I read a disturbing article today. I read that NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson is today’s top athlete.
Every now and then, there comes a figure who transcends his particular sport. For years it has been Tiger Woods. Now with the recent popularity increase that NASCAR has enjoyed, Jimmie Johnson – winner of four straight Sprint Cup championships – is the latest to garner consideration as America’s new top athlete.
We’ve now entered a society which is obsessed with political correctness and recognition of all activities. ESPN programming includes championship poker, billiards – they even have the Madden challenge which pits football video-gamers against one another for ultimate bragging rights. Are there endeavors considered to be ‘athletic?’
But before we walk down that road, exactly what is an athlete?
Online dictionaries define an athlete as “a person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill.”
The word that stands out to me in this definition is “physical.” Physicality would imply that there is some kind of contact between competitors or contestants. Surely, race car driving requires an inordinate amount of skill. That skill encompasses the ability to control a dangerous machine as if it was one of your own limbs.
But does that skill translate Johnson into being a better athlete than Kobe, Brady or Tiger? I would think not.
Let's see Jimmie Johnson do this...without a ladder...
Jay Busbee seems to think that being head and shoulders above the competition in your genre qualifies you as being a candidate for being the top athlete across all genres. We can assume this from the following passage written by Jay:
And don’t even start the whole “the car’s the star, not the driver” nonsense. Equipment is a key element of every sport. When’s the last time you saw a baseball player succeed without a bat, or a football player succeed without pads?
This is absolutely ridiculous. But it is also what you should expect from a NASCAR blog. This is a terrible example of a biased writer defending his favorite sport. Busbee’s examples of baseball and football equipment are weak because the athletes that use them supply the power behind their effectiveness.
To the contrary, drivers aren’t required to power their equipment. While their requisite skill must enable them to maneuver their vehicles, the cars provide all the power required for success. There is also a discernible distinction in the level of physical conditioning required by the competitor. Who knows if NASCAR drivers can slam dunk a basketball? Or run a 4.5 second 40-yard dash? Or track down a fly ball at the warning track?
Jimmie Johnson is undoubtedly brilliant at what he does. But please leave it at that. Let’s not insult all of the performers that we see on the gridiron and the hardwood by claiming that Johnson is a top athlete.
He’s not even close.
T Lamont is an administator and author covering all sports for Ball or Nuthin'. Send T Lamont a question or comment for future discussion (tlamont@ballornuthin.com). 
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This argument was stale 20 years ago when fatties like Jimmie Spencer and old men like Dave Marcis were racing every weekend, and it still makes just as little sense now.
If Tiger Woods is a top athlete, how about John Daly? If not for the mess he made of his personal life, he could have been a major force in the game. How about Olympic bobsled or luge racers? They're basically passengers, right? WRONG!!!
Basically, a racecar driver needs to have at least as much strength and physical skill as a major league baseball pitcher. Are they not athletes then either? What about hockey goalies? They mostly just need to have lightning reflexes. So does a driver. This whole argument is so subjective that it's completely pointless.
No offense, but you sound like you don't know the first thing about the subject of your article. Have you ever even driven a racecar? I used to question the "are they athletes" matter, until I actually got in and drove one of those beasts at Michigan International Speedway through Richard Petty Racing School. My questions have been answered. They're athletes. Period. Not the same kind as your beloved football and basketball heros, but athletes nonetheless.
I've played golf at the TPC "Bear" course in northern Michigan, and I've driven 170 mph on a two mile oval. I think I'll shoot par at Augusta before I make the field for the Daytona 500.
Your article makes it clear you're simply just another hater. Good luck with that.
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This makes me sick, Nascar drivers are athletes just as much as Tiger woods is, heck Tiger Woods is no more of an athlete than Nascar drivers. Some people just don't understand and claim that they know everything when they don't know d*ck all. Nascar drivers as well as Formula 1, Champ Cart, Off-Road etc… They all work their a$ses off just like all other Athletes but yet they get labeled as not being Athletes? Who ever says that they are not athletes should go back to school because obviously they don't have the brains to be a sports reporter etc… Jimmie Johnson won his 4th Championship in a row but yet loads of people bash him saying that he did not deserve it, well sorry to say, Jimmie earned every Championship he got, most people who bash him are just jelious self-proclaimed nascar fans who are just mad that their favorite driver can't beat him. I know there is going to be people pi$sed at my comments but I couldnt give a rats a$$ was people think, everyone in the racing industry deserves respect, racing is not an easy sport, alot of people are all talk claiming that they can race with the best, when they cant even race a 4 cylinder race at their local short track. So who ever thinks Jimmie Johnson as well as his Pit crew who work day in and day out and every other drivers and their crew are not athletes, obviously need a brain transplant. Go watch ballet dancing or whatever you think are athletic sports and stop posting BS like this, get your facts strait and think before you post lame messages like this.
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