Are race car drivers athletes?

May be...

I was watching Kimmel a couple of days ago and Danica Patrick referred to herself as an athlete. I thought, "Is this ***** crazy?!" I actually really tried to understand how car racing is a sport, and how the drivers are REAL athletes, but I can't come up with how or why. Aren't athletes people who play a sport and have some sort of physical training? What do you think?

Yes

yes, because of the endurace they need to drive in hot cars for 4 and 5 hours at a time.

some say yes some say no buy i say yes

no they are not... NASCAR is the only sport I can think of that requires little to no physical ability..... even those who compete in the Red Bull Air Race are much higher on the list of athletes than racecar drivers.... I'd like to see a racecar driver pull 12 sustained g's with no g suit for 4-5 seconds at a time, multiple times within a 2 minute race... that takes skill and endurance.... racing in a circle does not...

Yes they are.

Have you ever tried it? It sure is more exhausting than most other forms of sport.....

Pro Football, they actually are active for about 18 minutes per game. Average game length 3 hours, not too athletic.

Baseball, stand around and catch balls, not too athletic.

Hockey, skate around and chase a rubber puck, athletic. At least they are moving the whole time.

Soccer, athletic. 'nuff said.

Tennis, iffy at best. Hit a ball back and forth over a net and hope the other guy misses.

Golf, hit a ball and walk after it. (huh???)

Poker, I don't care if it's on ESPN, it's not a sport.



And if you know what the answers are going to be, and it will get your panties in a knot, why ask????

Every now and then they have various challenge contests where athletes from different sports compete in physical challenges... you may have seen such things... and if you have seen many you might have been suprised by how often those "non-ahtlete" race car drivers come away as the winners. But let's back up for just a moment and look at this:

Athlete - noun: a person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill

So, is a race car driver trained or gifted in some kind of contest... say a contest like a car race? Yes. Being successful as a racer requires gifted levels of perception and balance, and extensive training to develop the skills (driving one the street has almost nothing in common with driving on the track).

Does being a race car driver require agility, stamina, and/or strength? Consider the following:

Driving an F1 car or a sports prototype exerts great pressue on the body - to simulate the strength requirement connect a 100# weight to your head and hang your head sideways and hold it there for 10-15 seconds (and repeatedly do this every 20-30 seconds for 1-2 hours).

Due to limits on braking assistence, some classes of cars require drivers to be able to exert 300-400 pounds of pressure on the brake pedal... and pushing exaclty the right amount (too little and you won't stop, too much and you'll unbalance the car or lock up the brakes if there is no ABS). This must be repeated every 10-20 seconds for a few hours.

Consider that many drivers lose 10 or more pounds or water weight while driving due to the conditions. And so on and so on.

So yes, drivers are athletes, and the best drivers often measure up quite well to other elite athletes. If you ever need to experience this first hand, take a try at go-karting and see if you can last more than 10-15 minutes... and then consider that an in-shape driver could go at that all day (and maintain a very fast and consistent pace). People that don't race or have not been around racing often have little concept of just how physical it can be (even though the mental requirements are often much greater).

it's an "endurance" sport, which actually makes it harder
Most sports the guys get to take a break

All of the good ones are in tip top shape. David Pearson once said he invited anyone who thought drivers weren't athletes to drive 500 laps around Bristol on a hot August night with 42 other drivers. When you get out of the car, then say drivers are not athletes. You can't because they are.

if people consider Golfers athletes, I would say Nascar drivers are definitely athletes. Golfers never even work up a sweat, unless it is hot outside.

Obviously you are not familiar with NASCAR. if you took the time to look at the drivers & understand what really goes on during the races you would say yes. Mark Martin is 50 yrs old & is in amazing shape. he gets up at 5:00am daily & works out for at least an hour a day. Carl Edwards has been on the cover of FITNESS magazine about 4 times now.
There is much more to NASCAR than just driving a car. there is the heat factor, the weather, the possibilities of wrecks at any time.... so much more.
If you were to get into a car, keep the windows rolled up, turn on the heat full blast & drive 500 miles NON STOP then you might get a little taste of what a NASCAR driver goes thru during a race.
These guys are definitely athletes and most of them have personal trainers to help keep them in shape. They take I.V's on race days just to keep their fluid levels up because they sweat off 4 to 5 pounds during a race!!
Just because they are not playing a typical stick and ball sport like football or baseball does not mean they are not athletes. They have my respect because they they don't need to do "performance enhancing" drugs like so many baseball players have been doing lately. They also have their family's with them & live in motor homes from february till November with very few days off so I say YES, they are definitely athletes.

I think anyone who can control a 3400 pound car at speed up to 200+ mph while sitting inside a 200 degree oven for up to 5 hours all the while risking their lives deserves a little credit here. These guys have training programs that rival any olympian and lose up to 10 pounds during a race. Also the mental stress of running at 200 with cars only inches from your door can take a lot out of any driver. They may not be out there running and jumping or hitting a ball, but when it comes right down to it the physical demands put on them during a race would qualify them as athelets.eudoraweb