Someone enlighten me as to why people in motorsports are considered athletes.

More like why they are considered "profession athletes" in an athletic sort of way. We had money talk a few pages back.

 

Professional is when you get paid to do what you love and its a sport.

Professional-
A professional is a person who is engaged in a certain activity, or occupation, for gain or compensation as means of livelihood; such as a permanent career, not as an amateur or pastime.[1][2] The traditional professions were doctors, engineers, lawyers, architects and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to nurses, accountants, educators, scientists, technology experts, social workers, artists, librarians (information professionals) and many more.
The term is also used in sports to differentiate amateur players from those who are paid—hence "professional footballer" and "professional golfer". Many companies include the word professional in their store name to imply the quality of their workmanship or service.

 

I used to believe they were athletes, but now (F1) with DRS and KERS... Not just that but the politics, I watched the Malaysia race where the RedBull team mate cried that he got second because his other team mate said fuck it, lets race.

The teams hold their racers back from racing each other to save the cars, their image and to comply with all the restrictive rules.

Now Senna. He was an athlete. For those with Netflix search it.

MotoGP, Athletes. Isle of Man TT, crazy people on motorcycles. Athletes none the less. Even the Doctor said they were nuts, and he's pretty crazy.

 

i think this issue is just about solved...?

 

Not that my following comment will means my mind is changed but....

the "fuck it lets race" I see nothing wrong with a little competition friendely fire, but if it were me and a fellow teammate battling it out for the win, all bets are off.

Crying? dont see how that de-athletic-tizes (an already un-athletic event...) a race.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knyB1p_TgCs

What doe politics of the sport have anything to do with the athletic side of the event?

 

Der

What do KERS and DRS or team orders have to do with any of this ?

 

KERS and DRS made the stalemate of passing much better but in a way made it a "cheater" system to get past a guy. McLaren tried it til it got ruled out, then placed back in the rules so that part sucks. Then limiting them to 1 second behind the lead car and only on certain straights? They should be able to use it when they want talent given...

Politics and team management gets in the way of what could have been a pretty exciting race (think Laguna Seca MotoGP '08 Rossi battling Stoner pretty much the whole race).

Then one guy saying oh, well he started it... That just made me smh. It's a race/ competition. Let them race/ compete...

 

Get in your Tacoma and drive as fast as you can for 3 hours straight. Then post something. Then look up formula one wall-eye condition, and try to relate. When you figure all this out search Dean Wilson photo of him spent, all he could give, and realize that. It was a 30 minute plus 2laps moto. Then apply half the physical energy to 2 hours in a car. Remember to hydrate up before you try. Any of this. Want to go dirt biking?hsnap

 

I think its safe to say Motocross, F1, Lemans, Autocross, Drag racing, Nascar, Snowboarding, BMX... All of these are professional athletes!!!

 

I know what KERS and DRS are , and it's available to all drivers equally , team orders happen because it's a team sport , the team is paid by the constructors points they get with both cars , Vettel broke the agreed upon strategy to go for the win for the vanity of 8 more driver's points

Why would the team want both of their cars , and their respective constructor points , possibly eliminated by a collision in an overtaking move by team mates ? Not to mention the engines and gearboxes must now be used in 5 races , added strain on them for no additional constructors points

 

iirc not all teams, well the ones less funded don't use KERS or DRS. That may have been last time around though. I understand the constructor points, I'm sure if they were head to head with say Hamilton at the time the outcome would have been different.

Just a different animal from MotoGP or something is where i'm coming from. Pedrosa and Rossi would go all out and pretty much say screw the guys in the pits, we're going balls to the wall.

 

Is hand-eye coordination and reaction time not a physical attribute? Don't have to bench 500lbs or run 4 second 40 to be "athletic". Now don't get me wrong, nascar is still boring as shit to watch (IMO) BUT it still requires physical traits. You could put michael jordan in an evenly matched car against Tony Stewart and im sure he'd get his ass kicked 99 times out of 100 around any kind of course.

Edit: to me, what makes them professional i the act that they are better than most people at what they do, And it is their PROFESSION, regardless of pay, therefore they are professional athlete, again, Imo

 

All teams use KERS and DRS now

Of course the Red Bull strategy would have changed if Hamilton's Mercedes was a threat , it was not

" just let 'em race " is like having a football team go out on the field and letting each player run whatever play they feel like

 

Chess requires hand eye coordination. Any activity will require physical components, racing may require minor physical inputs, relatively speaking, but for the most part, its far from an athletic event.

 

Basacally everything requires hand-eye cordination doesnt it?

Racing requires a ton of physical input!

When you race your body is put under extreme amounts of stress, which then in causes muscle tension, When your muscles are tense they use more oxygen which then it turn requires you to be PHYSICALLY FIT. Using the same muscle for a long amount of time with that muscle being under constant physically strain will put a toll on your body. Believe me, Then add in factors of having to deal with heat, extreme Hand eye cordination, Being able to deal with having to know your surroundings very precisely... All of this at the same time does require you to be VERY PHYSICALLY FIT.

 

Well, you don't see many fatties out there, but i don't believe i have ever heard a driver referred to as an 'athelete'. Then again i don't watch much tv, mostly due to the fact i have about 8 channels. Only driver i've ever heard called athletic is Ken Block, and thats because he does other things (not professionally)...so i'd be happy to call them drivers and leave it at that, personally,,

 

Only difference between this thread and the Idaho = PNW thread is in this thread, the poll majority answers are correct.

 

That's why I stick with MotoGP, Yamaha lets those guys duke it out, just like Qatar in the opening race this year.

F1 is still awesome, just too intricate now. A few years back it was like MotoGP. I get it though, safety finally came into play and with the car so evenly matched strategy and tactics come more and more into the picture. So I guess that makes them athletes lol.

 

Pretty much