Race Weekend Central

Vexing Vito: Much Like Jeremy Mayfield, AJ Allmendinger Test Reveals Amphetamines

With news coming this week that AJ Allmendinger’s “B” sample came up positive, who was first in line to jump on the ‘Dinger’s bandwagon? That’s right, ‘ol Meth Mouth himself, Jeremy Mayfield.

“I don’t see how any man, if he’s got any (manhood) at all, can go and take what he’s fixing to have to take — and that’s going through the Road to Recovery for a guy who did not take drugs or did not do what they’re saying he did,” Mayfield said in a phone interview Wednesday, as posted by The Sporting News’ Bob Pockrass.

Not exactly the first guy you want coming out of the woodwork to support you. Kind of like how anytime anything bad happens, if Al Sharpton is the first guy to show up, you can take a wild guess at the legitimacy of the incident in question.

“It’d be tough because you’re basically living a lie to be a poster boy for NASCAR’s drug policy.”

Strong words from Mayfield, who had his own run-in with NASCAR a few years ago after testing positive for methamphetamine in 2009. Mayfield’s issues have continued in recent years, having been arrested with meth found in his home along with $100,000 in stolen property. Earlier this year his house was foreclosed on, as further financial pressures mounted, dropped his three-year long lawsuit against NASCAR.

Not exactly the character witness you want in your corner, but one who speaks from experience when it comes to fighting the law – and watching the law win. It has yet to be revealed what Allmendinger tested positive for; Mayfield contends it was allergy medication and Adderall prescribed by his doctor for attention deficit disorder. However, Allmendinger tweeted Tuesday night once news of the failed “B” test was announced to his fans:

Some jumped on this quickly, with the rash of misspellings at 2:00 a.m. as evidence he was out partying or giving credence to his failed test. Come on, people – in this day and age of auto-correct follies the thing of Facebook fodder, and the 140 characters you’re limited to, it’s not like that proves anything. Besides, he tested positive for a stimulant. If anything, it would have read:

“Ijustwanttosaythankyoufirstandforemost for myfriends for sticking by me it means a lot, man its hot in here im thirsty, Ted is a really funny movie, I smell catfish, Im sorry we even have to have this going on. But i promise ..i will do whatever it / Takes to get to the bottom of this and get back our there no matter what. Thanks guys, please call me at 555-xxx-xxxx, or if you want to play COD, my screen name is Wallmendinger22!”

It also become knowledge late Thursday afternoon that the cause of the failed test was revealed to be, as in Mayfield’s case, amphetamines. There are several names of medications and prescriptions of such that can ultimately trigger a positive result for amphetamines, among them Adderall, as Mayfield has claimed. Tara Ragan, Vice President of Walldinger Racing, responded to the news just hours after earlier stating in the day to SPEED’s Race Hub that she did not know what the drug was, only that it was a “stimulant.” Here’s her clarified response:

“When we say we don’t know what it is, what we were trying to ascertain is what is it in that grouping? In our head, we don’t know. In fact, when the [medical review officer] first called and said he tested positive for amphetamines, the first thing we said was, ‘What does that mean?’ “

What it means is an uphill battle from here on out for Allmendinger. Maybe he has ADD, and maybe it was part of another prescription that was producing the same test result. He stated initially that he would never knowingly take anything illicit or known to be banned. A follow-up test with an independent toxicologist has been scheduled to determine what exactly the drug in question was that put him over the threshold, to what Ragan earlier stated was within “nanograms” of being in the clear.

Last week in a column for Athlon Sports, I took Brad Keselowski to task for his refusal to understand supplementation and the difference between protein powders and herbal treatments versus over-the-counter and prescription medication.

Perhaps I owe Brad a bit of an apology; it looks like his total abstinence of everything and anything is the safest way to travel for now in this murky area of drug testing and knowing what may or may not get you the “death penalty,” as Keselowski put it, for dropping dirty – for anything.

About the author

Vito is one of the longest-tenured writers at Frontstretch, joining the staff in 2007. With his column Voice of Vito (monthly, Fridays) he’s a contributor to several other outlets, including Athlon Sports and Popular Speed in addition to making radio appearances. He forever has a soft-spot in his heart for old Mopars and presumably oil-soaked cardboard in his garage.

Sign up for the Frontstretch Newsletter

A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.

Share via