Chubby guys in Elvis suits driving in circles real fast.
Sounds like my Uncle Earl driving down to the Circle K for another 6 pack.
But a “sport”?
Please.
Am I missing something…other than the morbid thrill of maybe witnessing a car wreck, what the hell is so exciting about watching cars go around in a circle at high speeds?
I’m serious.
Enlighten me.
You got it in one, pal. I’m not a big NASCAR fan myself but I guess people could also enjoy the adrenaline rush they get from watching something go past at 200 mph 100 yards away from them. I hear NASCAR events are also good places to pick up car realated memorabilia like those neat stickers with Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes– don’t ask me how they are avoiding copyright issues!) urinating on the logo of your most-hated car manufacturer… 
I’m not a big fan of NASCAR (I find it too repetitive), but there is no question that it is a sport. Consider the drivers for a moment. [ul]1.)They possess a great deal of skill, and use that skill in a competition. 2.)By and large, these guys have faster reflexes and shorter reaction times than athletes in other sports. 3.)They must be cardiovascularly fit to endure three-hours of extreme concentration and intense stress.[/ul]“Chubby” guys are a rarity - not the rule, and Uncle Earl doesn’t have to drive to the Circle K in bumper to bumper traffic moving at 200 mph.
As for the car, in a sense it’s no different from other sporting equipment. Golf is a sport, even though the golpher doesn’t have to pick up the ball and throw it. Golpher’s don’t use the same clubs as each other, and different designs are fine as long as they don’t break the rules. The same is true for the different NASCAR car models.
Lastly, there is much more too it than driving in a circle and waithing for someone to crash. There is a great deal of strategy out on the tracks as different teams will employ different techniques to gain advatage. A driver may block a car from passing his teammate, pit stops must be timed and executed perfectly, and drafting can produce duel like matchups between drivers. There is a lot of strategy that isn’t immediately obvious to those unfamiliar with the sport. Many people will watch it just to appreciate these chess moves.
Here is a good primer on the physics of drafting.
I take it you prefer Trolling?
Beeblebrox,
I’ll give you points 1 and 3, but I’d like to know your reasoning behind point 2.
Is this your opinion or do you have some reliable info?
Honestly I think there are some examples of other activities, like hitting a curve ball in which I would think you reflexes would need to be just as fast.
You’re not serious. Nothing I could say would convince you, or anyone else who is convinced that NASCAR is a stupid non-sport for stupid ignorant rednecks. I’ve learned this over the years. And so I won’t even try.
My definition of “sport”:
1 – Must involve physical activity by the participants (chess, no; auto racing, yes).
2 – Must be in direct competition with one or more other humans who can act to prevent you from winning (pole vault, no; auto racing, yes).
3 – Must have clearly defined rules and no judgments of score (ice skating, no; auto racing yes).
Ergo, NASCAR is a sport.
I think the contention would be on the first point of that definition.
Beeblebrox…
Don’t get me wrong, I have no desire to deny NASCAR “sport” status-- whatever good that is. I don’t deny that a great deal of concentration is required on the part of the driver in a NASCAR event. There is a great deal of strategy involved in positioning ones car in just the right way to win.
But while you may appreciate the intricate physics and strategy of professional driving, I seriously doubt that most of the people at NASCAR events do. This is like claiming people enjoy fireworks displays because they like to comtemplate complex chemical oxidation reactions. Lets face it-- people like loud noises and shiny things. As a species, it isn’t that hard to captivate our attention. How many traffic jams have you been in caused by people gawking at a police car’s flashing lights by the side of the road? I think a more interesting topic would be a thread in which we discussed why it is so important for people to confirm or deny the “sport” status of an activity.
Zoid, I’ve tried for the last 20 minutes to find a cite for that, but I can’t. I had read it a few years back in what I think was either Scientific American or the lighter publication, Discover Magazine. The survey listed auto racers at the top and baseball players second. I can’t prove it, however, because I can’t seem to find the original article or any comparison of reaction time at all. Oh, well.
I do know they did a study of race car drivers a few years ago, they were average in almost all endurance and muscular strength categories. The one area they tested significantly above average in was visual acuity. They came up with a test that involved reading reading the label of records spinning at 78 rpm. The race car drivers were the only group that would consistently be able to read the labels.
Keith
Actually, since I am not a big fan of the sport, it is people like me who just wait for things to go boom. When I watch races with some of my friends who are actual fans, they seem more concerned with drafting strategy, restrictor plates, and who is being too aggresive or not aggressive enough. They hate the crashes because the yellow flag comes out and the racing, for all intents and purposes, stops. Most of my knowledge of NASCAR strategies come from them.
For instance, last weekend’s crappy ending at Daytona. Big crash 2 or 3 laps before the finish, so they have to finish under yellow.I don’t know how anyone who watched the whole thing could prefer seeing the crash to seeing a good finish.
How does pole-vaulting not qualify? The competition is direct in that someone can prevent you from winning by succesfully clearing a height that you’re unable to match. Is it because people take turns? If so, than golf wouldn’t qualify as a sport either, as all the golfers are not teeing off at once, and physical defense is not a component of the game.
And I seriously doubt that you’ve ever gone to a NASCAR event - or even a sports bar holding a NASCAR party on a Sunday afternoon - and actually talked to the people about it. You’d be surprised if you did.
OK, OK… I have vastly underestimated the the cold hard intellectualism of NASCAR fans. I’m sorry. Lots of people buy into the stereotype of racing fans as beer-swilling rednecks. I will do so no longer. Forgive my indiscretion. DMark, I’m just going to do what I should have in the first place and directly answer the OP. Yes, I think NASCAR is a sport just as much as anything else. Your definition of “sport” may vary.
Sport or not, I sure as hell have more respect for a Jordan or a Magic as an athlete then I would for Richard Petty.
Yeesh, every month or so, some gratuitious swipe at NASCAR appears on this board. Excuse me…
[Yawn]
Any sport that one has no personal interest in will appear stupid to that person. To select just one example, baseball looks utterly ridiculous to most people who have no knowledge of the sport’s traditions.
I don’t recall the OP mentioning that he or she has been forced at gunpoint to watch a NASCAR race. But, yeah, if it makes you feel better, it’s just a bunch of Bubbas running rolling billboards around in circles, and its fans are nothing but a bunch of beer-swilling louts enjoying a day out from the trailer park.
There, prejudices affirmed?
We’ve done this one before. To death.
I have run across the issue at to what a sport is and is not and am still undecided (not the most pressing issue I got going). Some things that are borderline sports as I see them are:
scuba
hunting/spearfishing
rock climbing
darts
golf
but I consider auto racing such as nascar as a sport.
IMHO sports can be broken down to man vs man or man vs nature.
A critical difference, of course, being that major league baseball doesn’t have a better form of its own sport played at a higher level. The same cannot be said of NASCAR, which is sort of the children’s version of automobile racing when compared to Formula One and CART street races where drivers actually have to make turns and negotiate courses.
There is something rather puzzling about the popularity of an auto racing circuit where a rather critical part of race driving skill isn’t even tested.