Post by November KS on Nov 19, 2013 15:04:16 GMT -6
Round the Track: It might look simple, but racing takes athletic skill
PUBLISHED 4 hours and 12 minutes ago
Bob Pockrass Sporting News
Thanks to Donovan McNabb, the debate about whether racecar drivers are athletes raged again during NASCAR’s championship weekend.
The fact that it was done by a network that televises NASCAR races—which then covered its own story, making it one of the top items on its website—creates a perception that it could have been done as part of a shameless self promotion.
A Fox spokesman told The Associated Press that McNabb's comments weren't planned, that is was just the former NFL quarterback giving an opinion.
Maybe it was. And maybe the NASCAR reaction was a little overblown. If Jimmie Johnson said something negative about football players, would anyone really care?
The worry is that since many sports fans listen to McNabb—or at least it is assumed they do since he’s on this daily show—that he can influence what people think about NASCAR. The NASCAR industry has fought the perception that its drivers are just loafers who sit in a car all day going on a Sunday drive.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Not all drivers are great athletes, but driving a racecar does take athletic skill.
An ESPN “Sports Sciences” story in 2012 showed what Denny Hamlin goes through in a race. ESPN was allowed to have sensors inside Hamlin’s car—and one inside his body that he swallowed—to gather information during the 2012 Coca-Cola 600.
The ESPN report showed that Hamlin’s car was 130 degrees throughout the race, that he sweated 3.5 pints of perspiration an hour, lost 13 pounds of water weight during that event and that his neck supports g-forces of 40 pounds in the turns—in a 400-lap race, that’s 800 40-pound reps with his neck. His heart rate was 130 for the event, which is comparable to an endurance runner except that the Coke 600 lasts twice as long as a marathon would.
To handle that, NASCAR drivers must be conditioned. It certainly helps if they are in athletic shape.
For most, that means extensive running and training. For others, that might mean just more racing, as in the case of Tony Stewart.
Stewart can eat several "soda cookies" and do 12-ounce curls yet last in a racecar because he races all the time. He might not be able to run 20 miles as Jimmie Johnson can, but he is in condition to race.
Just because someone can’t run miles and miles doesn’t mean they’re not an athlete. We’ve seen enough first basemen and designated hitters who carry a few extra pounds to know that they’re not going to win any fitness awards.
Being an athlete, though, is about being focused. It’s about executing when on the brink of exhaustion. It’s about pushing the body to the limit and then continuing on without a noticeable drop in performance. In a racecar driver’s case, a mistake can result in death. If that’s not pressure to make sure that they’re on top of their game, then there’s nothing else that could be considered athletic.
Fans who do ride-arounds with drivers in two-seat cars or get the chance to drive cars for a few laps that don’t even go as fast as Cup cars can’t believe that drivers race that way for 200 or more laps. Just 10 laps of sitting in the car (without driving it) takes their breath away.
What’s amazing is that this debate centers around Jimmie Johnson. A Google search of Johnson brings up dozens of stories about his workout regimen and training. It’s easy to know that he is one of the fittest drivers in NASCAR. There have been enough shirtless photos of Mark Martin, Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne that show that some of these guys have awesome strength and are in great shape.
Maybe the only thing more surprising than McNabb's comments was the response of the NASCAR industry on Twitter. Many were quite sensitive to what has been typical criticism of their skills. Maybe instead of tweeting back to McNabb, drivers should just post photos of themselves working out or tweet out their list of workout routines.
That way they’re not just educating McNabb. They’re educating fans on exactly what they do to be the best athlete they can be. Or better yet, NASCAR needs to invite a group of celebrity doubters and put them in a car at Dover for 10 laps. And then if they say a driver doesn’t need to be athletic, at least they have something tangible on which to base that opinion.
PUBLISHED 4 hours and 12 minutes ago
Bob Pockrass Sporting News
Thanks to Donovan McNabb, the debate about whether racecar drivers are athletes raged again during NASCAR’s championship weekend.
The fact that it was done by a network that televises NASCAR races—which then covered its own story, making it one of the top items on its website—creates a perception that it could have been done as part of a shameless self promotion.
A Fox spokesman told The Associated Press that McNabb's comments weren't planned, that is was just the former NFL quarterback giving an opinion.
Maybe it was. And maybe the NASCAR reaction was a little overblown. If Jimmie Johnson said something negative about football players, would anyone really care?
The worry is that since many sports fans listen to McNabb—or at least it is assumed they do since he’s on this daily show—that he can influence what people think about NASCAR. The NASCAR industry has fought the perception that its drivers are just loafers who sit in a car all day going on a Sunday drive.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Not all drivers are great athletes, but driving a racecar does take athletic skill.
An ESPN “Sports Sciences” story in 2012 showed what Denny Hamlin goes through in a race. ESPN was allowed to have sensors inside Hamlin’s car—and one inside his body that he swallowed—to gather information during the 2012 Coca-Cola 600.
The ESPN report showed that Hamlin’s car was 130 degrees throughout the race, that he sweated 3.5 pints of perspiration an hour, lost 13 pounds of water weight during that event and that his neck supports g-forces of 40 pounds in the turns—in a 400-lap race, that’s 800 40-pound reps with his neck. His heart rate was 130 for the event, which is comparable to an endurance runner except that the Coke 600 lasts twice as long as a marathon would.
To handle that, NASCAR drivers must be conditioned. It certainly helps if they are in athletic shape.
For most, that means extensive running and training. For others, that might mean just more racing, as in the case of Tony Stewart.
Stewart can eat several "soda cookies" and do 12-ounce curls yet last in a racecar because he races all the time. He might not be able to run 20 miles as Jimmie Johnson can, but he is in condition to race.
Just because someone can’t run miles and miles doesn’t mean they’re not an athlete. We’ve seen enough first basemen and designated hitters who carry a few extra pounds to know that they’re not going to win any fitness awards.
Being an athlete, though, is about being focused. It’s about executing when on the brink of exhaustion. It’s about pushing the body to the limit and then continuing on without a noticeable drop in performance. In a racecar driver’s case, a mistake can result in death. If that’s not pressure to make sure that they’re on top of their game, then there’s nothing else that could be considered athletic.
Fans who do ride-arounds with drivers in two-seat cars or get the chance to drive cars for a few laps that don’t even go as fast as Cup cars can’t believe that drivers race that way for 200 or more laps. Just 10 laps of sitting in the car (without driving it) takes their breath away.
What’s amazing is that this debate centers around Jimmie Johnson. A Google search of Johnson brings up dozens of stories about his workout regimen and training. It’s easy to know that he is one of the fittest drivers in NASCAR. There have been enough shirtless photos of Mark Martin, Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne that show that some of these guys have awesome strength and are in great shape.
Maybe the only thing more surprising than McNabb's comments was the response of the NASCAR industry on Twitter. Many were quite sensitive to what has been typical criticism of their skills. Maybe instead of tweeting back to McNabb, drivers should just post photos of themselves working out or tweet out their list of workout routines.
That way they’re not just educating McNabb. They’re educating fans on exactly what they do to be the best athlete they can be. Or better yet, NASCAR needs to invite a group of celebrity doubters and put them in a car at Dover for 10 laps. And then if they say a driver doesn’t need to be athletic, at least they have something tangible on which to base that opinion.