apparently neither does the US Air Force. We have the only air force that (officially) condones allowing amphetamines for pilots which are doctor prescribed. The competitive advantage issue aside, what about the 4 Canadians killed by a snap judgment (related to amphetamines) by a US warplane pilot over Afghanistan in 2002?

[Jeremy]

I forgot to mention this the first time around. Very few methods of testosterone replacement therapy provide reliable & significant increases in circulating testosterone to produce positive benefits. Testosterone creams are often unreliable due to absorption issues, thus making it unlikely that they would elevate total testosterone beyond physiological levels (though they can elevate DHT significantly). Thus, Hornaday probably did not gain any competitive advantage over the other racers with high normal testosterone levels.

I see Jeremy doesn't limit himself to one article. I just caught this beauty:

'HGH "reduces wrinkles"- is that a performance advantage to actors & actresses? Does that make them "cheaters" in their "sport"?'

The answer, of course, is simple. If their 'sport' institutes a 'rule' that says they may not use HGH, then yes. To my knowledge, their 'sport' has no such rules. Thus, Stallone (and others) are NOT 'cheaters.'

I could not find NASCAR's rules. I found this article:
http://www.nascar.com/2008/news/headlines/cup/09/20/nascar.updates.drug.policy/index.html
Since they have drug-testing, I'll assume testosterone & HGH are banned. I have no information to confirm that they were banned in '04/'05. If they were, he 'cheated', just as if he had used illegal fuel, or a larger-than-allowed spoiler.

[Jeremy]

Still missing the point about the other factor of "fairness".
Although beauty is not the only factor for getting cast, it is a *major* one. Actors & actresses often avail themselves of cosmetic procedures (& meds like HGH) for beautification purposes. Actors/actresses with less money often find themselves at a cosmetic disadvantage. This is not *fair* in the sense of equal to everyone. One reason rules are enacted is to give *reasonably* equal opportunity. Cheating represents more than a violation of rules (which have no intrinsic moral value): it entails the compromise of *reasonably* equal opportunity.

Why is a spoiler of a certain size prohibited during racing? Because the increase in fuel efficiency or handling yields an advantage. Instead of fixating on the rules, consider why the rules were made in the first place.