Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

They sure seemed like they did alot of drug/alcohol testing at Joliet. I was one of the "lucky" ones that got selected. It sounded like they selected about 10 Stock racers, although I didn't hear much about other classes. They even checked a few Safety Safari workers and an NHRA official.

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Its OK - they know we drink at night - I think a few of the real racers on here forget that it is also alcohol testing as well and a PRO driver got suspended by testing the morning after an evening of social drinking

Alcohol can have some residual traces the next day - so be careful drinking in the motor homes and making fun of rolling papers - crack pipes and needles - wine glasses count too

It is zero tolerance

Take your wait time if you drank the night before


Ron

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Nothing to worry about if your drink Bud Light. It dont leave no residue or so I was told by de poolice.
reed

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Neither does goat piss......oops I'm being redundant

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

I think that is why it dont leave no residue--You can drink 3 Bud Lights and pea 5 times---must go out as goat piss per Chad. I aint never looked or smelled or tasted---yet
reed

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

If you believe that, I've a got a bridge in New York City that I'd like to sell to you. Bud Light, and any other beverage that contains alcohol, WILL remain in your system for a period of time. How long it stays in your system is determined by the percentage of alcohol in the beverage, and the amount of the beverage that you drink.

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

X2

It also depends on your own personal metabolic renewal rate as well as your own body mass index

A breathalyzer tests for it remaining in the bottom of your lungs as a fluid

People with lung issues and smokers are at the highest risk to test positive the next day

But you guys do what you want

Ron

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Don't believe it's a secret that adult beverages are sometimes consumed at these races. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't you have like a 24 hour period from being picked to testing? Joe

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

There was a competitor tested that had some medical issues. They tried four times within the 24hr. time limit to sastify the urine requirement, but was unable. Not wanting to get fined or disqualified, he asked if there was another option; yes a blood test. A sample was taken and he was allowed to race in the eliminator.

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Do you mean that Chad would have to wait 24 hrs b4 he can drink anudder beer. Aint no way
reed

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

I was one of the choosen few and if nothing else, you get to talk to people that you would normally not even get close to. I had a conversation with Mike Edwards while we both waited to take our turns peeing in the cup. (Not the same cup and not at the same time either.) We had a few laughs about the circumstances which opened other subjects. I'm sure that he would have never crossed my path to have a conversation with if it wasn't for the drug testing.

Casey Miles
248H "F" NHRA Stock!

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Hey Casey, Just another example of NHRA bringing people together. LOL.

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

I stand corrected - I miss spoke - i did not want to get into this more technical description of the process

Alcohol is absorbed through the membranes in a person's mouth, throat, stomach, and intestines. Once absorbed by the body, the alcohol passes immediately into the bloodstream, where it circulates until it is expelled through evaporation in the lungs. Evaporation occurs because alcohol is "volatile" in a solution, meaning that its molecules do not combine with the liquid that it mixes with. Due to this volatility, as the blood passes through the lungs, some of the alcohol passes over the alveoli (the lungs' air sacs), allowing it to be released by the person's breath.

There is more but who cares the people on here are already to smart about this

Ron

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Anybody that can't survive a race weekend without an "adult beverage" has a problem.

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

funny thing is, i can't start some of the customers cars (they have the alky lock out thing they have to blow into to start the damn car)...funny thing is is that i rarely drink..

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

x2

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

I think they should do it more and at Div races to

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

At Indy lost a motor in A/SA. Loaded the car with help from Kenny and Amy Faulk. A little pissed but will make it thru this. Ready for a beer. Lady drives up and hands me the papers. Really just looked at Kenny. Went to trailer and had to wait on a Pro Stock motorcycle rider. Hour and half later got to drink a beer. Next morning left track and had a blowout on trailer before the airport. Tire hit a car. Four hours later cop and time to come home. This is why we race.

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Fun, fun, fun. Right Bobby?

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

There's a racer at our local track (has won many races..past track champ ect.) that appears to be drunk all the time. Now he's been tossed before, for drinking while racing knowing him for 30 years I really can't tell if he's been drinking or just acting. I'm just glad he doesn't run the same class as my son. He's never had an accident that I'm aware of but as with most things I'm sure it's just a matter of time. Like everything else some folks take things a bit too far. Most racers I know like to kick back and have a few drinks in the evening...I don't have an issue with that as long as they're not drunk and in the other lane. Joe

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Go to Competion Plus and read the story about the Pro stock bike racer at Rt 66 who got nailed for not producing enough in the alotted time!!!!!

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Read that earlier, did it say he filled 5 or 6 cups?, and it mentions "low temperature" somewhere. How do you control that?

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

I was part of random testing when I worked. They gave us 3 hours to produce a sample. If you didn't you failed. There were some that suffered "shy bladder syndrome" One guy couldn't fill the cup up to the line and each time he gave them a sample they toosed it and said start over. He "failed" and got fired, but got a lawyer. And 3 years later he got his job back, all seniority, and an almost 7 figure settlement.
It's really simple. First place don't drink in excess the night before you race. If you have a few they should be out of your system by the time you have to test. Second, drink a lot of water before you go for the test, especially if you have a shy bladder.
Third and most important. Don't do drugs. It takes up to a month or more for pot to be gone from your system. And don't think the remedies like goldenseal work. They will flush your system out a small bit quicker(days not weeks). But I know of at least 3 guys that are trying to sue. Because they lost their jobs. One had the gaul to gripe that they used their daughters urine and it tested positive.

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Guys have "holsters" that fit under their armpits. In a perfect world it keeps the "sample" at legal temperature levels.

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

I wonder what would be the result if they tested Compton? I mean you know he would fail! Jim

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Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

I know they came to SS driver Chris Chaney for a drug test.
They likely learned that young man leads a boring life. LOL

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Where are you going to draw the line? I can go a full race weekend without any alcohol, no probelm, but can others safely do the same without their BP meds, depression meds, un-diagnosed high BP and a whole list of others? Zero tolerance to me means zero on all the other factors that could cause a dangerous situation and that includes excessive heat and poor track conditions. You can't make the world perfectly safe in any situation. And you never will and still have any individual freedom. Every morning when you wake up and take that first step out of bed you put your life in danger to some degree. I worry more about the guy or girl in the other lane that dosen't have a clue about maintaining a race car than I do somebody that had 6 beers the night before. Sure, alcohol and drugs impare judgement, but if you don't have any common sense or knowledge of what you are doing (judgement) to begin with you can be just as dangerous.

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

I would suggest that they have a number of breath analyzers at the front of the staging lines and EVERYONE has to blow into the machine before they pull out. It could be done quickly and would not impede the race.

I think SS Engine Guy has a valid point concerning properly maintaining your vehicle. This could cause as many problems as drugs/alcohol could.

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Have there been any accidents on track caused by drugs/alcohol that has caused them to ramp up the testing?

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

I am not aware of any,but I would think that if you are involved in an on track accident that you would have to take a drug/alcohol test.

If you get hurt on the job that requires professional attention you are also required to submitt to drug and alcohol testing at my workplace.
Although we do not do random testing because of a costly experience (lawsuit) that the company had.

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Interesting Art. When testing for work, we were given those little hospital gowns to cover your birthday suit and led to a room with no water.

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

When we were tested random, you didn't take any clothes off. They would put a blue dye in the toilet bowl, and turn off the water to the sinks. You went into the bathroom by yourself, they did not watch you pee. Sometimes they used our bathrooms, sometimes they would bring in their own trailer.
One major gripe we had was, they would grab you as you were swiping your time card to go home. Which usually meant you had showered and gone to the bathroom minutes before.
This was done by an independant company. NYC tried doing their own testing for a short while. But there was a lot of cheating going on by the testers. I had a friend I worked with fail a test. He was in the reserves and was ramdomly tested by them 16 hours later and found clean. He got some lawyers involved and the sample was retested it checked positive for cocaine. And they also found out he was pregnant. The testors were switching samples for people they knew.

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

I can't remember the year, I think 2001, but I was randomly chosen for the test 3 times. It was in the early years of these testing. I thought that was odd. The only medication I take is for blood pressure. I usually reported within an hour, never had any issues. All my invitations were handed me at my pit. I don't agree with how Judi Bureski's was delivered, terrible timing and should never happen again to any participant.

Ernie Neal
SS 354

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Chris, there was one at the scales at a Divisional race a couple of years ago that caused a racer to be told to park his car and not race anymore!

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

I used to run the Indy nationals and I would radomly get checked every year. I fixed the problem and quit going.
Dan

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Random Testing????
I was at the All-Star race in Columbus 1999 and was talking to Scotty Richardson about drug testing.. He said he had been tested 17 times,he said that if you pass the test you will be tested again. Another thing he said that John Force has never been tested,this was 1999.

How many people have been tested more than once????

Hammer

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

NHRA just figured as much as Scotty was winning back in the 90's he had to be on something. lol

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Scotty? Yeah, he is on (to) something! It's called "technique"! With a chaser of "knowledge"! Jim


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Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

NHRA or any company that pays for the tests. Does not want to see positive tests. It's bad publicity, and in some instances they have to test a larger percentage costing more money.
So if they can pick those that pass they will. Usually the tests are randomly given but the company has some input.
At the Staten Island ferry they hardly ever tested the weekend or midnight shifts. And when they did there was usually an uproar.

Re: Random Drug/Alcohol Testing
 

Very few things in this world are "as advertised". I used to do some computer work for a drug testing company and you wouldn't believe some of the things I heard for the limited time I was in their offices. I can state as a fact that random testing is not random. In some cases the testing company was given the names of the students the school system wanted tested. One time when I was there a test came back as "not human urine".
When people came in to give a sample, they went to a "sealed" bathroom alone and produced the sample. If the temp didn't check, they had to empty all of their pockets and have an observer present for the second sample. In one case, a man failed the first test. When he emptied his pockets, it was discovered that he was carrying crack rocks. He asked if that counted. I've been there on Monday mornings when they've caught school bus drivers drunk. In another case, they tested everyone on a nuclear power plant construction site. The contractor was forced to shut down the job. Don't be surprised at anything that happens in this game.