Tony Lesle
Mary Parker
English 1301
October 27, 2014
NASCAR Races for Position in Today’s Sporting Society For decades, NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) has been ridiculed in regards to its legitimacy as a sport; and its drivers have been criticized about their classification as athletes. This is an unfair assessment of the sport and its participants. Many times, people and even athletes from other sports try to nullify NASCAR as a sport and its drivers as athletes. In these situations, the naysayers are simply uneducated about what a diver goes through during a race, or what NASCAR actually entails. A closer look and better understanding of NASCAR can prove that it is a real sport with real athletes. Focusing in…show more content… A pit crew is responsible for servicing the car during a race. During a pit stop, pit crews change tires, fuel the car, and also make adjustments on the car, in as little time as possible. They are essentially racing against other pit crews, trying to service their car the fastest in order to get their driver out of the pits first. Many NASCAR pit crew teams are made up of athletes from other sports that have transferred their abilities from their sport, to NASCAR. A Sprint Cup Series pit crew can jack a 3500lb car up, change four tires, fill the car with two cans of gas, make adjustments on the car, clean the grill of debris, and clean the windshield in less than 13 seconds. This is a true testament of teamwork and athletic…show more content… It’s too bad that NASCAR drivers can’t do the same. Most NASCAR races are raced in the south, which means the ambient air temperature is usually on the high side. An outside air temperature of 80 degrees will usually equate to over 100 degrees on the track. Then take into consideration the driver is sitting on top of the exhaust of an 850 horse power engine, over three times the horse power of the average vehicle. Temperatures inside the cab can reach over 140 degrees. If that wasn’t bad enough, the driver is also wearing a multi-layered fire suit