Call it a sport, event or activity, NASCAR is across the country. Fans flock to the track on weekends for a great time and to watch an exciting race. However, no matter how popular it is, I can’t bring myself to say that NASCAR is actually a sport.

Before I can discuss what is a sport and why NASCAR does not fit this definition, I must first define “sport.” According to dictionary.com, a sport is “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature.” OK, that seems fair enough.

Now, the argument that NASCAR is a sport must center around is that the driver is an athlete.

The driver must deal with very intense and tough conditions. The driver has to worry about extremely high temperatures within the car, when to get more gas in the car and how to sit in the car for four hours during a race while staying extremely focused.

It takes hand-eye coordination to be able to avoid and pass the cars while dealing with the surrounding environment. My opponents would say that a driver who has to deal with all these issues must qualify as an athlete, but I don’t think that you can.

In any other athletic activity, an athlete needs to be in good physical shape to be able to “do” things better. A football player needs to be fast and agile so he can run past defenders, and a slower running back would be tackled more often. A baseball player wants to be strong so he has more bat speed during his swing and can hit the ball farther. A runner trains so he can run faster and win the race. In each instance, the participant’s athletic prowess directly affects his abilities to succeed.

However, in NASCAR, it is different. Winning a race means being the best driver. However, being a better athlete does not help the individual become a faster driver, it only better helps the driver deal with the conditions around him or herself. Driving itself is not an athletic activity. It does not take being strong or agile to turn the steering wheel the correct amount, to pass the car or go around a turn. Besides driving and pushing pedal, nothing else that the driver does inside the car directly affects how fast he goes.

This is the difference between NASCAR and other, more widely accepted sports. Being able to better stand the surrounding environment is the only part that is affected by being a better athlete, but the only skill directly involved in winning the race — driving — has nothing to do with athletic prowess. It is this distinction which does not allow me to call a driver an “athlete” and therefore to call NASCAR a sport.

An activity also has to still be considered a sport no matter what level it is being played on. If I play basketball in the IM league, a pick-up game in my town or in the NBA, I am playing a sport. The activity of playing basketball stands on its own as a sport. It does not change from being a sport no matter how good or bad the players might be. But NASCAR does not pass this test.

If three friends and I decided to race down the street while kicking our cars up as fast they can go, it might be harder than driving down a country lane, but nobody would ever call it a sport.

If my friend tries to pass me on the road, it might take skill to stay in front of him, but nobody would call our little race a sporting event. But if we take the same activity and put it on a track in front of thousands of people and have ESPN broadcast the event, now it’s a sport?

The point is, the activity itself must still be a sport no matter the environment surrounding it, and NASCAR cannot hold up this part of the issue. Are Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. being athletes if they go out with couple guys and race down the street? I don’t think so.

NASCAR depends on the environment around it — the people and the fanfare — to be called a sport, which is why it just doesn’t measure up.

So, there you have it. NASCAR may be great to watch, but to call driving an athletic activity definition a little too far.

— Contact Dan Ziment.