Much like their fellow NASCAR drivers who are deservedly spending the season’s final off-week relaxing on a beach or jet-setting to some exotic location, Landon Cassill and Josh Wise are using the rare downtime to travel and enjoy the scenic Austrian Alps.
The difference, however, is that these two Sprint Cup drivers won’t be sightseeing or taking leisurely day hikes. They will be experiencing one of the world’s most beautiful regions while competing in the elite Ironman 70.3 World Championships at Zell am See-Kaprun outside Salzburg, Austria on Sunday.
Their breathtaking views will be just that as they swim 1.2-miles in Lake Zell, bike 56 miles through the glacier-tipped Alps and then finish with a 13.1-mile run along the lakeshore and through the area’s small villages in one of the world’s most grueling and prestigious physical competitions.
“When we looked at the schedule both of us had aspirations to qualify for the 70.3 or Kona (Ironman 140.6 in Hawaii),” explained Wise. “The Worlds happened to fall on our last off weekend and there was a qualifier on the next to last off weekend.
“It looked like this is a once in a lifetime chance. It’s a bucket list goal just to qualify, but to have opportunity to do Austria was super special and it just felt like it was meant to be.”
But not without a lot of work.
Anyone who still dismisses the athletic ability of NASCAR drivers would have a losing argument when it comes to the training regimen of Cassill, 26, and Wise, 32, who have taken their dedication to fitness and competition to a new level.
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More often than not, these two drivers show up at the race track having already swam, biked or run for miles and hours before some of their competitors have even rolled out of bed.
Their dedication and commitment means a 5 a.m. wake-up call even on race weekends and using a special “Swim Radar” app to find a public pool near the race track that’s open early enough and will allow them to swim. They’ve done their laps everywhere from the small town YMCA to the pool at Ohio State University.
They strategically place their long bike rides as well and that can be tricky — both finding a safe route close to the track and “not getting lost,” Wise joked. They did a 60-mile bike ride after qualifying at Indianapolis this summer and squeezed in a 20-miler between practices at Pocono. Last week at Bristol, the two swam a mile and a half and ran five miles before the night race.
Cassill did his World Cup qualifier in Muncie, Ind. during NASCAR’s Kentucky Speedway race weekend, flying to Muncie after the Friday night XFINITY race, competing in the 70.3-mile triathalon Saturday morning then returning to Kentucky Speedway for the Cup race that night.
“That was a little test of endurance,” Cassill said. “Saturday morning I got my qualifying slot and flew back and raced Saturday night (at Bristol). I felt pretty good.”
Both Cassill and Wise say that competitive spirit lift is an important motivation for both. Driving for small, lower-funded Sprint Cup Series teams, they are admittedly not contending for wins every week. Success in the triathalons not only is a huge fitness benefit to them both, but gives them a sense of accomplishment and success.
“I think a big part of the inspiration to do this has to do with obviously with the benefit of what it does for us in the car, but for us, we drive for small teams and we don’t have a chance to win every race in a car and when you’re doing that for 38 weeks in a row, it can get taxing,” said Cassill, the 2008 XFINITY Series Rookie of the Year who now drives the No. 40 Hillman-Smith Chevrolet in the Cup Series and the No. 01 JD Motorsports Chevy in the XFINITY Series.
“This is something for us, we can control and it really just helps that confidence in the garage just to know what we’re capable of with our bodies and pushing ourselves to the limit. To me, it’s a confidence builder.”
Wise, who scored a career-best 10th at Talladega in May driving the No. 98 Ford, agreed.
“It’s an amazing competitive outlet,” he said. “There’s not a lot of things that you can do that you have so much control over. It goes back to the alarm clock. Are you going to get up and get the swim in and the running before you go to work? It’s your choice. With the sport we’re in, people don’t realize all the external factors there are that you can’t control.”
“When our cars aren’t driving right or we’re communicating with our crew in the midst of battling with someone, I feel the mental gain from the type of work we do off the track even beyond the physical.
“I’m far beyond physically where I need to be, but mentally I can still continue to push myself, my body and my brain to dig deeper. When you can overcome every cell in your body shutting you down and you have to mentally force your legs to pick up and move in a run, there is a mental strength that comes from that.
“I feel there’s a real specificity to what we do that applies to our type of racing.”
The benefits go beyond just them personally.
“My team has so much confidence in me that although they may not see me during the week, they don’t have a doubt in their mind that I’m still working; that I’m trying to make myself the fittest race car driver, the best race car driver I can be, focused and prepared,” Cassill said.
“It’s important because when teams are fighting for sponsorship, tough finishes the wheels can come off and you want to instill in your team that you’re doing everything you can.”
Their pursuit is not only recognized by their team members but in the garage and bigger NASCAR community as well. While these two drivers don’t typically generate the same racing headlines as their good friend and frequent training partner, six-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, they do have his great respect — especially with this weekend’s Ironman in Austria.
“My hat is off to Josh and Landon,” Johnson said. “They’ve put in the hard work. I’ve watched them get very serious about it. They are both faster than me (smiling) and I’m so proud of them.”
All three drivers are confident that this kind of extreme cross training will be more prevalent on the starting grid in coming years. It’s a visibly growing group of cyclists that join Johnson, Wise and Cassill on the bike rides during race weekend downtime or meet up at a nearby public pool for some laps.
“Jimmie Johnson, in my opinion, sparked that fire by winning six championships and being the fittest driver the sport has ever seen,” Cassill said. “We are in some ways just copycatting what he did. Eventually, a lot of the drivers that have the skill — and have had the success in the past — but aren’t consistently getting the success now are going to start getting pressure from their owners and sponsors that will say they’re sick of getting of their butts kicked from these fit drivers, you need to do something.
“I think in the next five to 10 years you’re going to see a lot more of our drivers getting fitter and fitter,” Cassill continued. “I think our sport is going to go through similar transition that golf saw and I compare our sport to golf because it’s a skill sport. It takes a certain skill and technique to swing a golf club and it takes a certain skill and technique to drive a race car. It doesn’t necessarily take athleticism to drive a race car or hit a golf ball, but athleticism enhances that skill.”
This weekend Cassill and Wise will be representing their sport on a world platform and just qualifying for the world championship in the midst of a busy and demanding NASCAR season is already a huge accomplishment.
“There are a lot of cyclists in the garage and people that know what’s going on. I had a lot of people asking me about this weekend at the Bristol race and crew members wishing me good luck,” Cassill said. “Obviously a lot of text messages from my team wishing me good luck.”
“I’d love to set a new PR (personal record), I feel like I try to do that at every race. But just another finish would be a win. This is a very challenging event and this is a world championship event so the competition is a lot tougher than I’ve competed against.”
