NASCAR - A Real Sport?
Read more articles on Sports and Athletics.August 6, 2006
Posted by Tiffany Aller
August 6, 2006
Posted by Tiffany Aller
1,329 Views
To paraphrase a recent television commercial, NASCAR may not be a sport, but it is a way of life. The debate over whether NASCAR, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, is truly a sport has existed nearly as long as competitive car racing. Consider some opinions on what does and does not constitute a true sporting event:
George Carlin does not directly address NASCAR in his book Napalm and Silly Putty, but in the section titled It’s Not a Sport, he gives the following criteria for what defines a sport:
~”Anything not played with a ball can’t be a sport”.
~”Anything we can all do can’t be a sport.”
~An activity is not a sport if “there’s no chance for serious injury”.
~”Anything you can’t gamble on can’t be a sport.”
Following his logic, NASCAR can’t be a sport because it’s not “played” with a ball and is something (driving) we can all (most of us, at least) do. However, it could be a sport because there is definitely a chance for serious injury and is often gambled upon. Moving on to…
Brian Witherby, an author for the News Record, a publication of the University of Cincinnati, is adamant in his Point/Counterpoint article Is NASCAR a Sport that “car drivers aren’t athletes” and NASCAR is not a sport. He makes the following points:
~”No competition should be granted ’sport’ status until its athletes’ god-given athletic abilities and talents determine their chances at victory in that particular ’sport.’ ”
~”NASCAR certainly is a corporate-driven phenomenon.”
With all due respect, nearly anyone who has ever climbed into a stock car and taken laps at a racetrack would argue that it does take God-given athletic abilities and talents to be a successful racecar driver. The average NASCAR driver loses several pounds during each race and can become severely dehydrated by the end of the day. Racers use strength to maneuver their cars around curves - despite “power steering”, a driver with undeveloped muscles will feel like their arms are strands of spaghetti by the end of a long day. Racers use agility and the ability to react quickly to avoid hazards like track walls and other cars nearly every minute of every race. Some racers might look like good ol’ boys with big bellies and undefined bodies, but to survive hours in cars with temperatures upwards of 100 degrees while confined in small spaces with restricted movements does take a large degree of physical conditioning.
In terms of NASCAR being a corporate-driven phenomenon, no statement could be further from the truth. Although racers depend on their sponsorships to offset the enormous costs of maintaining a racing team, the origins of NASCAR were rumrunners who tweaked their cars to be able to outrun the law (I think that in a past life, I probably tried to outrun my husband) who then turned this practice into a competition of whose cars were tweaked better and who were better drivers. Some NASCAR drivers get rich because of their talents; others compete simply because of their passion for “going fast and turning left”. The rise of pop culture has made NASCAR more visible, but the rise of corporate sponsorships certainly do not make NASCAR the popular sport that it is today.
Finally, consider the words of Stan Grimes, in a useless-knowledge.com article titled NASCAR: A Sport? Who Says?
~A sport is “mano to mano, one man’s endurance versus another man’s skill.”
~A sporting event is “patting your teammate on the butt if he hit a homerun” or “after practice or giving the class nerd a wedgy after he screwed up a planned play in basketball practice”.
Clearly, Mr. Grimes must believe that NASCAR is a sport - it doesn’t get much more “mano a mano” than racing side by side, mere inches apart, at speeds more readily associated with aircraft than automobiles, enduring high heat, dehydration, cramped spaces and the constant threat of death while using every bit of skill available to achieve success. As far as how successes are celebrated and disappointments acknowledged, have you ever seen a pit crew celebrating when their driver comes into victory lane? Or perhaps a NASCAR official cracking down on a crew member or driver who violates a rule? Mr. Grimes doth protest too strenuously!
This author, having experienced racing both as a driver and as a fan, carries a business card in her checkbook (Dale Jr. themed) with three sayings that sum up the thrill of NASCAR as a sport:
Come join the fun and LET’S GO RACING, BOYS!
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So I was sitting in the newsroom, bored to tears and googling myself as I normally do, when I came across this article. I was highly amused to see someone halfway across the country quoting one of *my* columns in their own writing. I think it is the first time it has ever happened (and hopefully not the last)!
You should know that, while I was tasked with vehemently defending the side of the argument that I selected, I don’t necessarily agree with everything I wrote now that I have had a significant period of time to step back and re-evaluate my opinions.
I’m still not entirely convinced that NASCAR is a sport, but I’m certainly not as strongly against the notion as I have been in the past!
Keep up the good work,
Brian Witherby
Sports/News Beat Writer
The News Record
www.newsrecord.org