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"What In the Name of Sam Hill is Going On With Jeremy Mayfield?"

One can only follow a soap opera so long before fatigue sets in. Or so it seems. Doubtless you've seen Jenna Fryer's reporting on the results of the second drug test on Jeremy Mayfield, and Fryer's recounting of the accusations that Mayfield has had a history of methampehtamine use. You may have seen Bob Pockrass's reporting on the events surrounding the second test of Mayfield and the comedy of errors that ensued.

What we see is NASCAR saying the second test came back positive for methamphetamines. We suspect that the A and B samples were tested and that was why no word from Daytona Beach--until the test results were finished. Mayfield again denies the allegations of past methamphetamine use. NASCAR went before Judge Graham Mullen in Federal District Court to have the original injunction granted by Mullen vacated. NASCAR has also filed appeals in Richmond at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to have the injunction quashed, and allow them to reinstitute the ban on Mayfield.

Here are some questions that you might ask yourself:

• Would NASCAR have been so quick to release details of a passed test?
• Is Mayfield's stepmother (see Jenna Fryer's article)a reliable source?
• Could there have been some collusion to make sure any test of Mayfield would be positive--since that was what NASCAR has been saying about Mayfield since the Mullen injunction on July 1, and the second test followed the protocols of the first test?
• Were there any indications of aberrant behavior when Mayfield drove for Carl Haas, Roger Penske and Ray Evernham?
• Is this Mayfield's flameout, and exit from the scene? Reports suggest the team is all but done in name only--and that Mayfield and his wife want to sell the cars.
• Who can you believe, and who do you believe?

Again, we all want to give people the benefit of the doubt. But in fact if Mayfield is "dirty" he needs to get clean, first, and then publicly apologize to those fans and sponsors who believed his story. What Kevin Grubb (Nationwide Series driver, suspended for drugs who shot himself to death back in May) did was the easy way out--Mayfield should then show the same kind of tenacity fighting this problem that he showed at Pocono when he bunted Dale Earnhardt out of the way for a win. He will have to fight this every day he lives. People have fought it and gotten clean and gotten back on with their lives.

And to clear up the image of "shooting at people in lifeboats", the sanctioning body should, through either Mike Helton, or Brian France, make it clear in public that Mayfield could return to the cockpit after completing a recognized third party rehab program (Betty Ford, etc.) and staying clean with weekly testing for a two year period. Helton or France should also say that NASCAR would have no further comment until that time either through official release, media inquiry or "leak".

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