Are the guys that drive Cup cars today Supermen?
First let me say that I have never driven a Cup car, nothing even close. It has been almost 20 years since since I drove a stock car and it was only in the last couple of years that the car had power steering. The old manual steering boxes required a good bit of effort by the driver. Sure it was easier when the car was at speed and the front end geometry was right but power steering made driver effort less.
Even so, every time I got out of the car, even with power steering, I felt and looked like I had ran a few miles on foot.
I never had a cool suit, but I have been there when drivers exited the car wearing a cool suit and they looked like they had ran a few miles on foot. I could understand this because running at speed in close quarters requires a level of concentration that makes one sweat.
Some short tracks are not as physically demanding as others. Any one who has ever run at Caraway and then gone to Hickory will know what I mean. I can only imagine what Dover is like.
Yesterday after the race at Dover I noticed that the drivers interviewed looked like they had just been driven to the track from the airport (actually most fly in a chopper now a days). Clean faces, no mussed hair and not a drop of sweat in sight, the uniforms were not even dirty. They looked ready to do a TV commercial.
So I thought, even with cool suits, they had just driven 400 miles at DOVER and did not show it at all, are these guys Supermen or are these cars just that easy to drive? I mean really, a lap at speed at Dover even alone on the track should show something.
updated by @dennis-andrews: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
