Auto Racing's Top 10 Off-Track Athletes
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It might seem like race-car drivers are just sitting in cockpits, spinning in circles. But the strength it takes to maneuver a high-performance vehicle around curves and through traffic, often without power steering, at 200 mph as the G-forces take their toll is up there with just about any pro sport. That’s why once outside the cars, so many drivers rarely slow down.
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“Each Sunday is like a bloody triathlon,” the 2014 IndyCar series champion Will Power says. "You’ll just be better, you’ll be faster, if you’re fit. You just will be.” As the summer racing season gets underway with the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indy 500 last weekend, and the 24 Hours at Le Mans in June, here’s a glimpse into what these top athletes, who can’t seem to sit still, are like when they leave the raceway.
Jenson Button: Marathoning
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Formula One drivers compete in 19 races on five continents during their seasons, and don’t seem to take the weekend off. McLaren driver Jenson Button expels his extra adrenaline running marathons all over the world. In April, he set his personal record of 2:52:30 at the 2015 London Marathon between F1 stops in Bahrain and Spain. Button has put in nearly 700 miles of training (and counting) so far this year. Often called the fittest man in F1, he’s not bad on the track either, having won 15 career races.
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Scott Dixon: Triathlons
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The three-time IndyCar series champion has spent offseasons competing in triathlons, and his training for time in the cockpit mimics race-specific movements. “We rely heavily on the Concept 2 rower and ski ergometers because they create high levels of upper body muscular training you won’t find cycling or running,” Scott’s trainer, Jim Leo, says. An emphasis is also put on balance training. “Often we will combine things, such as performing kettlebell movement on an Indo Board to stimulate his core while loading the body with weight,” Leo adds.
Related: 12 Weeks to Your First Triathlon: A Gameplan
Ryan Hunter-Reay: Free Diving
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“After about two days on vacation, I just get so bored,” the 2014 Indy 500 champ admits. "I think it’s because of the intensity of the sport.“ So Hunter-Reay seeks his offseason thrills by free-diving off the coast of his home state of Florida. He has since gone 60 feet below the surface. An added bonus: He uses the deep-sea breathing techniques when he’s pitching around corners in his car, to help alleviate the pressure on his chest.
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Juan Pablo Montoya: Mountain Biking
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From IndyCar to Formula One and NASCAR, veteran driver Juan Pablo Montoya can, and has, ridden just about every kind of vehicle in his career. But the one he gets a surprising amount of use out of is his mountain bike. When he’s home in Florida, he rides for 1–2 hours every morning and competes in races between events. "It’s really an addiction,” Montoya says. This year, he brought his street bike to Indianapolis and linked up with Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves to cruise around Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the practice rounds. That ride was a warm-up for the real thing on Sunday, when Montoya took the checkered flag for his second career Indy 500 victory (in just three tries).
Related: 10 Pro Tips for Mountain Biking
Lewis Hamilton: Mountaineering
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During the offseason, the 2014 F1 season champion and 2015 points leader trades his residence in Monaco for his home in Vail, Colorado, where he hikes and rock climbs in the warmer months and cross-country skis and snowboards in the winter. The regime helps him stay fit — and light enough to meet the weight limit for Formula One cars. “Last year I had to lose six kilos,” Hamilton told Men’s Health UK in April (or over 13 pounds). “It was hardcore; I didn’t have much to lose as it was. So I train a lot.”
Will Power: Endurance Sports
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The 2014 IndyCar series champion works out six days a week, and his regimen includes a bit of everything: swimming, weightlifting, rowing, PitFit training, and the Jacob’s Ladder climbing treadmill. "You need your muscles to last, and bulking up means you’re burning more oxygen to keep them fed,“ Power told Road and Track. "At least for a high-downforce open-wheel car, physical endurance is crucial.”
Related: 20 Total-Body Workouts, In Five Moves (Or Less)
Antonio Garcia: Running
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In late April, the three-time Le Mans class winner raced the Rock ‘n’ Roll Madrid Half Marathon. “Target under 1h20min or blow the engine,” the Spaniard Tweeted prior to the race. Despite jetlag from having raced in California the weekend prior, and streets slicked by a heavy rain, Garcia managed a 1:22:50 — even 6:19 mile splits. Two weeks later, he posted photos from his one-hour run up a mountain pass. “Wish I had skis to get down,” he wrote.
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Tony Kanaan: Triathlons
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The 2013 Indy 500 winner is a workout fanatic who completed the 2011 Ironman World Championship. Prior to his Kona debut, Kanaan told ESPN.com that he works out twice a day, with cardio in the morning and weights in the afternoon. He has since finished a 2013 half Ironman in Miami in 5:23:43. “I don’t think that triathlons are what keep me going," Kanaan says. "I am 100 percent sure that’s what is doing it.”
Helio Castroneves: Dancing
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The Brazilian driving ace has achieved a rare sporting double by winning both the Indy 500 and Dancing with the Stars. (To some fans, he is now best known for the latter.) He’s also game for tennis, and has played exhibition matches against Anna Kournikova and former world No. 1 Martina Hingis.
Sage Karam: Wrestling
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At 20 years old, the IndyCar driver is well on his way to establishing himself among the nation’s best drivers. But there is one thing he could already beat his 38 fellow drivers at — wrestling. At Nazareth High School in Pennsylvania, Karam competed in the 145-pound weight class and went 22–6 his senior year. At the State Duals championship, Karam beat all four of his opponents to help his team finish third overall. “I think wrestling helped make my neck stronger, and neck strength is one of the biggest things in racing,” Karam told Sports Illustrated this spring.
By Matt McCue
