NASCAR drivers are often on the defense about whether they’re athletes.
Despite zipping around the track for hours on end in scorching heat, they’re often battling stigmas that they aren’t as athletic as, say, marathon runners or football players. Newly released biometric data from NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray, however, seeks to put an end to that.
On Twitter last week, McMurray published two charts and data about his heart rate. One snapshot was taken during a challenging bicycle race called The Assault on Mt. Mitchell, a 104-mile uphill race with elevation climb of 11,000 feet that took six hours to complete. McMurray called The Assault “the biggest physical challenge I’ve ever done.”
That was the biggest physical challenge I’ve ever done. #theassaults #teamJMac pic.twitter.com/56EomwSSQM
— Jamie McMurray (@jamiemcmurray) May 16, 2017
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The other dataset was pulled from a three-and-a-half-hour NASCAR race as part of the Loudon Race series, where temperatures inside the car reached a max 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
Interestingly, while the two races took varying tolls on the body, his heart raced just as much during the physically-taxing bike race as it did during the NASCAR race, averaging 146 beats per minute (bpm) on the bike versus 144 bpms in the car. His max heart rate was actually higher in the car, hitting 171 bpms versus 168 bpms on the bike.
“I always find it hard to explain to fans that the heat inside the car is the biggest challenge we face,” said McMurray in a note posted to Twitter. “I hope that this puts a perspective on what our bodies are going through during a race.”
Are Race Car drivers athletes? Here is some interesting information. pic.twitter.com/hmjlCowyPE
— Jamie McMurray (@jamiemcmurray) July 25, 2017
The data release comes at a time when wearables are becoming more common among professional athletes during competitions. Leagues are beginning to question how the data collected may and may not be used to boost fan engagement and better train athletes, while player’s associations are fighting to maintain a smidgen of athlete privacy.
Starting this season, NASCAR began allowing drivers to wear devices by a select number of approved brands to track their biometrics during races. The provision has been welcomed by some drivers, such as McMurray and Jimmie Johnson, and mocked by others, such as Clint Bowyer, who hasn’t been able to identify with the benefit.
Wearables have creeped into American professional sports over the past few years, including in the NFL, where microchips in shoulder pads are used to track athlete movements during games, and in Major League Baseball, where a sensor-laced sleeve has been approved to track stress on a pitcher’s arm.