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Is NASCAR a sport?

  • GoJPM!
    Racecar drivers are definitely athletes........great reflexes, concentration, strength, and stamina.

    Danny Sullivan, 1985 Indy 500 winner, once said, "In this sport, if you make a mistake, there are no ten yard penalties" (cuing the footage of him spanking the turn 1 wall at Indy in '88).
  • Gardens35
    stroups;706696 wrote:


    I Voted.
  • Speedofsand
    All of you who say NASCAR is not a sport...driving is not a sport, driving a racecar at a high skill level IS. The drivers ARE athletes, notice no one rebutted my post about Martin, Waltrip, even Shepherd. Carl Edwards is athletic, and that makes him a better driver than Jimmy Spencer. What about local 1/2 mile weekend racetracks? Those guys are not racing for a living, they are playing their sport. The whole point of participating is to win. Score is kept. Nascar pit crews are athletes recruited from other sports, like former college football players. Sport. Athletes.
    I can ride a motorcycle, but I can't race like I'm watching now on Speedtv. Is that a sport? Riding a motorcycle at 180mph? What about F1, or Indy car? Supercross? Grand-Am racing? Motorsports.
  • DeyDurkie5
    Speedofsand;709053 wrote:All of you who say NASCAR is not a sport...driving is not a sport, driving a racecar at a high skill level IS. The drivers ARE athletes, notice no one rebutted my post about Martin, Waltrip, even Shepherd. Carl Edwards is athletic, and that makes him a better driver than Jimmy Spencer. What about local 1/2 mile weekend racetracks? Those guys are not racing for a living, they are playing their sport. The whole point of participating is to win. Score is kept. Nascar pit crews are athletes recruited from other sports, like former college football players. Sport. Athletes.
    I can ride a motorcycle, but I can't race like I'm watching now on Speedtv. Is that a sport? Riding a motorcycle at 180mph? What about F1, or Indy car? Supercross? Grand-Am racing? Motorsports.

    yeah, well it's still not a sport. It's driving a car really fast, with other cars going really fast. Pretty much the autobahn, just in circles
  • Speedofsand
    DeyDurkie5;709066 wrote:yeah, well it's still not a sport. It's driving a car really fast, with other cars going really fast. Pretty much the autobahn, just in circles

    and they get paid for driving fast. Do you get paid for driving your car fast ? Pro athletes getting paid big $$$ = Sport.
  • like_that
    Speedofsand;709085 wrote:and they get paid for driving fast. Do you get paid for driving your car fast ? Pro athletes getting paid big $$$ = Sport.

    They aren't athletes though.... Plenty of people get paid for their work, doesn't make their profession a sport, nor does it make them athletes either. Might as well call professional gamers (video games) athletes.
  • Speedofsand
    The drivers and crews are all athletes. They have gyms at the team shops to train everyday. Physical athletic training. Athletes.
  • GoJPM!
    Some pit crew members are ex-football players.

    Some drivers in other series, such as F1 and Indy Car, are tri-athletes (i.e. '09 F1 Champ, Jenson Button, and '03 Indy Car Champ, Tony Kanaan).

    Others, including a number of NASCAR drivers, are avid cyclists and mountain bikers.

    These guys train just as hard as any stick and ball athlete out there.

    A lot of professional drivers fitness level is on par, if not better than many of the players in the NFL and I'm not talking about 300+ pound linemen either.
  • GoJPM!
    DeyDurkie5;709066 wrote:yeah, well it's still not a sport. It's driving a car really fast, with other cars going really fast. Pretty much the autobahn, just in circles

    If it was as easy as you make it out to be, we would all be doing it.
  • GOONx19
    Speedofsand;709085 wrote:and they get paid for driving fast. Do you get paid for driving your car fast ? Pro athletes getting paid big $$$ = Sport.
    Professional poker players get paid to wear a sponsor's logo. If I wore the same thing, I would not get paid. Professionals getting paid for what they do does not equate to sport.
    Speedofsand;709151 wrote:The drivers and crews are all athletes. They have gyms at the team shops to train everyday. Physical athletic training. Athletes.
    Just because someone is athletic, or even an athlete, does not make everything they do a sport. Barack Obama has a gym at the White House at which he trains every day. Physical, athletic training. Athlete. That doesn't make the presidency a sport.
    GoJPM!;709661 wrote:Some pit crew members are ex-football players.

    Some drivers in other series, such as F1 and Indy Car, are tri-athletes (i.e. '09 F1 Champ, Jenson Button, and '03 Indy Car Champ, Tony Kanaan).

    Others, including a number of NASCAR drivers, are avid cyclists and mountain bikers.

    These guys train just as hard as any stick and ball athlete out there.

    A lot of professional drivers fitness level is on par, if not better than many of the players in the NFL and I'm not talking about 300+ pound linemen either.

    Some Home Depot workers are out-of-season Olympians. Some are cyclists, some are wrestlers, some are swimmers. They train often, and as hard as any NFL player. Still, advising customers on which power tool to purchase is not a sport. Just because they play a sport outside of their Home Depot job does not change this fact.
  • stroups
    Raw Dawgin' it;707935 wrote:sorry, i can change a tire, change my own oil and fill my car with fuel. Anything else i'm missing here? Think that covers all the basics, sign me up!

    I can catch a football pretty well, sign me up for the nfl.
  • believer
    NASCAR is an event....an exciting diversion for some folks, but is it a sport? Eh....if you insist.

    If skill at driving a car makes one an athlete, then my 83 year old next door neighbor is Arnold Friggin Palmer! :p
  • GoJPM!
    Define "sport."

    Racing is also known as "motorsport."

    Basically there are those who are avid fans of a particular stick and ball game, others who are avid fans NASCAR, F1, Indy Car, etc, and some who can appreciate and enjoy both.
  • DeyDurkie5
    Speedofsand;709085 wrote:and they get paid for driving fast. Do you get paid for driving your car fast ? Pro athletes getting paid big $$$ = Sport.

    That doesn't make them athletic...the hot dog eating contestants get paid money, do you consider them pro athletes?
  • DeyDurkie5
    GoJPM!;709662 wrote:If it was as easy as you make it out to be, we would all be doing it.

    no, only hicks would be doing it. I would be playing an actual sport, not driving my car
  • GoJPM!
    LOL, "hicks"? Pretty ignorant statement. Some shouldn't be posting on a topic they know nothing about. Today's NASCAR drivers aren't the ones portrayed in Stroker Ace or the moonshine runners from the 50s either.

    BTW, tailgated at The Shoe and at stayed at Farmer Bob's Campground at Bristol and NASCAR fans do know how to party!
  • Jester
    For the record, I do not believe Nascar is a sport, but anyone who thinks they could just jump in one of those cars and race is incredibly stupid.
  • Speedofsand
    "There is absolutely no question in my mind it is an edge for Mark Martin,'' said Ralph Reiff, the lead Certified Athletic Trainer at Indianapolis' St. Vincent Sports Performance center, where his staff trains and evaluates athletes from all different sporting backgrounds.

    Last year, Reiff conducted a study to compare the fitness level among diverse athletic genres -- amateur and professional athletes -- a cross-section that included everyone from high school football players to National Basketball Association (NBA) players to Olympians.

    In one particular study, they were measured in body weight, percentage of body fat, bench press and functional movement.

    Of the 200 athletes tested, 2004 IZOD IndyCar Series champion Tony Kanaan ranked first -- ahead of a starting NFL linebacker, an NBA player and a NCAA Division I All-America baseball player.

    "Racers have every right to announce themselves as athletes,'' Reiff said.
  • Speedofsand
    Johnson, the first driver in NASCAR history to win four consecutive titles, earned mainstream recognition Monday when he was honored as the Male Athlete of the Year by members of The Associated Press.

    Johnson received 42 votes from editors at U.S. newspapers which are members of the AP. Tennis star Roger Federer (30 votes) and Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt (29) were the only other athletes with totals in the double digits.

    http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/jimmie-johnson-wins-ap-award
  • Raw Dawgin' it
    Speedofsand;709151 wrote:The drivers and crews are all athletes. They have gyms at the team shops to train everyday. Physical athletic training. Athletes.

    my work has a gym, i guess because i use i'm an athlete....
  • Raw Dawgin' it
    Speedofsand;711424 wrote:"There is absolutely no question in my mind it is an edge for Mark Martin,'' said Ralph Reiff, the lead Certified Athletic Trainer at Indianapolis' St. Vincent Sports Performance center, where his staff trains and evaluates athletes from all different sporting backgrounds.

    Last year, Reiff conducted a study to compare the fitness level among diverse athletic genres -- amateur and professional athletes -- a cross-section that included everyone from high school football players to National Basketball Association (NBA) players to Olympians.

    In one particular study, they were measured in body weight, percentage of body fat, bench press and functional movement.

    Of the 200 athletes tested, 2004 IZOD IndyCar Series champion Tony Kanaan ranked first -- ahead of a starting NFL linebacker, an NBA player and a NCAA Division I All-America baseball player.

    "Racers have every right to announce themselves as athletes,'' Reiff said.

    More fit racecar driver have less weight in their cars which makes them go faster, simple physics. You ever see a fat jockey? No, same principle.
  • thavoice
    ...and ya see women creeping into racing and competing adequately with men.

    Could WNBA players compete in the NBA? Could women cmpete in the NFL? NHL? MLB?

    There is a guy at our gym who if ya looked at him ya would think he is one hell of an athlete....but in reality he is the total opposite. Anyone can et themselves into athletes shape, but very few have the athletic skill to be considered an athlete.
  • GoChiefs
    thavoice;711477 wrote:...and ya see women creeping into racing and competing adequately with men.

    There are't any women in the Sprint Cup. They are in the Nationwide series, which is NASCAR's "minor league". And they aren't competitive in that either.
  • Raw Dawgin' it
    GoChiefs;711780 wrote:There are't any women in the Sprint Cup. They are in the Nationwide series, which is NASCAR's "minor league". And they aren't competitive in that either.

    Yeah, and that's more woman than NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB minor leagues have combined.
  • thavoice
    There are women in indy car racing, funny car, and doesnt taht danica drive some sort of nascar or whatever? If you wanna say nascar is a sport then you have to acknowledge other forms of motor car races as well.
    Yes...women are in those races. Patrick has placed well in some races. Put a woman like her in a top car with a top crew and i bet ya see them competing alot more, but it still comes down to they are in racing and do compete. No erason why a woman cannot compete in racing........much of it has to do the MACHINE they are driving. Yes...there is racing skill involved, quite a bit, but there is skill in alot of things that are not considered sports.