It matters not whether it is NASCAR, golf, the NFL, NBA, motocross or whatever.
When you are speaking of the highest levels of professional competion they are all studs with skills beyond most people's comprehension.

Try to tell people how exhausting a full day of salmon/ steelhead fishing is.
All day, sun up to sundown, bucking fast water, cast after cast after cast.
Cramping up on the long drive home.
I've hit my bed in total exhaustion many times after one of those days but if you tried to tell an outsider, well, they'd laugh you out of the joint.

So can we say we are sport fishing "Athletes". If someone asked me if I participated in any sports I could be like "Yeah, I fish. I trolled from sun up to, to sun down the other day. On the way home I got a cramp in my index finger from scratching my butt for 14 straight hours. . . "

Yeah.
Exactly the same only totally different.

Fishing all day is about the same as racing all night. Whips my butt either way.

Bzzzzzt!!

That may be true for some forms of auto racing, but there are some forms of racing where you'd be a beat dog being lapped by the leaders if you don't employ an intense physical training regimen.

F1 racing for 2 hours in 120 degree heat would kill you if you didn't train like any other athlete does. You're not going to see some fat toad even fit in an F1 car, let alone be competitive in one.

NASCAR drivers may or may not be "athletes"... but they're definitely highly skilled at what they do.

I just can't stand to sit and watch it... or to be surrounded by "NASCAR devotees"!

++++

NASCAR isn't my gig..........but I understand the passion. Before the wonder of a DVR, I used to get up at 4:30 to watch F1 qualifying and races on the Speed Channel. And I made a trip to Belgium a couple years ago to watch the GP at Spa, and dumped a whole lot of money I could have used to upgrade a lot of fishing gear.

It was worth it.

F-1 is cool. I will agree that you'd have to be in great shape for that. I was referring to Nascar.

Actually, the coverage of Nascar is excellent if you're into it. I was suprised when I first started racing how familiar it looked to the in car coverage on TV. I watched Nascar for a couple years when I first got into racing short tracks but man, it's just incredibly boring to watch. I do have respect for what they do though.

Damn, when I read the title of this thread I thought it was about Brett Favrah!!!

Well...if driving and golf are being considered non athletic...how bout fishing...? is it a sport? I think both Nascar, golf and billiards can be considered .sports IMHO.

Terrel owens has got my vote.

Saundu,

All athletics involve sport, but not every sport involves athletics. Therefore driving, golf, and fishing are sports, but drivers, golfers, and fishermen are not athletes.

Thank you Descartes for helping us sort out this confusing world.

Sg