[Slade]

Oh, the shorts! *scrolls up* Ok... makes a little more sense.

[Despondent]

I'm in a time-loop here.

This post has been edited by Despondent: 17 July 2005 - 12:18 AM

[Despondent]

"Are NASCAR fans even people?"

no. they're Odd people.

but good folks, nonetheless.

[Slade]

The only ones I've ever known are bonifide rednecks, I'm afraid. And I find deliberatly swirving a pick-up truck to hit a deer in the road to take home for dinner repulsive.

Yes, I'm sad to say that that happens where I live.

[Mnesymone]

A few things.
Why did gamegirl single out NASCAR drivers as distinct from any other kind of motorsport driver?
It is true that motorsport driving is intensely physical and requires training and diligence - they need excellent reflexes, excellent mechanical understanding (less so in some forms of driving where the mechanical support is done by remote), a body that can withstand a lot of strain (they don't really go to a great deal of effort, but they can die from cardiac stress or suffer degeneration from G-forces) - but they aren't athletes. NASCAR drivers, Indycar, Supercar and Formula 1 definetely.
Rally drivers and the old grand touring racing (before Group C racing came in) are a bit of a grey area. I've seen those guys do some pretty impressive things when trying to finish a race in half a car.

[Rhubarb]

Slade: Where do you live? Just so I can be sure to avoid it.

[barend]

compedative driving requires a lot of skill; maintaining the 'racing line' for maximimum efficiencey, knowing when to to break and how much to break when approaching corners, overtaking without sacrificing the racing line by too much, picking the upmost efficient time to change gears, etc. etc. the list goes on...


they are no less sportsmen then anyone else, but athletes, if we must resort to staying on topic, are strictly by definition people who physically appraoch a chalange unequiped.

running, climbing, jumping, throwing, fighting.

that's it.

it's a stupid question when you think about it...

and even stupider if you have to think about it!!!

[Despondent]

But Lance Armstrong is an athlete.

[Mnesymone]

But he uses his own body to do what he does - not a V12.

[Slade]

I live in Upstate New York... Technically, I'm in Central New York, and Upstate starts about ten miles north of me. Contrary to popular belief, people marry their cousins in more places than the South.

Someone kill me.

[Despondent]

I still maintain that some rednecks are good people.

but to diminish that point by bringing to light that we're a Nation of rednecks (and therefore, Southern citizens of the US are unfairly besmirched) bothers me not.

(e'en so, thank God for Mississippi)

I believe Barend's argument was it's the body that makes the athlete, not the apparatus he straps him/herself to. Just honing the point to include cyclists as athletes, although they are strapped to a device.

[Laughlyn]

When you hit the point the apparatus is doing most of the work, that's where you draw the line.

Hence why formula 1's a load of dross.

[Harvey Globetrotter]

Thank God I live in Australia, where no one is a redneck. That's mostly because we're all too lazy to be anything.

[barend]

but we have westies...

[Slade]

What?