Can NASCAR drivers be called "athletes"?

[Bicoastal]

[Drum]

1. Are pilots athletes?

[thefool_wa]

5. yes!

You can't fly a fighter jet without being in TOP physical form. You will die, period.

Are Airline pilots athletes? Only if you consider bus drivers athletes.

[XemaSab]

2. Are people who sit on their asses drinking beer all day "athletes?"

:shrug:

[barb162]

3. bwaha

[thefool_wa]

6. Uh - you are talking about the fans - not the drivers

and I gaurantee you that the majority of the NFL players drink every bit as much as NASCAR drivers do - anb probably more because most NASCAR drivers don't want to sully their nerves with alchohol - they will DIE if not sharp as a tack every second they are out there.


NASCAR drivers are athletes.

[thefool_wa]

4. OF COURSE!

I drove a 1/4 scale indy car around a scale road track for about an hour once and could barely move my arms afterwards. This car genreated almost no Gs and topped out at about 35-40 miles per hour. It was EXHAUSTING! (and its not like I am in terribly bad shape)

Driving a full scale stock car in the kind of conditions that exist on a NASCAR track is both physically and mentally exhausting and requires nerves of steel and a body to match. There have been the old AND the outrageously overweight that *have* done it, but usually not with any degree of continuing success.

Make no mistake about it, driving ANY racecar requires the talent of a professional athlete. An athlete on the scale of a football player - no - but I gaurantee you have to be tougher than a Baseball player to do it (and - yes - I include Danika Patrick in that statement, she could kick A-Rods ass any day of the week!)

[Deja Q]

7. Only if they biked for 500 laps instead of driving them... lazy sods, they are!

x(

What next, steroids for nascar drivers? :rofl:

[thefool_wa]

9. Driving a car at almost 200 MPH for three hours straight

is just way more strenuous as riding a bike (though, admittedly, probably not as much as riding one 500 miles, but show me a bike rider who can do that without stopping at ALL). Its not like they are out there at highway speeds with the cruise control on. We are talking 180-200mph and less than 2' between the cars.

It takes strength, stamina, excellent reflexes and nerves of steel - the same thing any other athlete needs.

I will also say again, for your edification, that racecar drivers do WAY more during the span of one of their sporting events than ANY baseball player. Three hours on that track can deprive you of up to 7lbs of weight just from water loss and leave you feeling like you are going to DIE if you are not in TOP physical condition.

There are baseball players that never break a sweat during a 4 hour game. If you ask me, that means you are not an athlete. Just a guy who can swing a stick.

[achtung_circus]

8. I voted for sychronized swimming

simply because I'd never get to share this otherwise.

When I was in high school the woman's swim coach asked me to help her coach the synchronized swim team. So there was me, an 18 year old teenage guy, in the pool with a bevy of very fit 15-18 year old young girls.

Yes they were athletes. SO was the coach.

[PittPoliSci]

10. i'm going to say yes.

even though i hate nascar. it can't be easy to do that, and it gets incredibly hot inside the cars and you sweat a ton of weight off every race.

[rurallib]

11. Much like poker players can.

[Redstone]

12. go drive one of those cars for one race and get back to us on this, OK?

I'm not a NASCAR fan, but I've raced cars (SCCA E and F class), and let me tell you, it's a lotta work.

Redstone