Would you consider a Drag Racer a athlete ?

Nope...not me.

No because you don't have to be in prime shape to do it. It helps, but it's not a requirement to win like in other sports.

I think no also but when I was reading a article online about Clay Millican and they referred to him as a athlete. It kinda made me question it.

No. That doesn't mean some of them aren't good athletes, aren't in shape, etc., but you do not have to be a good athlete to be a drag racer.

If the people who participate in sports are athletes, and drag racing is a sport... then I guess they could be considered to be athletes. I don't really view them that way.

They call poker players athletes

If you don't think professional drag racers aren't athletes check out their work out programs. They need to be in good physical condition to take the Gs they go through.

F1 driver, yes.

Drag racing, no.

Fix it for you!

Drag races at the pro level are short duration so I think you could still win races while being very average it terms of fitness.

Fitness becomes important when your heart rate goes way up and you have to keep it there for long duration in order to win.

And bowlers too!

You yanks think golfers are athletes, don't know why drag racers don't fit in there.

John Force looks like a typical bowling league athlete. He might be fit enough to play church league softball.

Absolutely not.

Got golf and bowling covered, I'll do nascar: take one of those Redneck Meatheads out of their Camry and throw them into a postal delivery truck route. Now that's a motorsport.

The athlete dividing line for me is anything where a skill set and talent is combined with cardio conditioning and endurance improvement that directly effects the competitive outcome. As an avid golfer, i would not say that applies here, same for golf, bowling, checkers, billiards, high diving ( which I suspect many will disagree with as most are very atleletic, and some gymnastics are not not highly cardio fitness based, so i'm getting on rather thin ice, but a disclaimer, I'm not proficient in any of these, and that is a gross understatement ), and drag racing that lasts under 20 sec.

He’s an old guy.

Are there drag racers who are also good athletes, in good shape, etc? Of course. Do you have to be a good athlete or in good shape to be a good drag racer? Definitely not.