# Indy 500, NASCAR, Grand Prix, etc. - how do the drivers pee? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indy-500-nascar-grand-prix-etc-how-do-the-drivers-pee/417845 "2007-09-02T21:56:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indy-500-nascar-grand-prix-etc-how-do-the-drivers-pee/417845/1 "2007-09-02T21:56:02Z")
Diapers? Catheters? The high-speed-automotive equivalent of a bedpan? I can’t believe they pull over when they just _have_ to take a whiz. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indy-500-nascar-grand-prix-etc-how-do-the-drivers-pee/417845/2 "2007-09-02T22:03:15Z")
If they have to urinate they go in their racing suits. Generally that is not a problem, though, because they become heavily dehydrated over the course of a race. [Cite](http://www.nasaexplores.com/show2_articlea.php?id=02-033) for dehydration [Cite](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/14/dining/14nasc.html?ei=5070&en=42b16a9a5c915241&ex=1188792000&pagewanted=print) for urination ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indy-500-nascar-grand-prix-etc-how-do-the-drivers-pee/417845/3 "2007-09-02T23:35:56Z")
They also make sure to go _before_ the race. I don’t find it all that difficult to go four or five hours without peeing, unless I’ve been drinking almost continuously during that time. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indy-500-nascar-grand-prix-etc-how-do-the-drivers-pee/417845/4 "2007-09-02T23:48:38Z")
We’ve covered this before. They either hold it or piss themselves, usually the former. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indy-500-nascar-grand-prix-etc-how-do-the-drivers-pee/417845/5 "2007-09-03T00:15:44Z")
These aren’t 24 hour races. The longest races are 3.5 to 4 hours, so I suspect that it’s not an issue 99 percent of the time. They just go before and/or after. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indy-500-nascar-grand-prix-etc-how-do-the-drivers-pee/417845/6 "2007-09-03T00:59:15Z")
At work I go for up to six hours at a time without access to a toilet. It’s never been a problem as long as I go before hand (regardless of whether I need to or not.) ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indy-500-nascar-grand-prix-etc-how-do-the-drivers-pee/417845/7 "2007-09-03T01:42:57Z")
Your question has been answered, so I’ll tell one of my favorite track stories. I swear this is absolutely true. As I’ve mentioned before, [I drive my sports car on race tracks](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=369540). I was standing at the urinal before going out on the track one morning when another driver standing next to me said, “There’s nothing worse than being out on track and having to pee.” From inside one of the stalls, someone said, “Well, there’s _one_ thing worse.” ---
**Author:** ![Hentzau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Hentzau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentzau)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indy-500-nascar-grand-prix-etc-how-do-the-drivers-pee/417845/8 "2007-09-03T01:59:05Z")
Well, I’ve pretty much trained myself to go whenever I have any noticable bladder pressure. I’m an emergency medical rescue helicopter pilot, and that means that I spend at least twelve hours at a time during which I can be called to drop a helicopter, in the dark, onto some dark accident site that has wires, telephone poles, wires, trees, wires and first-responders all over it. I really don’t want my bladder screaming at me while I’m doing that. Then I will fly the victim to whatever hospital…and it can be a long time before I get the chance to dump toxic waste into the local sewer system. So I keep it empty, and even on my days off I just don’t like to carry urine around if I don’t have to. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indy-500-nascar-grand-prix-etc-how-do-the-drivers-pee/417845/9 "2007-09-03T04:34:48Z")
In F1, drivers strap into their cars, drive around the track to the grid and then get out and generally hit the bathroom before the race. However, back when he was driving Jacques Villeneuve didn’t like to get out of the car and typically just peed in the car while sitting on the grid. Early in his career he freaked out his crew as they were preparing the car because they thought the car had sprung a leak. 😃