Driving
Driving a race car is nothing like driving your family car. Today's NASCAR driver has to be in peak shape to last through a race.

Two of the biggest problems facing a race car driver are the heat and the constant G forces from turning corners. The temperature inside a typical NASCAR cockpit is around120 degrees on a hot summer day. It feels even hotter because the driver is wearing a fireproof suit from head to toe.

In a corner, a NASCAR driver experiences 2 to 3 Gs. A 200-pound driver feels like he weighs 600 pounds in a 3-G turn. Holding your head, arms and torso in position for hours at a time when you weigh 600 pounds takes strength - so NASCAR drivers spend time training in the weight room. Drivers work especially on muscles in the neck, shoulders, arms and torso so that they have the strength to work against the Gs. Drivers also work a great deal on stamina, because they have to be able to perform throughout a race that lasts three to four hours without rest.

Photo courtesy Action Sports Photography, Inc.

Race car drivers have extremely quick reflexes and reaction times. They also have extremely good levels of concentration and long attention spans. Training, both on and off the track, helps to improve these skills.

During a race, a driver's brain is multi-tasking -- part of it is handling the current situation on the track, monitoring spacing, adjusting speed and turning. This is much different than normal driving -- these race cars are often within inches of one another and the pack is moving at incredible speeds.

Cool Fact! Organized in 1947, NASCAR stands for the "National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing."

The other part of the driver's brain focuses on what will happen in the next section of the track. The driver plans exactly what he will do, and then executes it when he arrives at that section. At that point, he is thinking about the next section of the track, and so on. In all this planning, the driver factors in both the car he is trying to catch and the cars that are trying to catch him -- a driver is always trying to pass the car in front and trying to defend against being passed.