The Questions That Simply Won’t Go Away
By Springwolf – Updated 03/2021

It’s a continual question from those who don’t know racing and don’t take the time to learn. Is NASCAR really a sport? Are Race Car Drivers Athletes? Of course the answer to both is YES! But that doesn’t stop the annual questions from critics who have no idea what they’re talking about in the first place.

Anthony Wayne Stewart
3-Time NASCAR Cup Champion

Every year some ‘sports writer’ or newspaper columnist voices the question and then attempts to answer it by saying NASCAR is just a southern activity attended by beer drinking rednecks. They profess to know more than the millions of fans who watch their favorite driver, team and races by claiming that NASCAR isn’t a sport and the drivers aren’t athletes. “All they do is make left turns and waste gas” is their typical line.

Sadly their rhetoric is voiced by the millions of people who don’t have a clue what racing is about. Add to that the age of Twitter and Facebook which gives a platform to people to degrade and put down anyone who does see things the way they do.

After a while it does get annoying and fans of NASCAR sometimes feel the need or desire to respond to these questions. We all know it falls on deaf ears and rarely makes a difference. But many of us love our sport and want to defend it against those that simply use stereotypical put-downs to degrade something they don’t understand.  Continue reading →