It has been widely discussed lately, especially on Sports Soundoff. It seems to be popular with the few rednecks in this state (that should be a huge clue). It is arguably the best way to get some sleep without taking NyQuil, watching the Weather Channel or listening to either Bach’s “Air for the G string” or anything by Mannheim Steamroller. What is it? It is the “sport” of racing.

This is probably the toughest activity to declare a sport, yet many consider it to be just that. For a sport that has primarily made its living in the southern U.S., it has slowly migrated to the north like the Plague.

Many people think racing is a sport — I am not convinced. Yes, it involves competition amongst people, and it takes a lot of talent to drive a beat-up, souped-up old Pontiac or Chevy 200 mph. However, one should not be so bold as to say that a race car driver is an athlete.

According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, an athlete is “a person trained in exercises or games requiring strength, skill, stamina…” Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin and the like have a tough time fitting this bill.

Also, anyone who claims to watch a sport to see who is going to be injured in a wreck is a farce of a fan. Yes, tragic wrecks do happen, but is that the only thing that will wake them up from a 30-year coma? It seems like the pessimistic attitude of the racing fan kind of symbolizes the American thinking, doesn’t it?

It would probably be safe to bet a pittance of money that auto racing has a lower Nielsen rating per race than a World Cup match, which is equally uninteresting. It is just too drab to see 40 cars go round and round an oval 400 times to see who will step out of the car in the prettiest sponsor overalls and guzzle a Big Slam Pepsi or a Naya.

The racing paraphernalia must be a growing industry. In my home town of Marshalltown, an interesting trend has taken hold. Most of the Earnhardt caps, Gordon T-shirts, etc., are worn by the lower-class citizens (the nickname is different but not politically correct). This may not be commonplace everywhere, but it sure is at home.

What is also a joke is that the sound of a car when revved up seems to decide who is better. In nearly every other sport, games are decided by who scores the most points. In racing, there is no offense or defense, points scored or against. This will make even the most casual of fan bored out of his mind.

Racing is also odd because of how it awards points. There are so many points for finishing first and leading laps. You see that a driver has accumulated 2,137 points. How is that determined? Also, in the little box on the top left-hand corner of the T.V. it says who is leading at a certain point. What the heck is an “interval?”

It’s good to see that most races are on TNN instead of ESPN or any of the networks. The big races, Daytona 500, Indy 500 and others are fine to put on national T.V. because those will probably be the biggest draws. Yet, a race is a race no matter where it is or how much of an importance it is.

In this, the 50th anniversary of NASCAR, it is very good that Earnhardt finally won his first Daytona 500, but to see Jeff Gordon win every other race is getting old. Gordon is a good driver, but it shows the triviality of racing in the fact that a few drivers are great and the rest are not. Of course, every sport has that sort of double standard somewhere in its make-up.

Most people associate racing with beer-drinking hillbillies from the backwoods of the Carolinas. If this is the case, why bring that image to places that lack it? This is not an entirely true assumption because some drivers are from Missouri and Gordon is from Indiana. Gordon drinks Pepsi anyway so “beer-drinking” is a bit heavy.

One of the great dangers in racing is putting the money into the cars. It would cost a fortune to purchase a new engine, but if the driver gets in a wreck, the money is wasted. Insurance is probably a very wise commodity when it comes to racing. Also, how much would it cost to restore the body? A lot of expenses come with racing for sure.

Racing is a sport for its competitiveness, but a driver is not a good representative of an athlete. Jeff Gordon is not Michael Jordan — best on the planet — he is Jeff Gordon —NASCAR driver.

While racing may have some attributes of a sport, it is probably no more a sport than soccer. When some of its fans watch just for the wrecks, how can that aspect be anything close to a sport?

Chad Drury is a senior in mass communication from Marshalltown.