Physical condition should be top priority for drivers

Watching the Cup race in Las Vegas last weekend was painful.

I'm not referring to the site of showgirls on pit road or the race commentary; I'm talking about the drivers who endured what they considered to be some of the hardest hits of their careers.

I winced at the site of Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart hobbling away from their wrecked cars, leaning on safety workers for assistance. For me, it was especially hard to watch because at times, I believe these men are made of steel.

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Their nerves are made of steel -- sure, that's more accurate -- but their bodies aren't and some are simply ill-equipped to handle impacts at nearly 200 mph.

Add more SAFER barriers, create a safer chassis, spent thousands of dollars on carbon fiber seats, but at the end of the day, the human body should merit as much preparation as the machine.

This is why I couldn't help but question whether or not drivers today take athletic conditioning and training seriously enough to endure hard crashes over long periods of time.

Are they in the optimal shape needed to sustain minor injuries, here and there, only to return to the car the following week, expected to perform their best, 36 weekends a season?

Odds are better for drivers who train routinely such as Mark Martin, Bobby Labonte and Carl Edwards, but I can't speak for the drivers who actually believe trolling around Lake Norman is effective cardio.

That's why I called premier coach Dean Golich of Carmichael Training Systems for some insight. He's also trains Carl Edwards and travels with the No. 99 team to most Cup events.

It is his job to make sure Edwards maintains a certain fitness level so the driver can toil through on-the-job adversities such as heat, exhaustion, mental fatigue and injuries more effectively than the competition.

Does he?

Well he can do a back flip after driving 500 miles in a more than 100-degree car, but that might be the adrenaline rushing through his veins; he only flips when he wins.

But after hearing Golich's explanation of why Edwards was able to drive a car with a dislocated thumb before the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard last season made me a believer.

I can talk on the phone, drink coffee and shift gears without crashing my car, but I need all my digits functioning properly.

Broken thumb noted, Edwards finished 18th in the Brickyard and fourth in the Nationwide race that weekend.

Golich said he was able to use other muscle groups to compensate for the ones he couldn't.

"He was able to shift normally, but he was able to change his position and use other grip strengths and arm strength," Golich said. "The stronger you are the better. It may not help you day-to-day, but you plan for the worse and hope for the best."

Basically, another muscle group can compensate for the injured one, but they won't if not properly conditioned. You can't have your back-up jack man eating hot pockets in the pits every weekend.

Similar principles apply for muscle recovery.

Need to improve

Jeff Gordon took a hard hit at Las Vegas and afterward, was critical of the track for not having SAFER barriers on the inside walls as well.

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"If there's a crash and [insert driver name here] gets out, his injury is a nine -- hopefully Carl's is a five," Golich said. "So if it does happen, we can come back from it faster and drive more proficiently"

Gordon's crash into the inside retaining wall on the backstretch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend left him feeling it the next day (watch video).

"It was a really hard hit ... probably the hardest I've ever hit a wall," Gordon said. "It took me a while to catch my breath and get out of the car. I was sore on Monday, but I'm feeling better each day."

Tony Stewart painted a similar picture in Sunday's Cup race after he blew a right-front tire and hit hard into the wall (watch video).

Waiting for Stewart to exit the car gave me a nervous feeling and watching him limp away from car made everyone grimace. Plus, hearing the phrase "legs tingle" from Stewart's mouth was even more unsettling.

"My legs were tingling like they were about half-numb and my lower back is sore," said Stewart, who also endured a hard lick a day earlier in the Nationwide race as well. "That's probably from tensing up on the way to hitting the wall. When you see the wreck coming and you know you're not going to miss it, every muscle in your body tenses up and that makes it worse."

Stewart said the next couple of days in Phoenix for the Cup test were miserable.

"The test was fine," he said. "Obviously, I battled through a lot of soreness, but the [right] foot's just bruised and I got a lot of bruises everywhere else, but that's just a part of this deal.

"By the weekend, it'll be healed, or almost healed, so it's no different than normal racing rheumatism, as the doctors call it, and we'll be just fine. We're racecar drivers. We're tough. It's no different than anybody else who hit the wall."

Unlike back-up crew members, back up drivers aren't readily available or even a good idea, so drivers have to play injured.

And brains are just as important as brawn.

Being mentally aware and not succumbing to mental fatigue and frustration is equally important. Both can affect your decision making process, Golich said.

"If a driver is cognitive at the end of a race and feels great, but gets caught up in a wreck and the steering wheel is jerking, he knows better not to try and control that wheel, he lets go," he said. "Being conditioned keeps you alert, you can't get tired."

Good physical health equates to good mental health. You have to maintain a mental edge from start to finish.

Training and fitness levels do give you an added advantage on the track, be it reaction time or injury prevention. And it's a competitive advantage Golich keeps guarded much like trade secrets.

More than that, good health promotes longevity and fans relish the thought of having their favorite driver racing into his 50s.

Crew chiefs and team owners spend countless hours fine-tuning a car's engine. Why wouldn't a driver do the same for his body? Unlike the body of his racecar, his is irreplaceable.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer