Under Review: Should NASCAR be considered a sport?

NASCAR is not a sport. It is a competitive race, but not a sport. I am not knocking what these NASCAR racers do; they are very good at it. I just do not see how it can be called a sport.

For starters, they are sitting down the whole time. What athleticism does it take to go straight and turn left for three hours? I also think it is an injustice to other athletes if we are going to call NASCAR drivers athletes. For example, a football player needs a tremendous amount of speed, power, and agility to play his sport, yet he is put on the same level as a driver. What power does a NASCAR driver need when he is racing? What agility does he need? Turning your hands to avoid another car does not count as athletic ability.

Compare Tony Stewart, NASCAR driver, to Usain Bolt, Olympic sprinter, and tell me who is the athlete. You cannot even compare the two. In fact, it would be insulting to Usain Bolt if you were to compare him to Tony Stewart.  Usain Bolt can run faster than any human on the Earth. His athleticism outweighs whatever athleticism Tony Stewart has.

Going off that example, you can look at other sports to prove that NASCAR is not a sport. Look at the athletic ability required to be a hockey player, basketball player, baseball player, lacrosse player, swimmer, and soccer player. If you compare the NASCAR racer to any of these athletes, most likely the NASCAR player will be less athletic every time.

One may argue that it is a sport because ESPN covers it, but they would again be wrong.  ESPN often covers more than just sports. They have covered poker games and spelling bees in the past. You would be wrong to consider these two things sports, just like you would be wrong to consider NASCAR a sport.