Sport or Not?

[JimmyKrakCorn]

Now me and a few of my more "redneckish" buddies argue about this constantly, is NASCAR really a sport? I mean I define sport as requiring some form of athletic ability. While there is no doubt that NASCAR drivers are immensly talented and probably have great endurance sweating it out in a car for four hours, but I just don't see anything athletic happening.
Seems more like a competition than a sport per say.

[nate7891]

nascar is not a sport. You drive going one way the whole time.

[CMH]

Originally Posted by nate7891

nascar is not a sport. You drive going one way the whole time.

Use search feature. You'll find a long drawn out thread with everyone's opinions on this.

[Gastric ReFlux]

Somebody started a thread and poll about this before.

[matskralc]

Originally Posted by JimmyKrakCorn

While there is no doubt that NASCAR drivers are immensly talented and probably have great endurance sweating it out in a car for four hours, but I just don't see anything athletic happening.

A study was recently done by some sports medicine journal that found race car drivers have the same levels of cardiovascular and physical activity that a football or basketball player has (please note that I said cardiovascular and physical activity, not endurance). I'll see if I can dig up a link somewhere.

[Jordan]

Originally Posted by nate7891

nascar is not a sport. You drive going one way the whole time.

What about road courses? NASCAR drivers don't turn left the entire time on those

[Long_Long_Name]

NASCAR certainly isn't a sport. Car racing might be a sport, though. Saying NASCR is a sport is like saying MLB is a sport - it's not, but baseball is.

In French, we call car racing "sport automobile".

[Long_Long_Name]

Originally Posted by JimmyKrakCorn

I mean I define sport as requiring some form of athletic ability.

I suppose that lifting a box full of dictionaries is a sport for you, then?

[mh2365]

IMO ... a sport is a competition between two or more sides where each side has a chance at obtaining the same goal. Nascar = sport. Hunting = not a sport. Hunting with bare hands or just a rock = sport.

[Jason Moyer]

I dunno the stats on NASCAR, but an F1 driver's heartbeat averages around 160 or so BPM during a 2 hour race. I'd call that athletic.

[IamIowa]

Anything involving competition could be called a sport.

As much as anyone hates to admit it nascar racing is the 5th major sport in the U.S. This comes from a guy who may watch one or two races a year.

[Long_Long_Name]

Originally Posted by IamIowa

As much as anyone hates to admit it nascar racing is the 5th major sport in the U.S. .

It can,t be, it's not a sport. 5th biggest circuit? What are the other 4, baseball, basketball, american football and collegiate football? What is this based on, attendance figures?

[IamIowa]

Originally Posted by Long_Long_Name

It can,t be, it's not a sport. 5th biggest circuit? What are the other 4, baseball, basketball, american football and collegiate football? What is this based on, attendance figures?

I don't know the exact figures on attendance, but any "sport" that gets as much TV coverage as Nascar Racing, has to be considered a major sport along with the other 4. The networks wouldn't cover it if they didn't know a ton of people were watching for their advertisers.

Besides Michigan college football games what other sport do you know has events with 100,000 plus people show up? In the U.S.

Hell, maybe there are 6 major sports, Golf is 5th and Nascar 6th.

[Long_Long_Name]

Originally Posted by IamIowa

Besides Michigan college football games what other sport do you know has events with 100,000 plus people show up? In the U.S.

I'm sure if there were a handful of MLB games every year and if stadiums were over 100,000 seats, it would be filled. There's no point there, anyway.


You still ignore the fact that NASCAR isn't a sport. Car racing is a sport, NASCAR is a circuit.

[IamIowa]

Originally Posted by Long_Long_Name

You still ignore the fact that NASCAR isn't a sport. Car racing is a sport, NASCAR is a circuit.

I ignore nothing. Nascar is as much a sport as is MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA. They are "circuits" of their paticular kind of sports. Perhaps I should have stated the individual leagues instead of the sport in general. MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, and NASCAR. The original four biggest sporting leagues and Nascar. They are all the biggest leagues of their individual sport. Nascar rivals that of the big four easily.

[Long_Long_Name]

Originally Posted by IamIowa

I ignore nothing. Nascar is as much a sport as is MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA. They are "circuits" of their paticular kind of sports. Perhaps I should have stated the individual leagues instead of the sport in general. MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, and NASCAR. The original four biggest sporting leagues and Nascar. They are all the biggest leagues of their individual sport. Nascar rivals that of the big four easily.

I claimed that MLB isn't a sport earlier on. Of course they're not sports ontheir own, especially NASCAR, which is one of several circuits in car racing. THe best race car drivers in the world are in Formula 1, not in NASCAR.


Anyway, I'm not claiming that NASCAR isn't popular, that it's not big. I'm just claiming it's not a sport, that's all.

[blackamus]

Originally Posted by Long_Long_Name

Car racing is a sport, NASCAR is a circuit.

Originally Posted by Long_Long_Name

Anyway, I'm not claiming that NASCAR isn't popular, that it's not big. I'm just claiming it's not a sport, that's all.

Is there really a good reason to define motorsports as competitions rather than sporting events? What is your definition of sport? Are some forms of motor racing sports while others are not? If so, why?

[Dagrims]

Originally Posted by mh2365

IMO ... a sport is a competition between two or more sides where each side has a chance at obtaining the same goal.

Like Rock, Paper, Scissors?

[Long_Long_Name]

Originally Posted by blackamus

Is there really a good reason to define motorsports as competitions rather than sporting events? What is your definition of sport? Are some forms of motor racing sports while others are not? If so, why?

I mixed myself up. To be clearer:If NASCAR competitions were to be sporting events, NASCAR wouldn't be the sport, car racing would be. I didn't mean to say car racing was a sport. I'm about to say it is a sport, though...

I don't have my own definitions. I use dictionaries for definitions. If I recall correctly, a sport is a competition that requires physical involvment. I've seen debates where people argued with one another very fiercely, only to realize that they thought the same thing, they just didn,t agree on the signification of words. Now, we can modify a definition if we think it's inaccurate, but I think that if sports turned out to be vaguely any kind of competitions that required the smallest athletic imput (such as chess), most people would be disappointed because they perverted the definition of sports in their head. For some, a sport is an ideal of athletic performance, of healthy people competing in activities requiring extensive endurance, strength, concentration, etc. However, these people may have perverted that word, and use that perverted definition to judge what is a sport and what isn't, thereby creating an artificial debate.



EDIT: I just verified the dictionary.com definition for sport. Relevant definitions:

1.1. Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
1.2. A particular form of this activity.
2. An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.
3. An active pastime; recreation.

[Jason Moyer]

I wonder why it's called motorsport.

Deja vu.