Sports are one of America’s favorite forms of entertainment. The athleticism and display of talent within sports is what initially draws fans in and keeps them coming back for more. But within the seemingly simple world of sports, there will always be the age-old argument centered on what is and what isn’t a truly considered a sport. Cheerleading has long been the focus of this heated debate, but there has been another form of entertainment posing as a sport for just as long: NASCAR.
Ever since it’s advent in 1948, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, more commonly known by the acronym NASCAR, is the body that oversees a number of auto racing leagues. The most popular and well-known league within NASCAR is the Sprint Cup series, featuring stock cars racing distances of up to 500 miles. The cars used in NASCAR races are specially designed to exceed the speeds and capabilities of normal automobiles, making NASCAR a more extreme form of entertainment.
Many would argue that NASCAR is a sport because of the physical demands that driving at speeds of up to 200 mph can place on a driver and the endurance required to finish a 500-mile race. However, it is important to realize that it’s the car doing the brunt of the work when it comes to automobile racing. NASCAR doesn’t always depend on how athletic the driver is, but rather how fast his or her car is. It really isn’t fair to call something a true sport when athleticism isn’t even required.
When compared to a real sport, such a cross country, the case for NASCAR being a sport doesn’t even come close to holding up. In cross country, an athlete needs to be in good physical form in order to be a competitor; whose body can physically go the fastest determines who the winners are, not the competitors’ sneakers. In NASCAR, it’s the exact opposite; a driver could be the least athletic person in the world, but as long as they have a fast car, they’ll have no problem competing.
Just about anyone can hold their foot to the gas pedal without much physical training. Realistically, driving doesn’t require any physical exertion; the pit crew ends up doing more physical work than the driver by the end of the race. Saying that NASCAR is a sport and is on the same level as sports such as soccer or baseball is insulting to real athletes. Do NASCAR drivers train every day? No. Do they have to be in top physical condition to even be chosen to compete? Definitely not. If we’re going to honor driving as a sport, then pretty much anything could be considered a sport.
Sports are supposed to be competitions of physical strength and endurance. By the very definition of the word, a sport is an activity that requires both physical exertion and skill, two elements that NASCAR definitely lacks. NASCAR should simply be considered entertainment because NASCAR drivers are predominantly entertainers, not athletes.
