Brad Keselowski was very clear: He thought his opinion on NASCAR's drug policy probably wasn't share by many, or perhaps anyone other than himself.
And he didn't think much of Carl Edwards' idea of drivers' collectively organizing an independent group to do testing in tandem with NASCAR.
His comment, as is typical for Keselowski, were straight-forward and well thought out. This is what he said:
“I’ve read all the same things, listened to what everybody has had to say and
there’s a lot of different takes on what it means. You know, I think I have
different views than most everybody else does on it. I’m certainly not
supportive of Carl’s idea. I don’t think that there’s a place for things like
that. I don’t think we need more politics involved in the sport and that’s what
groups like that bring in. I think it’s a greater question to me of when I look
at the issue at hand with A.J., there have been some people who said it doesn’t
matter what it was. I disagree with that. I think it does matter what it was.
It does to me. It might not to everybody else but it matters to me what it was
because there’s always going to be that level of uncertainty that I have over
any athlete or driver that performs at these levels and what they’re taking or
not taking.
"It’s so difficult to give a great explanation of how I feel about
it but I think that I want to believe that any performer or athlete out there
would not be dumb enough to take a drug that is against the law, illegal. It
just stands to reason that if you’ve made it this far in the sport that you’ve
had the knowledge to not do anything that dumb. But I don’t know. I don’t know
if that’s what it was. I hope it wasn’t. I hope it was something simple, you
know, a stimulant or whatever release he put out. If that’s the case, it does
make a difference. It makes a huge difference because it’s my personal belief
and I’ve gone through the injuries and so forth. I think you guys saw that last
year. It’s my personal belief that nothing should be allowed, nothing. I don’t
feel like you should be able to take Flintstone (vitamin) pills. It’s my
personal belief. I think you’re race car drivers; you should have to overcome
it. I think it’s a bunch of bullshit that people are allowed to take
supplements or any of those things. I don’t think that’s right. I don’t think
any athlete should be allowed to take that but that’s my own personal beliefs.
But where the gray area comes in is what is allowed per the law is not
necessarily allowed per whatever drug codes through all these sports. That
creates another set of issues. That’s why I think nothing should be allowed.
“So at the end of the day there are things that are still allowed and
who gets to pick and choose what they are I don’t know. I don’t understand that
process. I know my own personal code of avoiding it is to take nothing at all.
I can still tell you when you go in that room to have a drug test taken, I’ve
never taken drugs in my life. I’m scared shitless of it. It’s honestly a
phobia of mine. But I go in that room and I’m still scared because you know
that if something goes wrong, it’s a death sentence for your career. It’s
over. And you know it’s in human hands and by the very nature of being in human
hands, there is potential for error. I’d like to sit here and believe that it’s
gone through all the processes to make sure that it was done right and that no
one would go out on a limb and risk someone’s career if it wasn’t checked,
checked and back checked. But I also know that the course of history shows that
humans make mistakes even when they check, check and recheck. That’s why
airplanes crash. That’s how things go. There are plenty of redundancies in the
airlines and they still find a way to crash. So there’s mixed emotions for sure
on my end.
"I wish that the pool of athletes that compete and make money like we
do, whether it’s here today in NASCAR or the NFL or even the Olympics, it would
be my preference that you were allowed to take nothing and that it was you’re
job to just do it, to just go out there and perform throughout the pain or
whatever it is that ails you. But obviously that’s not the situation. Until we
get together as a group or as a society and make that a position, there’s always
going to be this gray area to where we’re asking ourselves what supplement is
right and what’s not, you know, what’s okay and what’s not. I laugh out loud
when I read this list of people who say ‘Well I have my supplements checked’
like there’s some special list of supplements that are okay but these aren’t.
What kind of world is that? That’s terrible. Nothing should be allowed.
Because then it just comes down to who you’ve got for a doctor or a lawyer that
says that this is okay and this is not. And I think that we all know that you
can get a doctor or a lawyer these days to say you’re okay with anything you
do. It reminds me of an old Jeff Foxworthy joke about the difference between,
you know, kids and senior citizens. You worry about drugs with both of them.
The only difference is that one is legal and one is not. I can remember having
grandmas and so forth that took drugs that would knock you out and then couldn’t
even stand up. They were all legal you know. They might not be legal in this
sport but you still have to wonder about those things.
"So I’m sure that I have
different views than everyone else. I don’t think there needs to be any
committee that approves drugs or supplements or whatever it is. I just think
you shouldn’t be allowed to take anything. You should just man-up and drive the
damn race car."
