Great vision, split-second reactions required

Jared Wagster doesn't just drive; he races. And that, says the dirt-track veteran, shouldn't be overlooked.

"You're on the edge every lap. If you slip just an inch, you take the chance of getting into somebody, and a lot of people don't understand that," Wagster said. "They watch it in the grandstands and when [drivers] hit somebody they're like, 'He can't drive.'"

Wagster, who lives in Scott City but can be found racing at Poplar Bluff Speedway most weekends, contends his job behind the wheel is, "a lot more challenging than it looks."

It's pretty easy to accept his claim that auto racing isn't as simple as it might seem. Just a few moments spent watching Wagster's car slide precariously around each corner of the track's surface is enough to realize he isn't taking a Sunday afternoon drive through the country or even a Sunday afternoon drive around a NASCAR track.

Though some cars look as though they turn 90 degrees in the middle of an inclined corner, you could call it a controlled slide. But only if you were willing to call a tornado a controlled tunnel of wind.

Wagster says, however, that racing is more than an individual challenge.

"It's a team sport. My crew has to help me get my car ready," he said. "It's just like a baseball coach trying to get his team ready."

Competing in a race, let alone winning one, requires more than car and driver.

Wagster's crew, responsible for everything from building his engines to making minor adjustments between races on any given night, includes six people. Without his teammates, Wagster couldn't be successful.

"You've got to get your car set up just right," he said, "because the track is changing all the time."

But the perfect setup and all the adjustments in the world cannot make up for the one thing sure to park even the best driver -- inferior equipment. In the debate about whether auto racing is a sport, this is a tough hurdle to clear.

Can something really be a sport if a machine is as important as the man?

Even a world-class driver can't win a race with the worst car, and vice versa.

Of course, many times, the best drivers are the ones with the best cars and equipment. In essence, they earn their superior equipment through their superior driving. A racer who finds success early, usually in modest settings, will be able to attract more sponsors, and the sponsors can supply the racer with a better car.

Wagster and almost every man he races against, regardless of the size or significance of the event, has sponsors. According to him, it wouldn't be possible to race without them. In the end, this means that not every child who dreams of driving a racecar is going to get a chance to do so. The same could not be said for many, if any, mainstream sports.

Wagster's father, Mike, who for the record believes racing is more a hobby than a sport, still says he'd rather have a good driver than a good car. This might be expected from the driver's dad, but when you consider that he is also the man who builds his son's engines, his statement carries a little more weight. He contends that while a driver may not be able to make up for having the worst car on the track, he can certainly make up for having a car that's just short of perfect. Assuming for a moment that auto racing is a team sport, the driver, at the dirt-track level at least, is the lone athlete on the team -- the main human element that can decide the outcome of a race.

Yet Jared Wagster said he doesn't require practice or physical conditioning between waves of the green flag. His preparation is limited to watching footage of his last race filmed by his wife in hopes of finding some way to improve his driving or his car.

Drivers do, however, take a physical beating as their cars bump into each other and they are jarred by the track's imperfect surface. They must also contend with the summer heat while wearing full-body fireproof suits and helmets.

"A lot of time after long races you're sore the next day," admitted Wagster, who races in both the Super Street and Open Wheel Modified divisions.

His starts on Poplar Bluff Speedway's 3/8ths of a mile track range from eight-lap heats to 20-lap feature events. Considering all this, it is surprising that Wagster credits his eyesight as his most important physical attribute.

"You have to have real good peripheral vision" in order to be a good driver, he said. "You have to look ahead and out the side, too, so you can look straight and see what's going on beside you."

This is a skill he has conquered. Starting seventh out of seven cars during a recent Saturday night Super Street division heat, Wagster had a lot of work to do in order to qualify for the feature event later in the evening. On lap two of eight, after already passing a couple of cars, he was bumped in his left rear quarter panel. His back tires slid up the race track, and the nose of his car pointed almost directly down into the infield.

Either because of skill -- he was conscious of the situation and was able to prepare himself for the consequences of the impact -- or, less likely, because he was lucky, Wagster righted his number 9K car and continued on.

He passed two more cars and ended the heat in second place to qualify for the feature, which he won.

Mission accomplished, and proof that auto racing is a sport: "Just like [other sports], you've got competition, you've got to beat the other guy, beat the other team," he said.