Beyond the Flag
Fansided

Race car drivers are held to a ridiculous double standard

By Asher Fair

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 27: Cars start their engines during the 102nd Indianapolis 500 (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 27: Cars start their engines during the 102nd Indianapolis 500 (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /
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BRISTOL, TN – SEPTEMBER 10: A general view of Bristol Motor Speedway during the national anthem of the game between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Tennessee Volunteers on September 10, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Michael Shroyer/Getty Images)
BRISTOL, TN – SEPTEMBER 10: A general view of Bristol Motor Speedway during the national anthem of the game between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Tennessee Volunteers on September 10, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Michael Shroyer/Getty Images) /

The double standard (continued)

By comparison, NBA courts are 94 feet (31.33 yards) by 50 feet (16.67 yards), NFL fields are 360 feet (120 yards) by 160 feet (53.33 yards), NHL ice rinks are 200 feet (66.67 yards) by 85 feet (28.33 yards) and the average MLB field is roughly 420 feet (140 yards) by 450 feet (150 yards) at its longest and widest points, respectively.

If race car drivers are not athletes and racing isn’t a sport simply because race car drivers go “around and around and around the same circle over and over again” despite the fact that the repetitive actions done by race car drivers are done on a much bigger scale than the repetitive actions of any of these other athletes in these other sports, then shouldn’t the people falsely claiming that race car drivers are not athletes and racing is not a sport be claiming that these other “athletes” are not athletes and these other “sports” are not sports?

Yes. Yet no one does.

Consider this. You could fit the entire Vatican City, Liberty Island, Taj Mahal, Churchill Downs, Rose Bowl Stadium, Roman Colosseum, Yankee Stadium and White House with plenty of room to spare inside the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is used by both IndyCar and the NASCAR Cup Series.

In fact, when the Virginia Tech Hokies vs. Tennessee Volunteers college football game was held at the 0.533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway, the second shortest track on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule behind only Martinsville Speedway, in September of 2016, the field really didn’t take up all that much space in the infield of the track. I even had a friend comment in a group chat about how huge the venue was for that game.

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