Posted on 07/15/2011 10:50:36 PM PDT by Route797
LOUDON, N.H. — Jimmie Johnson has two titles he is especially proud to have linked to his name. Five-time NASCAR champion. AP Male Athlete of the Year.
Johnson was swept into a brief Twitter feud this week because of his inclusion as a nominee for male athlete of the year at the ESPY Awards.
Seahawks receiver Golden Tate posted on his account, @ShowtimeTate, "Jimmy johnson up for best athlete???? Um nooo .. Driving a car does not show athleticism."
Tate, 22, angered NASCAR fans and posted, "12th man get these rednecks off me."
More Tate tweets:
• "I've driven a car on unknown roads at night at 90mph no big deal. No sign of athletism."
• "Guarantee he couldn't in million year play any SPORT."
• "give me 6 months of training and I bet I could compete."
NASCAR defenders got Tate's attention.
"Apologies for my offensive comment to NASCAR fans. I actually read up on it and NO I couldn't race a car 150 mph," he wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Classic! “I got blisters on my back, my butt and anywhere else you can think of!”
Thanks for posting.
At Daytona and Talladega you’re looking at speeds in the turns above 180 but top speeds are just a touch under 200.
Some of the shorter tracks have much higher straight speeds and lower turn speeds. at Michigan I’ve seen them enter turn one at speeds as high as 211 with turn speeds around 175.
I really enjoy a good Rodeo. I’m not the Cowboy type, but I enjoy the ruggedness of it, it seems historical in a sense. The crowds are always great too. There is no other crowd for any event like a Rodeo crowd.
Cowgirls aren’t hard on the eyes either, which doesn’t hurt. :)
I’ll try to give you my best definition/comparison. Bear with me as this might jump around.
Lets take that TDF guy Vs a race car driver and compare as close as we can ‘point to point.
Both drive/ride a machine so that removes that from the equation.
Both require concentration to keep control over the machine. Eyesight, situational awareness (other racers/riders) hand/ eye/ foot coordination (shifting braking/steering etc are also common to both.
Both are in competition. Mentally the rules/dictates/needs of competition apply to both.
Now the apparent difference. The TDF guy uses his body’s power to directly power and control the machine. The RCD uses his body’s power to withstand sustained g force and other physical effects produced while maintaining control of the machine. (even 5 point harnesses do not keep you pinned immobile and sustained 3-axis Gs are physically very taking on the body)
In a case where the TDF were to stop using his body’s power to provide propulsion or become physically exhausted from his physical exertion, the machine would stop. If the RCD stopped using his body’s power to maintain his position at and in command of the controls or became physically exhausted from physically resisting sustained G eorce, the machine would stop/crash.
TDF can ride in direct sunlight resulting in elevated body temps and possible heat exhaustion/dehydration.
RCD wears multiple layers of fireproof clothing and sits in a high temp ‘cockpit’ resulting in elevated body temps and possible heat exhaustion/dehydration.
So when you get right down to it, what’s really the significant difference?
Fish hawk,
You should just do a ride along for 4 or 5 hot laps at the Richard Petty experience, which is not even out where NASCAR drivers sit for 500 miles! They get up to the 160+ mph range on those battered “daily drivers”, and it’s a plenty to make you respect the true athleticism involved in stock car racing, just riding, much less ignoring how much it takes to drive one.
It takes some serious constant force to keep that machine in the groove, and you are in a constant battle with the g-forces. NASCAR machines are not luxury cars — mainly because they’d just kill you faster if they were. The cars are designed to make you work to make them move, since if they didn’t, a small shake at close to 200mph would put you square in a wall.
Combine that with the mental stress of a wailing engine, constant radio chatter, heat, fumes, tire noise, fueling strategy, groove selection -— it takes a special amount of concentration to just drive, much less be superior.
I completely agree. I’m not overly educated so I can’t think of a word that I’d use to describe someone like a dancer, or a NASCAR driver, since I don’t consider either to be athletes.
To me, I consider Soccer, Hockey, Off/Def line in Football, Bikers, Wrestlers (real wristlers), and Tennis, to be the domain of true athletes.
Mark Martin blazed the trail on weight training for NASCAR which is why he can still make the occasional appearance in victory lane at 50 years old. It seems to be about upper body strength required for pulling considerable Gs hundreds of times. Plus there’s the heat that must be contended with. Temperatures inside the cars can reach 150 degrees or better. You also have to consider how many races there are in a year (36), plus the crossover races.
I remember seeing Ricky Rudd win at Bristol and give his post race interview from a stretcher because he collapsed as soon as he got out of the car.
I’m not going to beat up on any sport, because they all have their own physical requirements.
Only if something is broken or a tire is going flat.
At those two tracks, the ideal way to get around each at about 190+ is to keep the gas pedal to the floor.
Master Tate needs to do a ride along with Jimmie Johnson in one of those two seaters specifically made for petulant loudmouths who know not from which the speak.
I have done it in road racing with a few local reporters many years ago and all have exited the car with their knees knocking. I then determined they don't report on racing because they have no desire to report on something they would not try themselves.
Are you ready for a challenge?
So how the hell does the machine get around whatever race course it navigates without the driver being subjected to the same forces and environment as the car? Do you even have an idea of what those conditions are? You may have an idea, but you just don’t know, now do you? Then go a step further and consider road racing.
The reason it looks so easy in your recliner is that the guys who do it are just that good. It never ceases to amaze me how everyone is just a damned expert on everything they know nothing about.
Road racers do pretty well on the NASCAR road courses but these days many regular NASCAR drivers have considerable experience on road courses.
Not at all. Now that the driver is in his cocoon, the internals of his body are now under more pressure and strain from the sudden shock loads. The one you will be seeing is the sternum being cracked or broken from the forsce of the heart hitting it.
I know of a driver to which this has happened to and it was not a recent occurance. There are now straps that connect the two shoulder belts together above the sternum just to keep the shoulders from flexing behind you when the chest cavity lurches forward.
Only because they test and train alot for it. You don’t have to remember the days when the “ringers” are brought in for the road races. As a turn about, A.J. Almendinger, Mike McDowell, JPM (Montoya), Andy Lallly to mention the current crossovers from road racing to corcle track require virtually the same amount of experience.
My point is that these guys are very good at what they do and to take a relatively same set of skills to do both, it is not easy to hone those talents to be just as good at both. That is just how demanding the athleticism of the sport is.
Yeah, Boris Said is well known in NASCAR not for his prowess in few oval races he’s run but for being the “ringer” on road courses.
These days drivers come from a wide variety of racing disciplines and settle in NASCAR simply because that’s where the money is.
LLS
What’s the prob? Its not sports, its mechanics.
“I’ve driven a car on unknown roads at night at 90mph no big deal. No sign of athletism.”
Fine. Now get behind the wheel of what amounts to a 3000lb wild animal and travel at 200mph a couple inches behind the car in front of you and tell me how much athleticism is required. Provided you survive the experience, that is.
Sitting on your butt while driving a car that provides all of the power and was fine tuned by a group of mechanics is NOT being an athlete.
If being a car driver is athletic, then playing video games is athletic.
Any PONG athletes out there?
BTW, "Golden's" S'Hawks were 7-9 last year and they won the NFC West! Worst division in football and they still were sub .500.
Zip it, rookie.
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