Controversial TV host claims NASCAR drivers are ‘not athletes’

Stephen A. Smith has sparked controversy by claiming NASCAR drivers are ‘not athletes’, as driving a car ‘doesn’t count’.

From the outside, driving a racing car, especially on an oval, may seem like a simple task with little to worry you beyond the constant threat of being pitted into a concrete wall or spun onto the infield in dramatic fashion.

Certainly, there is no physical exertion in this, or so says Smith.

Presenting a section of his Mad Dog Sports Radio show on SiriusXM, Smith ranked NBA star LeBron James as one of the greatest athletes of all time. But when a caller suggested that seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Richard Petty, nicknamed ‘The King’ and with 200 race wins to his name, should also feature at the top of the list, Smith disagreed.

“Come on, man. That don’t count. You driving a car,” said Smith. “I’m being honest, it’s a great sport. But come on, bro. Getting behind the wheel of a car is not the same.”

Bringing golfers into the mix, he added: “You can be behind the wheel of a car in your 60s and 70s for crying out loud. A golfer is not an athlete.

“A NASCAR driver is not an athlete. Just because you gotta walk the course for 18 holes for four days, that don’t make you an athlete.”

Racing drivers across the spectrum have repeatedly had to battle against claims that they are not athletes, despite the extreme training regimes and dietary programmes that they have to follow, and the physical output of a race being comparable or greater than that of many other sports.

Although Smith later stopped short of discounting Tiger Woods as being an athlete, no such concession was made for NASCAR drivers.

“NASCAR is a sport,” he said. But added: “Are they athletes to because they can get behind the wheel of a car and drive 100 plus miles per hour around the track 500 times, you trying to tell me they’re athletes too?”