Dare I speak blasphemy about NASCAR – the sport that has its humble beginnings in the nearby hills of North Carolina? With roots that run deep and wide, all across the backroads and byways of the South, should I even question such a large part of my culture? I shall.
I realize that NASCAR has given us such Southern icons like Dale Earnhart, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon, Richard Petty, and many others I can’t seem to remember. My dad and my brother would be sorely disappointed.
Notice what I referred to these people as: drivers. They are not athletes and in no way, shape or form should they be mistaken for one. Even though this is the case many of my fellow countrymen have continued to use that term.
Just think about it. What is the skill-set required to be a good NASCAR driver? Do you have to run fast? No. Do you have to jump high? No. There are no physical attributes that a driver must have in order to excel at their profession.
So what skills are required to excel at this activity? All that seems to be required to succeed in the world of race-car driving is 1) the ability to turn left over and over and over and over again and 2) extreme hand-eye coordination, after all they are traveling at speeds of over 150 mph.
It’s not like these skills can’t be acquired by the average college student on any campus. All you need, like anything else, is a certain amount of dedication.
For instance, hand-eye coordination can be developed through playing video games or ping-pong. Two of the few things college kids seem to excel at, myself included. And as far the ability to make a left turn, if you can’t already do that then I suggest you just take the bus or just stay in your dorm and play more video games to enhance that hand-eye coordination.
Just think, you’re probably halfway to becoming a championship NASCAR driver and didn’t even know it.
With all this said, it begs the question: Is NASCAR even a sport? Let’s end this controversy right now. No. In order to be a sport the participants involved must be athletes and we have already determined that the terms “driver” and “athlete” are not interchangeable.
In fact, if you really think about it ping-pong is more of a sport than NASCAR because at least ping-pong is recognized as an Olympic sport.

Author