Motorblog.com and ‘Journal Tribune’ report on Lara Carlson’s study of physiological forces experienced by stock car drivers
Motorblog.com and the Journal Tribune recently reported on research conducted by Lara Carlson, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Exercise and Sport Performance, regarding the physiological forces facing stock car drivers.
Carlson, along with colleague David Ferguson of Baylor College of Medicine, carried out an experiment at the Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine. Eight race car drivers were assessed for heart rate, blood pressure, body mass and intestinal core temperature during a race. The temperature of the stock car cabin was also measured.
Carlson concluded that due to the extreme heat and gravitational force on race car drivers, they are exposed to significant cardiovascular strain with elevated heart rates and decreased blood pressure. With cockpit temperatures reaching 140 degrees and exposure to greater gravitational force than to what astronauts are exposed, drivers, concludes Carlson, are, indeed, athletes. “If any other athlete experienced these effects, we’d want to pull them,” Carlson stated in her interview with the Journal Tribune.