Checkered Past

Write the Caption - What's that you say, Junior?

Welcome to "Write the Caption" on ThatsRacin.com. It's pretty simple -- we select a recent photo from the track and all you have to do is submit a caption by clicking on the Comments link (below). Click on the photo to make it larger.

Cup driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) and team owner Rick Hendrick talk before Sunday's Aarons 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Sam Sharpe-US PRESSWIRE)

A penny or two or three for more thoughts on NASCAR drug policy

Charlotte Observer colleague David Poole's wording on NASCAR's drug policy, in the "My 2 Cents" section of his column on ThatsRacin.com, is about as close to an indictment as I've seen on this touchy subject - so far at least.

Here's a little of what he said:

"It's clear NASCAR doesn't want the responsibility for establishing and enforcing a fair testing policy.

"It also is clear NASCAR officials really don't want to know some of the answers a real drug-testing policy might give them."

Here's that link again to more of it. And following is a modest sampling of what other writers are saying this week about the stock car racing and promotion company's drug policy, which currently relies on "reasonable suspicion," as opposed to random testing:

"... With over a 100,000 fans packed into the stands, and with many of those people sitting mere feet away from the racing surface, NASCAR officials just trust that none of these millionaire athletes have made bad decisions that day or the night before. And they base all that trust on the fact that not one of the drivers' employees - an employee who is relying on that driver to earn a living - has come forward.

"That's either the craziest thing I've ever heard or an unbelievable amount of respect for chain-link fencing."

- Josh Moon in the Montgomery Advertiser

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Write the Caption - Drug Test

Welcome to "Write the Caption" on ThatsRacin.com. It's pretty simple -- we select a recent photo from the track and all you have to do is submit a caption by clicking on the Comments link (below). Click on the photo to make it larger.

A NASCAR fan wears a shirt focusing on a recent drug story involving Aaron Fike (not pictured) during the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. (Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE)

What a race and what a disgrace

Bob Henry

a.k.a. TR.com guy

I don’t find myself agreeing with people on television too often. It’s a very seldom thing actually.

Yelling at the TV during any 6 o’clock “newscast” has been banned at our place for years, and by mutual consent. Not that either of us formally acknowledge or always remain in compliance with any such ban, of course.

“This just in ... Jerks without jobs, or any wish or hope of such engagement with responsible society, have stalked, robbed and killed an elderly east Charlotte woman. ... Film at 11.”

"Public official who was elected to spend our tax dollars wisely is arrested in prostitution sting ... Here's Mandy with details! ... Right after this word from our sponsor."

That’s what we hear sometimes, whether that's what the news readers actually say or not, of course.

I’ve never tried to encourage or observe any such ban on yelling while watching sports on the tube either. Sports might even be fairer and easier game. And, yeah, I might actually mute the whole system whenever anyone tries to say anything like cootchity-cootchity-cootchity-coo when a race starts.

But that’s not just so I can save the wear and tear on my throat while yelling at our TV set.

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Write the Caption - Tool Time

Welcome to "Write the Caption" on ThatsRacin.com. It's pretty simple -- we select a recent photo from the track and all you have to do is submit a caption by clicking on the Comments link (below). Click on the photo to make it larger.

Dennis Setzer climbs out of his truck after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Kroger 250 in Martinsville, Va., Saturday, March 29. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Write the Caption - Super Fan

Welcome to "Write the Caption" on ThatsRacin.com. It's pretty simple -- we select a recent photo from the track and all you have to do is submit a caption by clicking on the Comments link (below). Click on the photo to make it larger.

Is that a license plate necklace? A fan of the Earnhardts, Roger Owens, of Peebles, Ohio, waits out a rain delay at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn., on Saturday, March 15. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

Larry, Moe and squirrely

In professional football, when an official catches an offensive lineman holding a defender, you hear a whistle, see a flag thrown and yards stepped off against the offending player’s team.

But many NASCAR fans will tell you in a heartbeat that pro football is a “stick-and-ball sport.” And that NASCAR is different.

Here, just one day removed from the National Stock Car Racing Commission’s ruling and NASCAR’s announcement regarding penalties for Messrs. Carl Edwards and Robby Gordon and their teams, some fans, writers and radio and TV personalities are hotly debating the issues.

The merits – or lack thereof – of the penalties, the appeals process and nearly everything else even remotely involved are getting a pretty full airing. And the airing will likely continue through the upcoming Atlanta race weekend.

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Write the Caption - Can you hear me now?

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Drivers Jimmie Johnson (left) and Dario Franchitti plug their ears during a qualifying run for the UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Write the Caption - Carl flips

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We promise not to post this photo after every Carl Edwards Nationwide or Cup victory, but we gotta put it out there at least once, right? (AP Photo/Mark Avery)

Write the Caption - Burton at work

Welcome to "Write the Caption" on ThatsRacin.com. It's pretty simple -- we select a recent photo from the track and all you have to do is submit a caption by clicking on the Comments link (below).

Jeff Burton came to Darlington Raceway on Feb. 20, site of May’s Dodge Challenger 500, to help pave the “Lady in Black.” Burton spoke with structural engineers about the superspeedway’s paving project and even took a turn on a machine that shaves the track. (AP Photo/John D. Russell).