Nascar

I was talking to my psych professor in lab today about his extreme interest in Nascar, which led to a discussion about whether Nascar is an actual sport. It’s interesting that people argue that Nascar is not a sport because the race car itself is doing most of the action… however, is that different from a sport like lacrosse or field hockey, or any other sport that also utilizes a tool in its play? Both the lacrosse stick and the car are forms of technology… Personally, I am a bit skeptical about it being a sport, but I’m not sure exactly why I’m skeptical because I know driving still involves a lot of physicality. My professor then started to talk about how a long time ago, most of the drivers were bigger men who drank and smoked a lot, and now all the drivers are in really good shape and how it takes a lot of strength and energy to drive a race car. Does that contribute to the fact that almost all of the drivers are male? I know that women are stereotypically seen as worse drivers than men and men are stereotypically interested in “cars and women.” Does it also have to do with the physicality of driving? I’m not sure… and I don’t actually know a lot about Nascar. Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions?