Quote Quest Story, questions and photos by Dwight Drum Web work by Larsen & Drum
Fast Muscles, Deep Stamina
NFL Source: Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL training camp at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla.
NASCAR Source: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Teleconferences and Darlington Raceway
Many NASCAR fans may not care if their favorite driver is an athlete or not, but most do care that others who don’t follow stock car racing know that their driver sweats often while driving close to a razor’s edge every lap. Fans know their driver must have stamina as well as engine parts and tires to snatch the checker flag from the nearly-equal speeding cars chasing them.
Many readers out there routinely lose water weight in their active jobs and at home and understand fitness, but some readers could count their drops of routine sweat during any week on less than 10 toes or fingers. Not knowing or forgetting what it takes to ignore sweat might support the notion of drivers not being athletes.
So what do football players and drivers think?
Quote-surfing the comments of NFL and NASCAR professionals who make their money sweating for a living should provide answers to two probing questions. Are NASCAR drivers athletes? What about fitness in NFL verses NASCAR?
B. J. Askew (Fullback, No 35 Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Are drivers athletes?
“I do consider guys in NASCAR real athletes. The intense adrenaline rush from every turn to every detail – if you’re off a little bit, your car is flying. You could die. It’s pretty risky, a very risky sport. I have a lot of respect for race car drivers.”
Jeff Faine (Center, No.52, Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Driver-athletes:
“Oh yeah. At the beginning of the year we did a go-kart race and it wasn’t even close to what those guys do. Just those little karts and going around in helmets and sweating and what you feel in your arms at the end of day with little go-karts after seven laps. I couldn’t even imagine 200 laps with the g-forces they pull in those cars. The things they have to go through with all the heat and fire suits in the heat. It’s amazing. I think those guys are definitely athletes.”
Michael Bennett (Running Back, No.29, Tampa Bay Bucs)
Driver-athletes:
“I couldn’t comment to you if they are good athletes or not. Some of those guys may have been high school or college football players and now they’re driving cars. So who is to say one’s an athlete and one’s not.”
Jimmie Johnson (Driver, No. 48, Two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion) Comparing fitness in NASCAR to that of NFL quarterbacks:
"The pressure is the same. Fitness-wise, those guys have to propel their bodies and use their muscles and stuff. We're strapped into a car and it's a different type of training that's required. But the length of our season and the hot summer races and with some of the tracks the end of the season, you really need to be in shape and be prepared for that stuff, physically and mentally.
“But the pressure aside, if you're fighting for the Super Bowl or for the Daytona 500, it's still similar pressure. That's the biggest event. And fighting for championships doesn't matter whether it's football, basketball, or baseball. You're fighting to be number one. That pressure's the same, either way."
Kevin Harvick (Driver, No. 29 NASCAR Sprint Cup)
Past and present athletic ability:
"I think everybody has a pretty competitive spirit once you get to this point. There's so many drivers from so many different parts of the country, and everybody has a competitive background, whether it's in sports or driving or whatever the case may be. I still say the four years of wrestling that I did in high school helped as much as anything as far as a mental standpoint, especially as long as our year is now. You learn a lot about what your body is telling you and what you need to take care of and what you don't need to take care of and when you need rest and when you don't need rest, and that has a lot to do with getting into this time of the year where it's hot and things are kind of starting to wear down in your body, and you've got to take care of yourself.
"I think there's some people that do a better job of taking care of themselves. Obviously Carl (Edwards) does a good job at taking care of himself and has a good training routine, but we don't quite approach it that vigorously, I guess you could say, as he does. But we train two or three days a week for the most part, and I try to take care of myself as much as I can."
Greg Biffle (Driver, No.16, NASCAR Sprint Cup)
NASCAR driver workouts:
“Whether you're running on a treadmill or doing a stair-stepper or elliptical, a lot of focus is on heart rate, and our heart rate is 150 or higher for five hours inside that car. You know, when you sweat out four, five, six pounds of water weight, certainly that is a lot of workout that a guy goes through on Saturdays and Sundays."
Reed Sorenson (Driver, No. 41, NASCAR Sprint Cup)
Workout routine:
“I’m actually a member at the YMCA, so that’s where I go. A lot of the times we’re on the road and you may be gone two, two-and-a-half weeks without even being home. So it gets pretty tough to have an every-day routine of working out. I try to run as much as I can. You’ll see a lot of guys running at the racetrack – you just try to get your stamina up and get used to the heat – get out in the sun and try to run a couple of miles.”
Jimmy Wilkerson (Defensive End, No.97, Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Driver-athletes:
“I think they are athletes. To be in a car for 500 or so laps that takes a lot of skill. I can only be in a car for a certain amount of hours, a couple of hours, and I’m ready to get out. It takes a lot of skill for them to do the shifting and wearing suits. You’ve got to stay hydrated. If they don’t stay hydrated, they could very well pass out. I know it’s hot in there. I’ve been watching a lot of NASCAR on ESPN and the analysts talking to those guys tell us how hot it is in there. I take my hat off to those guys.”
Kevin Carter (Defensive End, No. 93, Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Driver-athletes:
“They have to be athletes. I know when I’m driving too fast around a corner I can feel my stomach and I engage my core to help me stay in the seat. I can only imagine doing that at 180 miles an hour going around turns and skimming the wall. I think they have to have a certain amount of athletic ability. Plus it’s got to be a little hot in the car.”
Josh Johnson (Quarterback, No.11, Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Driver-athletes
“It’s a sport. I’m pretty sure they are athletes, if it’s a sport. I know I couldn’t drive that car that fast. You’ve got to respect what they do. It’s their sport.”
Jimmie Johnson (Driver, No. 48, Two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion)
Do those who say race car drivers aren’t athletes need a mental tune-up?
"They should just strap in a car and see what it's about. That would change their minds in a hurry."
No one need ask if NFL players are athletes, but probably the argument among some that NASCAR drivers aren’t athletes will continue season after season. One point that has no argument - when a NASCAR driver straps-in; he knows it could be his last buckle-up. Drivers may not dwell on danger, but in the sport of engines and tires it’s a known and constant risk.
Even if no professional driver matches the physical power of any professional ball player, they must have sufficient physical and mental ability to endure high speeds and heat in fierce traffic. Players have to endure the incredibly agile speed of toned muscles all around them, knowing fatigue is inevitable.
Competing is not all foot speed or engine power; but winning is all about being fast when it counts – fast muscles, deep stamina – at the end.
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