Having become fairly intrigued by this year’s Tour de Farce and whether any of the remaining competitors could overtake Bradley Wiggins in the Pyrenees ; before Wiggins crushed all comers with his Stage-19 victory in the tour’s final individual time trial... I actually sat down and watched both days’ “Primetime” replays... As I’ve become intriguingly curious over how do you build the “Perfect” 9-rider team...
But what does all of this cycling talk have to do with the fallen NASCAR driver A.J. Allmendinger you say. Well perhaps you’ve read all about the never ending doping controversy’s surrounding the tour. As to date the sport has stripped two champions of their respective titles; the American Floyd Landis in 2006 and Spaniard Alberto Contador in 2010. While the USADA is currently on a Lance Armstrong witchunt - along with French cyclist Remy Di Gregorio having been arrested for alleged doping while Luxemburg’s Frank Schleck, the older brother of eventual 2010 tour winner Andy Schleck has just seen his “B” sample come back positive...
Which leads us to Allmendinger, who is awaiting the results of his B-sample testing with his own Toxicologist and Lawyer present, as I find it hilarious, but not shocking at all that NOBODY will talk about the white elephant in the room...
Although it’s been hinted at - has anybody pondered if the “banned” stimulant that AJ’s been accused of using - perhaps, just perhaps came from his very own personal sponsor “Fuel-in-a-Can;” Err, DON’T EAT THE YELLOW SNOW! OOPSADAISY! I meant the Fuel in a Bottle Energy and Protein power shots Created by BYB Brands and distributed by Coca-Cola Consolidated. As even ESPN has now noted how easily these popular supplements are contaminated...
Hmm? Better watch out Mikey! As isn’t MWR running 5-hour Energy sponsorship?
Thus, while we await the outcome of Allmendinger’s B-sample - which I hope comes back negative and thus clears AJ of any wrong doing... Yet, if this happens and NOBODY speaks up on what the unapproved stimulant was, then is it some sort of cover-up? As in trying to protect the sponsors? As Coca-Cola’s not exactly a small company, right? While I don’t have a clue who this BYB Brands is; but C’mon AJ! You’re gonna willingly pitch some product endorsed by some WWF ‘RAW World Heavyweight ‘RASSLIN champ-PEE-on? YIKES! Then again may be its not that much worse than Red Bull, eh?
Meanwhile, on a side-note, and I’m NOT suggesting it had anythingy to do with le ‘Hanburgular’s (Sebastain Bourdais) Open Wheel Racing success... But how many people know that ‘SeaBass was elevated to 2002 F3000 International Champion after the title winner Tomas Enge was disqualified for failing a drug test. (Reputedly Marijuana according to ‘WICKEDpedia...)
Although ironically Enge utilized funding from Coca-Cola who was sponsoring his Nordic F3000 team to advance into Formula 1 where he contested three Grand Prix’s in the latter stages of 2001 for Prost Grand Prix before the F1 team folded.
After his F3000 career, Tomas subsequently went on to contest 17-races in the IRL for Panther Racing, including the 2005 Indy 500 with moderate success before moving to Sports Cars, as I recall him winning the GT1 category at Circuit de la Sarthe (Le Mans) for Prodrive in a Ferrari 550 Maranello and perhaps the subsequent Aston Martin DBR9.
Yet ironically, and I’d say very quietly - Enge has once again been placed upon suspension from racing for testing positive for a banned substance
At this year’s FIA GT1 World Championship Navarra round held in May, before the results were publicly announced on June 19th.
And while I sincerely hope Allmendinger’s ultimately cleared of the matter, I did find it a ‘Wee bit strange that reputedly ‘Ol SuperTex would like to have a word with him ‘bout piloting an IndyCar if thingys don’t work out in ‘RasscarLand...
