Carl Edwards doing his trademark flip in 2008, before breaking his foot playing frisbee (Photo Credit: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images for NASCAR)

They remain etched in our memories forever. They make highlight reels for years to come. They churn the stomachs of the fans in the grandstands. Kyle Busch at Daytona, Carl Edwards at Talladega, Joey Logano at Dover, Michael McDowell in Texas, Ryan Newman at Talladega and countless other wrecks from the past few years (and beyond) are forever implanted on our minds.

All these wrecks had one thing in common: the drivers walked away.

Which begs the question…

Why do drivers keep finding creative ways to injure themselves?

On Sunday, the news broke that Denny Hamlin had torn his ACL playing a game of pickup basketball.

Pickup basketball? Really? Hamlin drives up to 200mph on a regular basis on any given weekend and he tears his knee up playing basketball of all things!

This isn’t the first time Hamlin has been injured while having a bit of fun. During a test session at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2006, Hamlin challenged a crew member to a “race” around the team hauler. During his “lap”, he caught his hand on the corner of the hauler and it tore up the entire left side of his hand. The injury required 19 stitches.

Those team haulers are dangerous, ya know!

Carl Edwards found a creative way to hurt himself as well. Much like Hamlin, he was enjoying a day with some buddies playing some sports. This time it was … wait for it… Frisbee!

The driver who backflips when he wins a race broke his foot playing Frisbee with some “buddies” back in September. He was still able to compete, and even won a couple of Nationwide races. He was unable to do a backflip because of the injury; however Edwards performed a somersault for the crowd when he won at Phoenix in November.

Four-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion has also found creative ways to cause himself bodily harm. After he won his first championship in 2006 (seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it?), Johnson somehow (cough) ended up on top of a golf cart during a celebrity golf tournament. Needless to say, he fell off (a little tipsy maybe?). The champ ended up with a broken wrist, adding injury to insult.

Johnson apparently isn’t good with knives, either. During last year’s Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona race, Johnson was trying to cut a hole in his firesuit to insert a cooling tube and cut the middle finger on his left hand. The cut was apparently so bad it required stitches and kept him from competing in the rest of the race. Doh!

Meanwhile, Greg Biffle couldn’t help but steal a few headlines with an embarrassing injury of his own.

Biffle was fishing with some friends of his on a Tuesday night last year, and ended up with bruised ribs.

“He was fishing!” you might say. “How on earth did he bruise his ribs?”

Biffle and his friends were at the dock at around 11:30PM that night, and when he attempted to jump back in the boat he lost his footing and fell against the side of it.

Whether you laughed or grimaced at this, or any other injuries, depends on what kind of person you are.

Many times, drivers are accused of being “robots” for their tendency to say and do everything right. Reading stories like these (and several others which couldn’t fit in the confines of this article), reminds everyone that these drivers are nothing but human … humans who can survive hitting a concrete wall at 180mph yet can’t seem to handle a kitchen knife. Sigh.

Godspeed!