It’s a question we as race fans all have to face – are the beloved drivers we follow so closely really athletes?

A staff writer at the Orlando Sentinel addressed the idea this weekend, and while it might have been a tongue and cheek article, I’d like to explain why I disagree with this gentleman. (Here’s a link to the story in case you would like to check it out yourself: http://www.thestate.com/sports/story/692233.html)

Being a NASCAR driver entails great mental, physical and emotional stamina. I could not even begin to imagine driving a car at speeds over 150 miles per hour with another car inches from mine while I am trying to establish a plan to win the race, having the constant chatter of crew chief, spotter, and owner talking in my ear, and doing all this while hitting my marks, without forgetting where my pit box is, and not hitting one of the other 42 drivers around me! Whew… it makes me exhausted just thinking about it! Not to mention the fact that this all takes place in a sweltering hot car while you are sweating at least 10 pounds a race with no bathroom breaks.

Let’s face it – Mark Martin is 50 years old and in one of the best physical and mental shapes of all NASCAR drivers. What other sport keeps an athlete around after the age of 40? He may be older than the large majority of the field, but the man is a competitive driver – he’s not racing in the back of the pack.

Our stats in racing consist of wins, top 5’s, top 10’s, and DNF’s. Our play-offs are the Chase with our Super Bowl being held at Homestead-Miami. There’s also the Daytona 500, the All-Star Race (the Pro-Bowl) and Indianapolis.

Like other sports and athletes there is a constant rivalry between teams and car manufactures, the occasional fight, heated arguments, and that always lingering, uneasy feeling we get when our favorite is not performing so well and may not make the finale. And did I mention that our athletes are drug-free.

So our drivers have to thank 100 people when they win. Without those people, he wouldn’t even be in Victory Lane, and our greatest pastime would cease to exist. In some sports you are considered an athlete if you can hit and catch a ball. I did that in high school, but I’m not being paid millions of dollars. Some sports consider you an athlete if you can hit a ball with a club into a tiny hole in a certain amount of strokes. Where’s the excitement and adventure? A common man plays that sport sometimes on a daily basis, is he considered an athlete as well? None of these sports require their “athletes” to endure what our athletes face on a weekly basis.

If someone thinks that our beloved drivers are not athletes, tell them to go to one of the many driving schools surrounding the sport, strap themselves into a car, and put the pedal to the metal for 200 plus laps with 42 other cars inches from them. I have no doubt they’ll be singing another tune by lap 10 if they haven’t crashed by then.