Racing as a Sport? Please justify this for me.

[-What-]

I'm not trying to ruffle feathers, I'm trying to understand. I'm trying to understand why race car drivers consider themselves to be ATHLETES. Athletes? Serious?

Answer this...is John Force a professional athlete? Jeff Gordon? Schumacher?


Why is racing considered a "sport" and their drivers "athletes" when 99% of the race depends on the CAR.

Are jockeys professional athletes? Are pilots athletes?



I like racing. I like it...but I want to understand the logic.


What about the dude sitting in the driver seat of the rally cars that tells the driver his upcoming route...is he an athlete? Has there been a race car driver that achieved an injury from over-stressing while performing his "sport"?


I am not trying to offend anyone.
__________________

[RacingManiac]

I believe equestrian is actually an olympic sport.....so is Bobsledding, tobogganing, baseball....etc


I think some racing is more qualified as being a sports than others, but in the grand scheme of things they are ALL recognized as athlete. If you have ever driven a car in competition, you'll see its actually quite physical, requires a great degree of stamina and hand-eye coordination, which is much like any other traditional sports. In higher level of racing(I guess other than drag), drivers are required to keep in top physical condition in order to perform at their best, they need tremandous upper body strength to deal with the g-forces, they also need insane amount of neck muscle development to hold their head upright to deal with upward to 5 G(in F1's case) of their head+helmet weight in longitudinal and lateral direction, while being able to operate their vehicle.....

Put it another way, I remember a few years back Tiger Woods was asked who he thinks is a better athlete: Himself, Federer, or Michael Schumacher, each were dominating their respective sports at the time, Tiger Woods said Schumacher....

[-What-]

Niko Fx said:

So you could actually drive a Ferrari F1 and do just as good as M. Schumacher since the car does 99% of the work?

Don't they lose like 5lbs per race? I bet it's more than what a Baseball player loses on any game.

As far as your question Niko...yes. Give me enough practice and I'd be able to compete with Schumacher and possibly beat him. If he suffers an injury...er...if his car fails, I win. In racing, I've notice that the "athletes" fail when their CARS fail.

But seriously, yes, I believe I could be a competitive race car driver with enough practice. Of course you'll disagree, but think about this...
Driving an F1 car is a "priviledge"...everyone doesn't get the oppurtunity. Therefore, it is more likely that the best in the world isn't competing compared to most other "sports". I could possibly demolish Schumacher, but we'd never know. I can't go in the streets an play a game of "pick-up F1". I do believe that I am a better conditioned athlete than Schumacher could ever dream of being though, so I may have an edge.

[Niko_Fx]

Originally Posted by -What-

Why is racing considered a "sport" and their drivers "athletes" when 99% of the race depends on the CAR.

So you could actually drive a Ferrari F1 and do just as good as M. Schumacher since the car does 99% of the work?

Don't they lose like 5lbs per race? I bet it's more than what a Baseball player loses on any game.

Drivers (specially F1) need stay in shape throughout their whole season and career for that matter. Cars are designed for them, and every ounce of weight means a heavier, slower car.

[clutch-monkey]

i think it could be classed as such simply due to the sheer effort (mental?) of keeping focused on the car. the track, the conditions and keeping at it's top pace for lap after lap?

[Niko_Fx]

Originally Posted by -What-

But seriously, yes, I believe I could be a competitive race car driver with enough practice. Of course you'll disagree, but think about this...
Driving an F1 car is a "priviledge"...everyone doesn't get the oppurtunity. Therefore, it is more likely that the best in the world isn't competing compared to most other "sports". I could possibly demolish Schumacher, but we'd never know. I can't go in the streets an play a game of "pick-up F1". I do believe that I am a better conditioned athlete than Schumacher could ever dream of being though, so I may have an edge.

If you were to beat Schumacher, wouldn't you want to take a bit more credit than a mere 1%?

[Quiggs]

Originally Posted by RacingManiac

I believe equestrian is actually an olympic sport.....so is Bobsledding, tobogganing, baseball....etc


I think some racing is more qualified as being a sports than others, but in the grand scheme of things they are ALL recognized as athlete. If you have ever driven a car in competition, you'll see its actually quite physical, requires a great degree of stamina and hand-eye coordination, which is much like any other traditional sports. In higher level of racing(I guess other than drag), drivers are required to keep in top physical condition in order to perform at their best, they need tremandous upper body strength to deal with the g-forces, they also need insane amount of neck muscle development to hold their head upright to deal with upward to 5 G(in F1's case) of their head+helmet weight in longitudinal and lateral direction, while being able to operate their vehicle.....

Put it another way, I remember a few years back Tiger Woods was asked who he thinks is a better athlete: Himself, Federer, or Michael Schumacher, each were dominating their respective sports at the time, Tiger Woods said Schumacher....

Drag racers have to work up into the top classes because of the forces their bodies are subject to. It's possible to black out launching a top fuel car.

[-What-]

So are jockeys athletes? What about the sport of remote control car racing...are the owners athletes?

[Niko_Fx]

Originally Posted by Quiggs

Drag racers have to work up into the top classes because of the forces their bodies are subject to. It's possible to black out launching a top fuel car.

That's true, happened to me a few times in the Civic...

[Quiggs]

Originally Posted by Niko_Fx

That's true, happened to me a few times in the Civic...

Vtak kicked in, huh? Nice.

[coolieman1220]

i read somewhere that a race car driver has to be in as good shape as an athlete due to the extreme conditions they go to. the G forces they have to fight off and their heart rate gets as high as a track sta. it makes sense they would. racing is not easy and you need nerves of steel!

[-What-]

Originally Posted by Niko_Fx

If you were to beat Schumacher, wouldn't you want to take a bit more credit than a mere 1%?

My 1% is strong.

Originally Posted by Quiggs

Drag racers have to work up into the top classes because of the forces their bodies are subject to. It's possible to black out launching a top fuel car.

This has nothing to do with athletics. This depends on the particular person. Some people are better at handling g-forces than others. If you think John Force's fat-ass is a top-conditioned athlete...no.


It is difficult for me to consider race car drivers athletes when the majority of the work is performed by the vehicle.

[Fuerte100]

I believe being in an extremely noisy, hot cabin while pulling 5 g forces and still managing to concentrate for extended periods of time is an athletic trait. The stuff looks easy, but I bet you could hardly pull Shumy's times in a videogame.

[Niko_Fx]

Originally Posted by -What-

So are jockeys athletes? What about the sport of remote control car racing...are the owners athletes?

Do you know what kind of training Jockeys (since you keep mentioning them) undergo at all?? It's not as easy as racing the horse and keeping a low weight, trust me.

A good buddy of mine is an Equestrian, he trains every single day with his horse and by himself to stay fit to ride.

[RacingManiac]

Can you beat Tiger Woods in Golf if you played often enough? Fair question, because thats as valid as claiming in being able to beat Schumacher with enough practice. Like any other competitive sports, there are PLENTY of people trying to make it in professional rank. THOUSANDS of people every year races in various form of junior rank racing, not all of them make the grade. While these days many seats in top rank racing are so called paid seats, much of these people still paid their due in climbing the ladder to beat out others to get to that point where some sponsors are willing to throw money at them to send them to an F1 seat.

To complain about equipment, if an Olympic cyclist's bike failed in his heat, does he get a 2nd chance? Racing is complicated by the fact that it is not only an individual pursuit, it is also a pursuit of the team of people who supports that ONE man, thats why they recognized the achievement as a team as well.....its as if a cyclist have to make his own bike as well as racing it......