Talk about an eye-catching headline. I didn’t even need to know who Aaron Fike was to be drawn to that story. ESPN the Magazine tells the tale of NASCAR truck series driver Aaron Fike — a dude I never had heard of — who is currently battling a drug problem. Really, all you need to know about this dude is that he raced extremely high speed automobiles while tripping on one of the more exotic drugs around. That in itself is insane, though not surprising for someone willing to put his life on the line each time he steps into a truck to race at those speeds. Check out some of the details:
On July 7, 2007, Fike and fiancée Cassandra Davidson were arrested in the parking lot of Kings Island amusement park outside of Cincinnati. Security guards knocked on the window of Fike’s Toyota SUV after realizing that a black sheet was preventing anyone from seeing into the back seat. At first the couple attempted to flee, but a search of the vehicle turned up a haul of drug paraphernalia, including a 100-count box of syringes, bloody napkins and black tar heroin.
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Only seven days earlier Fike had posted a career-best fifth-place finish in the O’Reilly 200 at the .75-mile Memphis Motorsports Park. The run boosted the rookie of the year favorite to eighth in the NCTS championship standings. He said he used heroin earlier that day.
Talk about some nice, quality, family bonding. But honestly, I’ve seen Pulp Fiction, I know what happened to Jules, how the heck did this dude handle that type of machinery on that type of drug? Was he just immune to it? Ordinarily this is the type of fella with whom I would never get into a vehicle. But on second thought, with that type of skill, I might have to reconsider my position. Oh yeah, and that’s one heck of a drug policy you’ve got going there, too.
