Fitness must not obstacle for drivers

IndyCar Series drivers Ryan Briscoe and JR Hildebrand already have a race in at Texas Motor Speedway.

For Hildebrand, it meant more bum luck.

The Indianapolis 500 runner-up, who crashed as he was leading out of the final turn at The Brickyard two weeks ago, banged his left knee in an obstacle course race Wednesday as he took part in a publicity event at TMS.

He was examined at the track's medical center, and it looked as though he was still on schedule to compete in Saturday night's Firestone Twin 275s.

Nobody wanted an injury, but what better way to show that race drivers are athletes and are built to recover like athletes? That was the whole idea behind the obstacle race that Briscoe and Hildebrand staged. Briscoe finished the roughly 200-foot course -- featuring a rope climb, a tractor tire flip, a tire agility run, a crawl and a low hurdle -- in 32.59 seconds.

Hildebrand was right with him until he clipped the final hurdle.

"I'll wait until after Saturday night to talk a little Indy trash," Briscoe joked to reporters. "This is all a sidelight to what we're doing Saturday night."

As Hildebrand walked off to head for treatment, Briscoe playfully said in his direction: "Talk about martial arts. You really took it to heart!"

Before their obstacle run, Briscoe and Hildebrand talked about the importance of physical training in their preparation for a race.

"Physical fitness is one of the only areas where we drivers are totally in control of," Hildebrand said. "So you've got to make sure you check that box before you go to the race."

Briscoe said a sound body produces a sound mind, which is a must for race car drivers because their focus must be so steady.

"The cars, at a track like this, aren't super heavy to drive or anything," he said. "But the last thing you need is to lose concentration, because it's so mentally demanding out here. Especially in Texas, you need to be mentally fit, so physically, it's not going to be a problem."

Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson, who owns a training center that includes high-profile clients, evaluated the performance of the drivers on the obstacle course and gave them passing marks.

"In some sports, like race car driving, athleticism may not be essential, but it certainly helps," he said. "When it comes to stamina, it's obviously important, and reaction. Overall, what you find in a lot of sports where athleticism is not necessarily essential is that fitness helps you with focus, which is extremely important and more essential in race car driving than it is in other sports."