After going to the Indy 500 this weekend, I’m interested in hearing the Nation’s thoughts on this topic: Is auto racing a sport?
Discuss!
Stay strong
MR
I guess it is as much of a sport as Horse racing or jumping is. Only question is who or what is the athlete? Is is the rider or driver that wins the race – or is the horse or car more important?
That’s exactly what I was getting at. You can extend this argument as well; if they are sports (but something else is doing the running, etc.), are poker or other “skill” sports included as well?
Stay strong
MR
[quote]firebug9 wrote:
I guess it is as much of a sport as Horse racing or jumping is. Only question is who or what is the athlete? Is is the rider or driver that wins the race – or is the horse or car more important?[/quote]
I have heard that the top drivers do have to go through intense fitness programs. Even with all the technology in the cars these days you still need strength to turn the wheel on tight corners and especially endurance to remain alert for long races and survive in a race suit on a hot day. Those guys go through a lot in a long race.
[quote]Mike Robertson wrote:
After going to the Indy 500 this weekend, I’m interested in hearing the Nation’s thoughts on this topic: Is auto racing a sport?
Discuss!
Stay strong
MR[/quote]
I wouldn’t consider auto racing a sport, but it would be hard to argue that the majority (if not all nowadays) of the drivers are not athletes.
I actually race sprint cars in minnesota, iowa, wisconsin region. No doubt about it that the car is about 70-80% of winning, but as a driver it takes a lot of concentration, endurance to keep going fast as the track and car changes throughout a race. A great driver with an average car won’t win, likewise an average driver with a great car won’t win.
Athlete I don’t know, but definitely top notch competitors especially in the indy 500, NASCAR where the concentration they have has to last for hours and hours.
athlete:
a person trained in contests requiring physical strength, stamina, skill, speed, etc.
if you question auto racing being a sport, I would like to point you towards the nearest “kart” track for you to go with a bunch of your friends and drive around. You’ll notice that almost all of the karts are identical, and yet there’s a chance that maybe someone is awesome, and that some people just plain suck. You’ll learn two things if you spend a few hours driving in some form of friendly competition, A) it’s fun as hell and B) It definately takes SKILL
last time I checked, football, baseball, basketball, Golf, rugby, lacrosse, hell even bowling takes skill. So is autoracing a sport? YES do you have to agree? I don’t care, I think it is.
It takes skill to do most anything. That relates to the person. Thus…athlete.
I guess it’s a sport by definition–some derive pleasure from observing it.
But–no ball
No sport!
And I don’t care if you don’t agree.
j/k–honestly
well, it’s not that hard. first define sport. then see if racing fits in. here’s webster’s primary and secondary def’s. :
a. Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
b. A particular form of this activity.
2. An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.
personally , i think driving a race car is no frickn joke man. think about it. nothing you’ve ever done on playstation or in your saleen mustang even glimpses the physical brutality of braking from 200-50 in 3 seconds. if competing in traffic with countless physically co-ordinated life or death movements(your life as well as 30 others)in 120 heat for a couple of hours while fighting sustained g forces which make your bodyweigh from 600 to 1,000 lbs and the car up to 8,000 for anywhere from 5-20 seconds at a time isn’t a sport i’d like to see your definition.
Ya, it’s a sport. I’d take any guy from F1 and stack him against another athlete, and they would probably perform at a similar level. Cardio is key in racing, although nothing can simulate driving expect driving. Think 115 degrees, for 5 hours, with no power steering. It’s rough.
[quote]Mike Robertson wrote:
After going to the Indy 500 this weekend, I’m interested in hearing the Nation’s thoughts on this topic: Is auto racing a sport?[/quote]
Absolutely. Those guys can lose pounds of body water weight in a race.
It requires intense concentration and physical stamina for hours. Balancing a car at close to 200mph in a four-wheel drift while inches away from the wall and other cars is not something you want to do if you’re not in top physical and mental condition.
And yes, most of these guys spend a lot of time in the gym to make sure they have the strength to wrestle that wheel around as quickly as possible, even after having done it repeatedly for the past three hours.
[quote]sasquatch wrote:
It takes skill to do most anything. That relates to the person. Thus…athlete.
I guess it’s a sport by definition–some derive pleasure from observing it.
But–no ball
No sport!
And I don’t care if you don’t agree.
j/k–honestly[/quote]
you’re saying hockey isn’t a sport, but it could be argued by your logic that ROULETTE is(it does have a ball)! You’re saying that most track events aren’t sports. Since powerball has a ball, would playing powerball and keno be a sport?
It’s a sport, hands down. A very popular one at that.
As far as the drivers being athletes, they have to be at the top of their game every Sunday. They also must deal with the rigorous travel schedule of going from track to track every week.
Hell, golfers complain about their schedule but their sport is far from physically intense.
You also have to look at the pit crews, in Nextel cup these guys usually pull double duty being mechanics or engineers. Then, they throw on race suits and helmets and drill drill drill to achieve that coveted 13 second 4 tires and fuel pit-stop.
More and more the sport of racing is really becoming a “team” sport where every aspect of the crew must achieve greatness every Sunday. THEN, bank on having a little luck sprinkled on them to actually win. Consider the last lap of las Sunday’s race where Jimmy Johnson slid by Bobby Labonte with mere yards to go before the finnish.
Now, with that being said I can’t sit and watch the whole thing. I usually have it on the radio or check on it periodically then situate myself to watch the last 50 to 100 laps when the drivers are done with “just driving around” and really get aggressive to attain track position for the victory.
GAINER
[quote]CU AeroStallion wrote:
sasquatch wrote:
It takes skill to do most anything. That relates to the person. Thus…athlete.
I guess it’s a sport by definition–some derive pleasure from observing it.
But–no ball
No sport!
And I don’t care if you don’t agree.
j/k–honestly
you’re saying hockey isn’t a sport, but it could be argued by your logic that ROULETTE is(it does have a ball)! You’re saying that most track events aren’t sports. Since powerball has a ball, would playing powerball and keno be a sport?[/quote]
Don’t get to serious on me now. This discussion(?) does not warrant capital letters or exclamation points. Hence j/k.
If pro hockey were cancelled–would anybody notice or care? Just wondering.
I used to think that no ball = no sport…then I saw Lance Armstrong.
My vote is yes, auto racing is a sport. It takes a great amount of preparation, and you’re competing. There you go. Hell, if they can put poker or a damn spelling bee on ESPN, then auto racing can be a sport.
I don’t think it is. If you are playing basketball in the NBA or in your driveway, it is still the same sport just at different levels of ability. With racing you can compare the Indy500 to the NBA level of play. However the non professional version of racing could be driving on the street. I refuse to think my 4’11" 82 pound grandma w/ 3/4 of one lung remaining is playing a sport (granted at a level way below the pros) when she drives to church or the grocery store.
[quote]purdiver wrote:
I don’t think it is. If you are playing basketball in the NBA or in your driveway, it is still the same sport just at different levels of ability. With racing you can compare the Indy500 to the NBA level of play. However the non professional version of racing could be driving on the street. I refuse to think my 4’11" 82 pound grandma w/ 3/4 of one lung remaining is playing a sport (granted at a level way below the pros) when she drives to church or the grocery store.[/quote]
Driving to the store and racecar driving is like comparing apples to oranges.
I doubt your granny could play basketball with a group of people but I’m fairly confident she could stand in the driveway and bounce the ball a few times by herself.
GAINER
I don’t have a big problem with racing being a sport. It all depends on how losely you want to define sport. The problem is that if you want to define sport as a competitve physical activity that requires skill and training then it leaves the door open to a whole bunch of other activities which a lot of people wouldn’t consider a sport.
A few semesters ago I was a TA for a sociology of sport class and we discussed this very topic. Just to play devil’s advocate I suggested that competitive eating contests could be considered a sport. Depending on how you define “sport” this works. Think about it: It’s a physical activity, there’s an element of competition, these people activily prepare and train for their contensts etc.
Just so you know, I’m not seriously arguing this I just wanted to give an extreme example of what could be considered a sport once you start permitting things that don’t require a high level of fitness and athleticism to compete at a very high level.
Dale Earnhart Sr. once fell asleep at the wheel during a race. I think it was during a caution lap.