USSA

NASCAR Drivers Train With U.S. Ski & Snowboard

by
Courtney Harkins
2017-06-29 14:47
 

To kick off U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s new partnership with Toyota, a few of Toyota’s NASCAR stars got the chance to train with U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes at the Center of Excellence in Park City.

Included amongst the NASCAR athletes were Furniture Row Racing drivers Martin Truex Jr. and Erik Jones, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Daniel Suarez, as well as Truex’s crew chief Cole Pearn and Jones’ crew chief Chris Gayle.

WATCH: NASCAR DRIVERS WORK OUT WITH U.S. SKI & SNOWBOARD ATHLETES

“God, I hate working out,” said Truex before he started. “It’s so boring!”


Martin Truex Jr. snowboards on the simulator at the Center of Excellence in Park City. (U.S. Ski & Snowboard)

But Truex was proved wrong, as the workout included activities like skiing and snowboarding on a simulator with alpine skier River Radamus, doing stationary bike workouts with U.S. Ski & Snowboard strength and conditioning coaches, flipping on the trampolines with aerialists Ashley Caldwell and Mac Bohonnon, and cheering on nordic combined skier Bryan Fletcher while he performed a VO2 max test.

On their second day in Utah, the NASCAR drivers headed up to Park City’s Utah Olympic Park where they watched aerialists go off the water ramps, hiked to the top of the ski jumps with nordic combined skier Taylor Fletcher and—of course—drove a bobsled down the Olympic course.


Daniel Suarez slips with the help of Mac Bohonnon and Ashley Caldwell. (U.S. Ski & Snowboard)

Finally, they wrapped up their trip by going down to the Utah Olympic Oval where they learned to skate with Olympic speedskaters.

"Success!" said Truex after the two-day excursion into the Winter Olympic world. "Zero wipeouts."

Watch the NASCAR drivers learn what it’s like to train with Olympians in NBC Sport’s video here.

 


 


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