Nascar why is it a sport

Published November 12, A UMN student veteran group is advocating for a place of belonging on campus. Published November 11, About the Daily. Share on Facebook. Share on Twitter. Share via Email. They're not. First of all, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to look inside a Sprint Cup Series garage to figure out that stock cars are not the same cars you or I drive to school and work.

These cars are not only heavier, aerodynamically superior, and more expensive than a normal Toyota Camry or Chevrolet Impala, they go much faster—up to miles per hour faster, for those of you requiring cold, hard figures. If you can get a street-legal Camry to go straight out of the factory, there's either something wrong with it, or something wrong with you.

Now, place those mile per hour cars on a large track, such as Texas Motor Speedway, where they will have to maintain said speed while turning around a radius of feet.

Immediately as each driver turns, he is hit with G-force, which is defined as the force of the Earth's gravity in any given direction, and represents acceleration. One G is equal to 32 feet per second. According to this G-force equation at HowStuffWorks. However, because Texas has 24 degrees of banking in the turns, the drivers only experience about 1. How does this relate? As the awaited moment finally comes, the cars speed off like 4-year-olds after an ice cream truck.

The crowd screams as their favorite car takes off. The technical definition of a sport is: An athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature. Athletic is the key word. Pushing down on a pedal seems easy, but it could obviously become hard after 75 laps or so. You also need quick instincts to turn when a crash has occurred on the track. These types of cars can reach speeds up to miles per hour, so the drivers would definitely need to be on the edge of their seats!

The conditions inside the car are also highly undesirable , with the temperatures regularly reaching multiple times that of the outside temperatures. The cars have no air conditioning , and so the drivers need to be able to withstand these harsh conditions, while also exerting a lot of force on the pedals and steering wheel in order to actually race, for over three hours sometimes. Finally, most definitions of a sport require the activity to provide entertainment or employment to those competing, and there is definitely no arguing in this case, as NASCAR does both.

Not only do the drivers earn some very reasonable salaries, as there is a lot of money involved , but they provide a spectacle that attracts millions of fans and TV viewers every single year.

The races are exciting, fast-paced and offer some of the most famous moments in motorsport history. The drivers need to be very fit in order to withstand the harsh conditions of a race, and they need to be very skilled in order to win the races. The competition follows strict rules and regulations, and the entertainment NASCAR provides secures it as one of the most popular sports in the world.

Flow Racers is a reader-supported site. Purchases made through links may earn a commission. Traditional Sports When people think of sports their mind might immediately jump to football or basketball, or any number of ball sports. Physical Exertion Take ball sports for example. The Competition Factor Definition Of A Sport If you simply Google the definition of a sport, you will get lots of different results from various dictionaries all outlining roughly the same thing.