thespian86

Why can you call nascar a sport. yes i am aware that it takes skill but driving in a circle is not a sport... explain... please

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grayman

What is your definition of a sport?

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thespian86

I like that! One, something anyone can enjoy, two something that is fast paced, three, physicaly straining, four you need thats always changing, Rules, teams or players (but there are drivers), and much more entertaining then five hundred laps of circles where there is one pass the whole time

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Peryn

While i am not personally a fan of the whole NASCAR / circle track scene, i can understand why some people are. Heck, i find it much more of a "sport" than golf is...

Would you consider autocross/SCCA a sport? How bout rallycross? F1 racing? Snowmobile racing? Is there any kind of driving/racing that you would consider a sport, or is it just the fact that they drive in circles that makes it not a sport to you?

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JoeyB

I'm not a grammar cop by any means.....but I love the title of this thread.

I'm picturing something completely different than Nascar when I read it!!!

I'm picturing a "How to" manual about some kind of weird fetish competition. Racing your nuts in 12 easy steps.

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thespian86

Thank you for pointing out my stupidity

The constant motion kind of racing that goes on a steady pace with very little action, nascar is the biggest culprit but anything with more then 100 laps just gets boring... "He takes the lead on the starting lap and after a few short pit stops he keeps the lead to win the race...." whats the point?

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JoeyB

I sincerely wasn't doing that. I'm as guilty as the next person, it just struck me as funny......


Keep on postin'!!!

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WarWagon

How about having several competitors moving at 200 mph, only inches away from each other for hours? How about their requiring the skill necessary to interpret every last intricate detail about the car, know when to drive high, low, how to draft the car in front of them, etc. Ever driven a go kart for more than a few laps? Did you get exhausted from it by any chance? Try riding one for hours on end with no breaks, and see the kind of stamina it takes to compete.

I don't see how it's any less of a sport than baseball. What's baseball? A player sitting down for the majority of the game, getting paid millions of dollars regardless of whether they win or lose, who swings a stick a few times every game. It all depends on your interpretation.

djtestudo

That's exactly right.

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WarWagon

Just thought I'd mention that I'm not a die hard Nascar fan, but I do follow and enjoy watching it. One way you can think about it is like watching a basketball game, where both teams are separated by a single basket all game, and the slightest mistake by either team will cost them the win. This is especially true in the last few laps of the race.

Brian Warner

Don't forget the tremendous hand eye cordination and the nerves that it requires. The g-forces on certain tracks (Bristol) are astronomical and they fight these forces for 4 hours.
The temperature inside the car reaches over 130 degrees.
And......they have to be on an extreme high state of alertness during the entire time.

I'd love to see these peoples reactions after a quick lap with a top professional driving at the Atlanta or Texas track.

I bet they'd be whimpering.

Stare At The Sun

Racing is a sport, however, i think NASCAR is like Tee-Ball compared to WRC(rally racing) or things like the Dakar.

Brian Warner

I guess the road courses don't count either.
I hear some more whimpering comments from the inexperienced crowd.

Hanxter

consider a lot of owners have more than one car in a race - there is to be considered that one driver may block or help draft a team mate...
but is it a sport or individual competition...
do you have to have a team to make it a sport...

Craven Morehead

Ernest Hemingway once said that mountain climbing, bull fighting and auto racing were sport, all the others were mere games.


Not too many people get killed while golfing or at the bowling alley. Takes a tremendous amount of courage to be a racer, not to mention skill and conditioning.

JoeyB

I think we've had discussions like this before on bowling, golf, billiards, darts.

It takes a great deal of physical endurance to drive a car for 500 miles, while competing against other drivers.

That's sport enough to me.

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crewsor

I have no doubt its a sport. I don't find it particularly entertaining, but thats me. It definately takes skill and endurance. So who cares how its classified. You like it or you don't.

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thespian86

Yes but does that make you want to watch the first 400 laps of the race?


Why does risking your life make it a sport... if that was the only part that people enjoy, why not watch a guy play russian roulette? at least there is more of a risk then?

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mojobojo

I just dont get watchin cars drive in a circle for 500 laps....i mean yes the crashes are cool, but thats what sportscenters for...i see cars passin each other everyday on the way to work....why waste my free time watch that

shakran

Nascar is a sport. It's a boring sport which caters to people who like to watch shiny objects go round and round, but it's a sport nonetheless.

Fast paced, btw, is not a requirement for a sport, unless golf, bowling, and the breast stroke (not THAT breast stroke) are not sports.

cartmen34

Being a motorsports fan in general, I enjoy almost al forms of racing. Having said that...I do not really enjoy nascar. While I keep track of the series points and who is winning, I NEVER sit down and watch an entire race. It's almost like watching someone mow their lawn.... it's just some dude driving around in circles until someone says their done.

I like what shakran said...
He's right....it's for people who like to sit on their fat asses, drink beer and hoot and holler like neanderthals all day long while big shiny cars with "purdy" colors on them drive around in circles.

But hey to each his own. Whatever makes you happy...

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Redjake

nascar is definitely a sport. the drivers lose between 1-4 lbs per race. that's proven. I'd like to see an athlete lose 1-4 lbs per baseball game. any task that requires you to endure 4 hours of driving 200 miles per hour is definitely a sport.

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WarWagon

Oh, you mean like basketball? Where the fans just sit on their ass, drink beer, and watch guys run back and forth, back and forth? Or like baseball, where they sit on their ass, drink beer, and watch a bunch of guys spit, sit on a bench, and swing a stick every couple hours?

splck

Heheh...Tee-Ball...good one.

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nice line eh?

tkkfan

besides, ur hands get really tired holding the wheel after about 20mins.

But NASCAR is still BORING. Whoopie a big circle....for 2+ hours.
The only time people find it exciting is when there's a crash.

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Jrock

Sure it's a sport. A sport is defined as "Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively." It's definatly physical; last time I went on a 500 mile nonstop trip, I was tired as hell by the end, and driving in a street car isn't a tenth as physicly demanding as racing. Racing has rules, and is engaged in competitively. And if they're going to classify golf as a sport, racing is a sport too!

Whether you find it interesting or not is up to you, but keep in mind that any sport is much more interesting if you know what to look for. Anytime I watch a sport I'm not familiar with, I'm bored and confused for most of it. I must admit that the first few races I watched, I didn't know what was going on and got bored halfway through the race. Now that I understand the the strategy, terminology, etc., I find it much more interesting.

Oh, and if you want to try watching a race to see if you'll enjoy it, wait until the second half of the season when NBC is covering the races. Fox has horrible race coverage, but that's a different rant.

wakelagger

Redjake, hockey goalies, are proven to lose between 8 to 10 pounds per hockey game. Mind you, most of this is water weight, but how could someone in a 130 degree metal cabin not lose more than 1-4 pounds in a two hour race?

WarWagon

Hell, I've lost a few pounds DRAG RACING in my helmet and fire suit, with my car only warmed in the pits and staging lanes, and then coming back around for round robin, maybe 20 minutes in the car tops. They DEFINITELY lose more water weight than that.

Rippley

I read recently that F1-drivers lose something like 8 lbs. during a race. I'm guessing the NASCAR drivers lose about the same, if not more. They are, after all, in an enclosed cabin, where the F1-boys are in an open cockpit...

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Craven Morehead

Yes, they are in an open cockpit but due to areodynamics there is virtually no airflow - that would increase drag on the car. With F1 the engine is behind the driver and he is incased in a very samll cockpit. No where for heat to go. In NASCAR its not any better, the engine in in front and the heat comes back into the drivers sompartment. One area NASCAR has had problems with is carbon monoxide in the drivers area. Neither one is easy.

cartmen34

No, baseball is exponentially more boring that nascar!!

and oh yeah, I don't like basketball all that much either.

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"The problem with quick and dirty, as some people have said, is that the dirty remains long after the quick has been forgotten" - Steve McConnell