Does being hard automatically mean it's athletic?

Fish on...

Todd

Its a different kind of athletic. You have to have feel for what the car is doing, where you are in relation to the other cars, a sense of momentum. You do need quick reactions, but they need to be controlled. Bad things happen in a race car when you stab the breaks too hard, or smash the gas pedal too soon, or yank on the steering wheel. Its more of a finesse thing.


If there isn't any athleticism involved women could be as good at it as men are. There haven't been any women who have won championships in any of the major circuits. There have been a few that are good, but none have ever achieved the top levels. The only exception I can think of would be Shirley Muldowney in drag racing.

Merg could tell us all how grueling "DRAG" racing is...

Biggest joke in sports, sorry I thought this was about Husky/Cougar football teams.

Hey look.

It's an Oregomer here to tell us about the storied past of the barkrats or pondcrappers.

Enjoy the cellar, huckin fuskies.

upper arm strength...? i admit it probably takes a little muscle and that it is mentally challenging....but sitting...in a car? just like with golf...if a guy not even in shape in his 50's can do it...proabably isnt going to be to physically demanding. football takes INSANE training to even step out on the field. unless your a lineman...then you just have to be big (the refrigerator) basketball? those guys run FOREVER, sprint, jump, super good cardio and fast muscle twitch. sitting....in a car? maybe lift a little weights but come on...no cardio, you dont have to be super strong or in shape. just a little endurance and mental strength with a natural talent for wanting to travel in a circle for 5 hours...and your golden. thats why women CAN do it. watch some women step out onto a rugby field, or football field, or even basketball....not gonna happen. i love the quality crowd that enjoys nascar to. you can tell alot about the sport by its fans. " gonna git down der and git me some hawt dawgs with mustard en dem chopped pickles, some quality warm budweiser or shcmidt beer..nah we aint needin no chairs! we git the igloo and some piggly wiggly bags stuffed with buns fer them dawgs..wheeewwww go earnhardt, pass me one them there hawt pawkets elma, they got real meat in em!"

the fact that women can even compete in the same event with men should tell you that its not very physically demanding. you wanna see real driving in crazy engineered machines with guys that are in really good shape to even control their cars? go watch a rally race. watch a camera inside an AWD Turbo subaru doin a buck forty on a DIRT track that twists and turns down canyons then through bumpy switchbacks down and up a mountain for 8 HOURS. THATS driving. that takes insane skill and talent to control a vehicle on a dirt track putting the car into controlled slides around hairpin turns doin 140 MPH. these guys are in super good shape. how about an endurance race in a twin turbo porsche on paved crazy tracks that last for the day or even longer...nascar should stay where it is enjoyed...by the southern folk. how do you think schmidt and budweiser can even stay in business...NASCAR and the south

You got a problem with HOTDOGS, bitch???

Pictures are worth a thousand words...sadly, NASCAR fans lack that diverse a vocabulary...

Isn't that Jamie Lee Curtis in the 5th pic, 2nd row?

I've raced local short tracks. Man what an adreneline rush. No quicker way to blow your life savings than to race a mid 70's "Hobby stock" Camaro.

Sure you're whipped after a night of racing and being out on the track and racing in tight traffic is more intense than anything in sports, but I agree that athleticism isn't what makes a race car driver successful. Spending more money, alienating your family, living in a garage and knowing how to set up your car, and then having the driving skills to go out there and win are the key factors.

For pure excitement and a rush like no other racing is it.

But there is absolutely no physical training needed, just the guts to get out there.

Lets see the guy that smokes 5 packs a day that has won several racing championships try to even compete in baseball, basketball, or footbal, or even soccer.

Racing is great entertainment, just not a sport IMO.

Driving one of those cars is probably a real blast. Watching them....not so much.

PDPA

Professional Ditch Pickle Association

Not going to find a finer, cleaner, and truer bunch of athletes out there.

"Get R Done!"

Driving cars fast is exhilerating. Watching somebody else do it hasn't interested me since I got my driver's license. Playing golf might be fun; don't know, never tried it, but watching it is about as exciting as watching paint dry. But then that's how I've felt about most sports for a long time. I'd rather play a sport than watch someone else do it, even if those I could watch are the best of the best and would only charge me $45 or so for the privilege of watching.

Sg

Only sport that seems to turn out the best athletes is Hockey.

Black people dominate sports in the United States - 20 percent of the population and 90 percent of the Final Four. We own this [censored]. Basketball, baseball, football, golf, tennis, and as soon as they make a heated hockey rink we'll take that [censored] too. ~Chris Rock

Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps.
Tiger Woods


Herb Brooks: When you pull on that jersey, the name on the front is a hell of alot more important than the one on the back. --USA 1980

You're playing worse and worse every day and right now you're playing like it's next month.
Herb Brooks

Golf and race car driving are a lot a like, in that they are 90% mental games. There is a reason Tiger Woods is so good, and that is he does not break down under pressure. He has the rare ability to focus under extreme durress. Which is the difference between the good athletes and great ones in all sports (see Jordan, Brady, et al).

I agree with Stam soccer is a great sport, but the flopping is out of control. I think that when we formed the MLS we should have gotten rid of the flopping, whining, etc. it is so annoyingly European. If they could toughen it up a bit, I think I would be more interested.

Soccer ball with spikes on it?

Watching a Basebrawl game would be pretty cool.

Anyone have their 1974 (I believe) copy of Mad Magazine laying around?

If so, look up basebrawl.

Nascar is bottom feeding of motorsports.
Really.
Left hand turns on a highbank?
No thanks.
Late '80s IndyCar or F1....remember when ROADRACING cars had a shift lever?
And you had to use it?
Lyn St James once described road racing as peddling an exercise bike in a 140 degree room while pumping 20lb dumbbells in your hands while somebody whacks you in the ribs with a 2X4 and a wall comes toward you at 180mph.
Yeah, you better be physically and mentally tough.
NASCAR isn't in the same league.