Is Nascar a Sport?

[Notch Novelty]

I think you could also be 400 pounds, can't run a mile, or lift 20 pounds over your head and be the best driver in Nascar

[DEAD!]

Do you need to lift and/or run to be in Nascar?

If you're in the pit crew, yes.

[Notch Novelty]

Pit crew is the coaches of Nascar

[winters in buffalo]

You baffle me.

Next question - is the CCSLC an intellectual exchange?

Answer - obviously not, because you have no intellect, yet continue to exchange.

[Notch Novelty]

[habsfannova]

You baffle me.

Next question - is the CCSLC an intellectual exchange?

Answer - obviously not, because you have no intellect, yet continue to exchange.

BURN!

[STL FANATIC]

Pit Crew is not the coaches. Crew Cheif is the coach. Pit Crew is part of the team. It's a team sport.

I don't think a 400 pound driver would fit into all the gear. I'll bet you most of the drivers do run and lift.

It is definatley a sport. And the car argument I think is less, because they do all they can to stop the cars from deciding the event. Personally, I think that's wrong. Let a little bit of the intelligence of engineering have an effect on the reace, but they don't.

I love Fox's commercials for why NASCAR is a sport. The Cars spinning, flipping, what ever...and the driver is sitting talking as calm as can be about how he's worried about a basketball player pulling something and how it might hurt.

[Shmee]

Sigh...this looks like an attempt at starting a flame war,. Didn't we just have this same argument about two weeks ago, with the same people making the same arguments trying to get the others to see their side of it? This was a silly idea for a topic, and the fact that Notorious is throwing up reply after reply of one unpunctuated sentence after another just kinda of shows that the real point of this was to have an argument, not a poll.

Lame.

And yes, it's a sport.

[habsfannova]

Well, I think auto racing in general is a sport, but you can't use the threat of injury as a guide to it. I mean, wouldn't that make putting your hand in a tree shredder the ultimate sport?

I like F1 better. Now THAT takes reflexes.

[epper]

i will copy my thoughts on my favourite SPORT from the afformentioned thread into this one:

okay, i'd like to see you man-handle a 3400lb NASCAR inches away from other competiors and concrete walls, in a 135degree cockpit at 195mph. sometimes pulling up to 4 G's in indycars(meaning your body is 4 times as heavy). then do it for 3 or 4 hours. sometimes without even power steering. THEN and only then will I listen to you when you say racecar drivers arent theletes. pretty much all race car drivers are in workout programs all week between races to be in shape for sunday aftenoons. i've actually heard that drivers can lose up 5-10 pounds during ONE RACE, from being worked so hard in those cars. many drivers have had to have oxygen given to them after 4 hour races because they're so whipped

[See Red]

Ok -- first you must ask yourself THIS question before you ask whether NASCAR is a sport --

Are NASCAR drivers athletes?

I say no. The car does too much work for it to deserve being called a sport.

Athlete- 'a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina'

I don't think NASCAR fits that description despite the word "or", meaning it can be ANY of those things.

You don't have to be particularly strong to drive a NASCAR.

Driving a NASCAR, and sitting in a seat, making ONLY the motion of moving your hands to turn the steering wheel left does not qualify as agility. That is a skill most everybody is born with. The ability to react and do it at high speeds has nothing to do with being an athlete.

There is a distinct difference between being fatigued from running and doing things in other sports, and being fatigued in NASCAR. Yes, they are tired. But most of their fatigue is mental from the situation they're in. I don't honestly believe the fatigue you feel in NASCAR can qualify it as a sport.

[Roger Clemente]

I think you could also be 400 pounds, can't run a mile, or lift 20 pounds over your head and be the best driver in Nascar

I don't think so, because they have to factor in the driver's bodyweight into the aerodynamics of the car. If you're a 400 pound driver, I'd hate to see what happens if you crash (and I think that'd be more than likely because your braking time would decrease.)

I have a feeling you only started this thread to be a sh.t-disturber.

--Roger "Time?" Clemente.

[fiasco!]

first off, i hate NASCAR.

but i believe that making a left turn at 25 MPH is a whole different ballgame than making a left at 180 MPH.....have you ever heard of 'torque'? the strength that is required to turn the steering wheel while travelling at such speed is enourmous, especially while trying not to crash into a car that is merely inches from yours.

i consider the drivers to be athletes, therefore i consider auto racing to be a sport.

i also consider notorious to be a pompous ass.

[yh]

Webster's defines sport as a form of diversion or recreation, which I would say definitely includes NASCAR and other types of auto racing. The real debate centers around whether auto racing is an athletic sport and whether NASCAR drivers should be considered athletes. In the purest sense of the word athlete, I would have to say that most NASCAR drivers are as most engage in a regular course of physical training in addition to their in-car work - it sharpens mental and physical skills needed to excel in this increasingly competitive sport. Clearly there are still some throwbacks that don't incorporate the fitness component into their training (Jimmy Spencer, I'm looking at you Bubba). However, the term "athlete" has been broadened beyond simply defining a person who competes in a physical competition heavily reliant on bodily performance - it now encompasses those who compete in sports, regardless of the type of sport in which they compete.

NASCAR drivers are sportsmen. NASCAR drivers are considered athletes by the mainstream media (who, like it or not, do dictate the terms of our culture) because they participate in a sport. Is NASCAR an athletic competition? I would say no because the outcome of races is too dependent upon the performance of equipment. And I am a very big NASCAR fan.

Oh, and yes, I do think that this thread was opened for the sole purpose of stirring the pot, but as long as I'm here, I'm going to weigh in and try to swing it to a "real" discussion.

[Joshawaggie]

on another note, I forget who was tryin to document the nascar paint schemes, (STLFanatic?) but there is a cool pic in the current SI with lemens on the front, in the first few pages with the pictures, they show 38 cars, kinda cool.

[paynomind]

For all of the nascar-related throughts, of primarily InTheEnd and myself, but also a cast of thousands, please reference the below thread:

http://boards.sportslogos.net/index.php?sh...&hl=nascar&st=0

In short,

InTheEnd88: vote= no

paynomind: vote=yes

[Notch Novelty]

Again, I think you could also be 400 pounds, can't run a mile, or lift 20 pounds over your head and be the best driver in Nascar

[gosioux76]

Again, I think you could also be 400 pounds, can't run a mile, or lift 20 pounds over your head and be the best driver in Nascar

Was that the sound of a broken record?

[DEAD!]

If it was broken record, you wouldn't hear it the first time.

[Notch Novelty]

My point is you need to be in no kind of physical shape to be in Nascar.

Golf, I mean Tiger Woods rolls paper around in his hand. I mean the best golfer at my high school could barely lift a club and he is turning pro in a year.

Bowling? None

Auto Racing? None

Nascar? None

Considering Nascar a sport is considering Chess, Checkers, and Cheerleadering a sport.