Video Proves Auto Racing Is A Physical Sport

So here’s a funny little video for anyone who argues that auto racing isn’t a “physical” sport – check it:

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What you’re seeing is a professional driver taking someone for a ride in a Jaguar XKR – the Jag that has a 5.0L, 510 hp V8. Please note that the driver – a professional – isn’t wearing any special harness, yet he remains “locked” into his seat. His body isn’t moving or flopping around like the passenger.

Granted, the passenger may be high as hell and suffering from a mild case of shock, but the point here is clear. You need abdominal and upper-body strength to survive a quick lap in a race car. While a Formula or NASCAR or IRL driver may benefit from a variety of harnesses, etc., to keep them stationary, the forces exerted on a race car driver are intense.

NBC’s Allen Bestwick addresses the physical demands of NASCAR in this enlightening op-ed. My favorite tidbit from that article?

The moments [the driver’s] not pushing or pulling against the wheel and working the pedals are brief…the G-forces of the cornering speed are pulling a drivers’ head, torso and legs to the right — the opposite way the rest of him is trying to go. His ribs and shoulders are jamming against his seat and restraints and that’s a feeling like taking a hit from a linebacker every minute for a few hours. In racing schools like the Richard Petty Driving Experience, most people are sweating and have an elevated heart rate after just a few laps of driving…A stock car driver must be able to handle these forces and stresses over three to four hours of competition.

Yahoo Sport’s Glen Kemery talks about the physical demands of IRL racing, saying:

there’s no denying the physical demands of auto racing … the high g-forces, insane speeds in traffic, the absence of power steering that makes driving a race car akin to swimming in molasses. Do that for 500 miles and you’re exhausted

Kemery goes on to quote several IRL drivers who detail their physical fitness routines. Am I saying that racing is as hard as something like football, or basketball? No. Of course not. But it’s not “riding around” either.

Bottom Line: Driving a high-performance car around a race track isn’t like taking a corner kind of fast on the way to your part-time job at the coffee shop, dude. It’s a little more difficult than that, so all you haters can STFU. Thanks! 🙂