NASCAR racers aren’t athletes?

The other night, while being thoroughly entertained by those awesome ESPY awards, Seattle Seahawks WR Golden Tate noticed that NASCAR’s Jimmy Johnson was up for Best Male Athlete. He didn’t think that Johnson should be eligible.

“Jimmy johnson up for best athlete???? Um nooo .. Driving a car does not show athleticism,” Tate tweeted.

So, of course, racing fans got all up in arms and started giving him the Southern business (we don’t really know what that means) on the popular microblog.

So Tate defended himself with a few more tweets.

“Who looks like a better athlete?” Tate asked. “Lebron making a sick play or a guy or Jimmie riding on circles?”

I think he meant “riding in circles,” but technically the car is on top of the oval track, so we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

“I’m not saying NASCAR isn’t hard,” Tate continued. “I’m just saying u don’t have to be athletic to do that.”

He’s not alone in his thinking, there are a lot of people that believe driving a car doesn’t rely on athleticism. But if that’s the case, why would people ever retire? If it doesn’t require athleticism, couldn’t you just drive forever? We actually think there should be an over-70 driving circuit. That would be a hoot. Oh and you’d be able to drink too.