An American Revolution: NASCAR and Hip-Hop »

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  STONERS

  April 8, 2007, 5:05 p.m.

  In fairness, he quotes from Webster defining an athlete as "one having the natural aptitude for physical exercises in sports as strength, agility and endurance"--which drivers undeniably possess. McCann also quotes some guy with credentials from Duke, who contends that the physical demands of driving a racecar qualify the drivers as athletes, citing the tremendous upper body strength, mental concentration, hand-eye coordination and quick reflexes.
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  vor

  April 9, 2007, 9:36 a.m.

  This is a tough one. I knew Cale Yarborough when I was young and Cale was certainly no prototypical athlete. He was barrel chested and had a huge gut. He earned his endurance from working in the fields not a gym. Then I went to sports camp with Kyle Petty in my teen's. Kyle was a nice kid but was hardly one of the better athletes at camp. And he swore he would never drive stock cars.

  But the drivers of today are a different breed. Most of them are on training regiments and specific diets. This is much like golf, look at Nicklaus in the 60's, and look at Tiger today. They are certainly more athletic yet their main skill is still the ability to focus and endure heat for long periods of time. Would this not also be the case of someone doing a crossword in a sauna for a hour? The main difference would be the risk involved.

  But I do give these guys credit. I run mountain trails all the time and yet I doubt without substantial time to acclimate that I could do what they do.
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  Harbeas

  April 9, 2007, 10:26 a.m.

  Driving a race car does not require athleticism, talent yes, athleticism no.
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  crespi

  April 9, 2007, 11:15 a.m.

  We let NASCAR types run this country for a while and look what happened.

  Besides when oil prices go up, driving cars around in circles will be seen as a colossal waste and quickly go out of favor.

  Sorry it's you're favorite sport (except for assassinating animals on VS channel), Neo-cons, but that's the breaks.
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  elll

  April 9, 2007, 12:46 p.m.

  Hey stoners...for some reason I couldnt watch the video. I'll keep trying tho.

  :o)
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  LKSc0tt

  April 9, 2007, 3:56 p.m.

  I once heard someone say that if you can smoke a cigarette while participating in a sport, that activity shouldn't be considered a sport. A good example of this would be "pro" bass fishing. I certainly would not try to smoke a cigarette while driving a million miles an hour around a track for long periods of time, so I would consider NASCAR a sport. And I also consider anybody who takes part in professional sports an athlete. Therefore, I guess I would consider NASCAR drivers athletes. Don't judge me! My logic isn't any crazier than some of the other things I've seen on Netscape.
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  rumple4skin

  April 9, 2007, 5:17 p.m.

  Guess I just plum missed the point of this story. NASCAR and Hip-Hop ... right?? "NASCAR is going to have to do a lot more than put Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a commercial with T.I. or video with Jay-Z to convince the hip-hop community that its athletes are on par with basketball greats Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, et. al." Well I don't know what segment of the 'hip-hop community' this campaign purports to target (wink, wink) but currently NASCAR does not have many minority drivers on the circuit. Hint hint!

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