Kevin Grubb maintains his innocence
DAVID POOLE

Kevin Grubb told a Richmond newspaper he has no memory of
refusing to submit to a drug test after his crash on the second
lap of in Friday night’s Busch Series, a decision that led to his
second suspension under NASCAR’s substance abuse policy.

"I don't remember most of being at the track," Grubb told the
Times-Dispatch. "I had people pulling me in 20 different
directions. I ended up leaving, from what I understand."

Grubb said when he woke up Sunday he couldn’t remember
what day it was and felt terrible, so he went to a hospital and
was diagnosed with a concussion. "I’m guessing that explains
me acting crazy at the track," said Grubb, who was making his
fifth Busch Series start after being reinstated from a previous
suspension under the drug policy.

Under terms of his reinstatement, Grubb agreed to be tested at
any time. Grubb said he contacted NASCAR after hearing of his
suspension to explain. He was told to contact Dr. David L. Black,
who heads up the substance-abuse program, but Grubb said his
calls had not been immediately returned.

Grubb told the newspaper he has no problem with being observed
and tested as necessary. "I've been clean the whole time," Grubb
said. "I worked very hard to get my life back to where it was. I
don't see it being thrown away in one night.”

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/motorsports/15510060.htm

___

- http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/nascar-group

Alan Jones wrote:

should be able to get tested and that's it...

I thought there might have been another side of the story. I hope
Kevin is clean. He seems like a good kid.

On Thu, 14 Sep 2006 14:39:16 -0400, RES2CUE28
<res2cue (AT) mountaincable (DOT) net> wrote:

In article <kg7jg2lp6p8ci7o7ed671g2fheg36f0rrq (AT) 4ax (DOT) com>, alan (AT) alanjones (DOT) us
says...
I've heard that crystal can cause memory loss.

"RES2CUE28" <res2cue (AT) mountaincable (DOT) net> wrote

Agreed. If he gets tested and *has* a concussion and pisses clean otherwise,
NASCAR is gonna look pretty bad if they bar him from competing on any
grounds *other* than his concussion.

"Alan Jones" <alan (AT) alanjones (DOT) us> wrote

To grab a guy after a head knock like that and - A: Not recognize the
behavior as possible concussion, and B: To act on anything said by a person
in that condition smacks of something a low rent trucking company would do.

If you've never had a concussion, they give you all sorts of interesting
behaviors. I had a mild concussion in Aug.2005 at a water park. Immediate
short term memory wiped for about 35 minutes after the incident. I still
have no recall of that time period. Recall of certain events from the
previous few years was spotty for a period of a few weeks afterwards.
Although doctor and hospital agreed on concussion being the most likely
culprit, mine wasn't even clearly diagnosable. In a person clearly diagnosed
that way, I fully believe that he could be asked a question, respond in the
negative, and have no recall of it whatsoever.
Point plus bonus biscuit to Grub - - - Penalty slap on the pee-pee to
Helton.

RobZip wrote:
I agree completely.... I suffered from a fairly large concussion in
February (from a student assault) and a smaller one last year (a result
of a fall). I also suffered memory loss and complete disorientation,
nausea, vomitting, passing out.... all of which caused me to panic and
act nuts, I'm sure.... If Grubb did suffer from a concusion, any odd
behavior he displayed could most *definitely* be attributed to that.

My biggest concern about Grubb now would be his current condition....
Since this past concusion I've had to have surgery to relieve pressure
in my brain and months of rehab and physical therapy just to try to
maintain my focus and visual tracking. I suffer from extremely sharp
headache pain that comes on very quickly. It's been a real eye-opening
experience for me. Even on days where I have thought I am feeling
fine, I've gone to physical therapy and found that my tracking is still
way off or I'm not able to recall items in a memory exercise or my
reaction time is slow.... things that a driver of a race car has got to
be able to do. He has just got to be real careful before he even
thinks about getting behind the wheel of a race car again.

--
jpchick
http://spaces.msn.com/jpchick83/

"I'll be back 'round again, yes I'll walk in time with you old
friend"....
($1 to DMB from "The Song that Jane Likes")

"Alan Jones" <alan (AT) alanjones (DOT) us> wrote

But, don't the emt's take all drivers involved in wrecks to the infield care
center and check them out for possible head injuries before releasing them?

That's a very good question. Was Grubb checked out at the race.
If not, why not, and, if so, why was the concussion not diagnosed.

On Thu, 14 Sep 2006 23:53:25 GMT, "SimDriver"
<NR2003.is.the (AT) best (DOT) sim.net> wrote:

"Julia" <jpchick83 (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

I never really had any physical symptoms - just the damnedest world class
headache you can imagine for a few days.

Mine came from riding a fully enclosed dark water slide. Just before you
come into the open and drop down the chute into the exit pool is a curve.
There's a stream of water in that curve that drops straight down on you as
you pass under it. The only indicator I had of anything wrong was going
through that curve and noticing the water come down beside me instead of on
top of me. I was riding the wall of the tube instead of the floor. That's
the last I remember for 35 minutes. The girls with me said I came out of the
tube on the CEILING - INVERTED - and dropped straight down, smacking the
side of my head against the side rail of the chute. Drop was approximately 8
feet. Despite this, I never seemed to lose consciousness, stood up in the
exit pool right away and just stood there muttering. After about half a
minute, the lifeguard asked if I was okay. Supposedly I threw my tube at
her, said hell no I wasn't okay and left the pool.

35 minutes later, my senses returned. The girls were dressed in street
clothes and we were about 250 feet from the location where I crashed. They
told me I wrecked bad, had been wandering around asking what time it was,
hassling them for the key to our locker to get my stuff, etc. I had taken my
things from the locker 2 hours before that and moved them out to the car -
no recall of doing that. I had the key on an elastic band around my wrist
but every time I wanted to go to the locker, thought the girls had it and
kept bugging them for it. Each time they would remove it from my wrist and
hand it to me. This happened about 5 times. Finally got my act together
enough to drive home and we left. Somewhere along the 102 mile trip I lost
track of about 35 miles we had covered. Just pleasantly surprised to be that
much further along than expected.

Upon arrival home, I discovered that I knew my boss's name but not who he
was, did not know what I do for a living (drive 18 wheeler), knew the mother
of one of the girls by her first name but could not recall her last name.
Knew her husband's first and last name but could not tie together that they
were married and shared the same name.

It goes on and on from there. Point is - it's surprising how badly your
mental faculties can be stung, yet you appear perfectly fine to those around
you as long as things stay superficial. Grubb probably could have had a very
well articulated conversation with numerous parties in refusing a drug test
in that condition and have no recall - period. I've no doubt that any
abnormalities in his behavior could have been easily construed as a drug
impairment. Once again - my injury wasn't even conclusively diagnosable as a
concussion - Grubb's was. Individual mileage may vary and all that stuff,
the guy deserves a pass on this one.

As much as I'd like to see NASCAR drivers be drug free, I'd like for the
sanctioning body to be stupidity free even more.