Ron Hornaday Jr.

September 13th, 2008 filed in Auto Racing

Ronald Hornaday, Jr. is a three time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, with his most recent championship coming in 2007. He has won a series-high five races this season, including 2 straight and is currently 2nd in the points race for 2008. He is one of the most successful racers on the circuit, but he has now admitted to using testosterone. For more than a year, ending in 2006, Ron received shipments of testosterone and human growth hormone from the Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center. He has admitted to using the testosterone (a steroid) cream on his thigh over a 13 month period. The HGH apparently had been ordered for his wife.

Ron Hornaday Jr. BEAT rival racers in the NASCAR Truck Series
Billy Beater

Ron Hornaday has been a successful driver on tour for a long time. He is from a racing family, and is respected in the sport. Hornaday has stated that he used the steroid cream to treat a mysterious medical malady that later turned out to be a hyperactive thyroid. He did not use the cream for performance enhancing purposes and NASCAR has no mandatory testing policy. He stopped using the substance in 2006, and this year Hornaday has passed two drug tests ordered by his team owner. NASCAR has cleared Hornaday of any wrong doing, because their substance abuse experts have informed him that his prescription did not enhance his performance. Ron Hornaday had a serious health condition, which he was trying to resolve, and he was still able to BEAT his competition legally.

Ron Hornaday Jr. CHEATed in the NASCAR Truck Series
Chester Cheater

An admitted steroid user, who also placed orders for HGH, and still has the substances in question in his possession, is somehow cleared of all wrong doing by his sport? Apparently that is how seriously NASCAR takes usage of performance enhancing drugs in the world of racing. Hornaday has admitted that he did not meet with, or even speak to a doctor before receiving the “prescription”. The Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center has been linked to drug related scandals in the National Football League and Major League Baseball, and was a favorite of athletes and bodybuilders because it provided easy and relatively anonymous service over the internet.

Mark Haskins, a senior investigator at the New York Department of Health has this to say, “Steroids are a controlled substance, a doctor has to prescribe them after an examination.” That amounts to illegal possession for Hornaday who could have been charged. Haskins also has stated that the steroidal cream used by Hornaday is a favorite for athletes because it is fast acting, quickly clearing the body. He has described Hornaday’s dosage as “an extremely high level”. The steroids that Ron Hornaday took could help to reduce fatigue, increase aggressiveness, and they most certainly constituted CHEATing.

What do you think, did Ron Hornaday CHEAT, or did he BEAT?