Joe Cowin, Of course it's "just your honest opinion", and all, but your mindset regarding this is about as myopic and overstuffed with empty rhetoric and sloganeering as can be. What's next? "We fight them off the track, so we don't have to fight them ON the track"?
He's "made all of racing look bad" ? Please! Shane Hmiel's fan-interaction, personality and passion for racing actually do a great deal to make racing look good.
He's "had far more chances in racing and pissed all over them"? Really? Far more chances? He has been doing exceptionally well with the chance he has right now. Have you noticed him pissing on something that none of the rest of us has?
"There's 2 spoiled rich kids running USAC"? So that's what is afoot here? The Spoiled-Rich-Kid Theory? Banned Substance use is the province of those damned "spoiled rich kids"? We'll make a note of that. Weed them out before they get into the ranks of the 100% pure racers.
He has "failed totally off the track"? Totally, huh? Utterly, completely, irrevocably a failure. And here I thought he seemed like a swell guy, and all this time what I was witnessing was a grinding un-redeemable failure. Goes to show, I guess...
He "should be serving his punishment on the sidelines"? He is serving on the sidelines. The sidelines of nascar. Which are overstuffed with others hoping to get back into the game, while keeping active however they can. He is staying active better than most.
And, finally, the perfect old dusty relic of resistance: "What kind of message are we sending the little kids who come watch?" Frankly, I have my own idea of the "message" you are sending to whatever little kids you have in your social circle. It is a message of intolerance, anger, mistrust, prejudice and loathing. Bitterness--in a word. Particularly as almost no "little kids" at a race (that haven't been specifically prepped by the adults with influence over them) knows jack about Hmiel's off-track past, anymore than they know which drivers they watch are from what state, what beer they prefer to drink, or whether they've cheated on a wife or girlfriend or like to kick dogs.
You are entitled to your opinion. I am entitled to read it. I am entitled to dissect it. I am entitled to give it No Credibility.