… Not that there’s anything wrong with the mainstream offerings, of course. But there’s a whole wide world of motorsports excitement outside of NASCAR and F1, and just as there’s much to enjoy when you extend your ice cream experiences beyond chocolate and vanilla, there are all sorts of wild and unusual ways to get down with engines, motors, and wheels (not to mention props and tracks).
One of my favorites is right there in the top GIF, Robby Gordon Stadium SUPER Trucks. I would ordinarily rebel against following the preferred branding with SUPER in all caps, but doggone if these trucks don’t earn those capital letters by taking flight with an effortlessness that rivals the Man of Steel. And when the trucks aren’t defying gravity, they’re hitting the three-wheel motion like Ice Cube cranked up to 1,000. The street courses are tight, the racing is incredibly close, and these trucks put on a show.
Here’s the full Stadium SUPER Trucks video that I sourced the GIF from, it’s wild:
Now, I did mention props, and if you guessed Reno Air Racing and whatever Red Bull calls their air-racing thing – yes, I enjoy those. But what I was actually thinking of was sprint jet-boat racing, which is nuts. And I suppose I should correct props to impellers, as jet boats pump water out of a nozzle to provide thrust, but whatever. The way these guys (and gals, I hope) whip around hairpin turns is astounding, and the action is intense. Watch this, from the New Zealand Jet Sprint Association:
An equally swampy but very different type of mind-boggling motorsport that will absolutely glue me to a screen is swamp buggy racing, wherein some truly fascinating and unique boat-truck hybrid machines chug and churn through water and muck with outlandish action unlike anything else. Cast your peepers upon this insanity from 1320 Video:
Along with wheels and props I mentioned tracks, but not in the racetrack sense. I’m talking about the belts that snowmobiles spin to get sleds moving, and if you’ve never seen Snowcross before, you’re in for a treat. Snowmobiles are probably the last thing any of us thinks of when it comes to vehicles that can race motocross-style complete with big-air jumps, but there they are, doin’ it (via MXGP-TV):
Your turn: What Are Your Favorite Motorsports Outside The Mainstream?
Top animation via Stadium SUPER Trucks, YouTube
I Think WRC is too mainstream for here or I would choose that. Demolition Derbies are more local events that never fail to entertain.
I miss ABC’ old Wide World of Sports. They were great at bringing obtuse racing to the masses. Even if delayed and condensed
Whatever still has a local circuit, doesn’t cost $1B to start a team, and is actually accessible to regular Joe fans.
I generally have had a hard time passing up tractor pull, swamp buggies, demo derby, figure 8’s, etc. when it is on TV. I haven’t seen in a while, but used to be able to catch some sprint car – DIRT series racing too that I think is largely local circuits.
What’s not mainstream? Not F1, Indycar, Nascar? Anyways MavTV broadcasts the Pirelli GT4 America series, close racing, good action, it’s a good way to get your racing fix.
Autocross, because that’s the only place you’ll see a top dollar Pro Touring muscle car actually driving, chrome chassis be damned! Time Attack is pretty cool too for bringing out the craziest tuners alive, especially when the tire companies sponsor it and you don’t have to buy dancing shoes 🙂
On a completely different note, Supermoto! Dirtbikes on road courses with dirt sections is peak entertainment, even if the bikes aren’t as fast as you’re used to from MotoGP – although there is a slowly growing ADV Sumo crowd, and the Multistrada/GS/Tiger/Tenere/KTM/Pan America rivalry is right there waiting…
… Which brings me to Super Hooligan, the track rat’s Valhalla. Everybody’s focused on the Baggers and they’re pretty fun, but Super Hooligan has EVERYTHING – Indian Scouts, FTRs and Chiefs, Harley Sportsters, Softails and Pan Americas, 890 Dukes, RNineT Beemers, SV1000s, MT-09s, Ducati Scramblers and Hypermotards, Bonnevilles and Tridents, even an Energica Evo- literally EVERY streetbike you could ever imagine making a track missile from is out there, carpet bombing the best tracks in America!
– USAC Silver Crown. Those cars look fantastic and on a mile dirt are fantastic to watch.
100 laps at Springfield or Du Quoin are authentic competition.
– Isle of Mann TT. The Isle of Mann is where men go to demonstrate free will.
I loved the at the time once per year Swamp Buggy races shown on TNN back in the day. I loved Diamond P Sports productions.
I got to watch the Reno air races with my Navy pilot FIL in a year where there no crashes. That was pretty cool.
I don’t know if WRC is considered “mainstream,” but it was, probably still is, my favorite motorsport to watch.
Thank you, Peter, for introducing some new ones to me/us. Those trucks and boats are CRAZY! As are the souls that strap themselves in and say, “why not?”
Very early in my TV news photography career, the crew of the Green Mambo jet dragster did a demo run to promote the upcoming event that weekend. Stupid me stood at the Christmas Tree starting lights and nearly got blown on my ass as it passed me by. I remember pebbles hitting me in the face and there were about 15 frames of videotape that weren’t stable, probably due to the sound vibrating the tape off the recording heads of the Sony tape deck.
I already had tinnitus, but that event didn’t help.
Totally agree on the jetsprints and super truck racing, and will add that whitewater jetboat racing and STOL drags are also fun youtube fodder. The Reno air race is quite a thing, but you’ve kind got to be there to feel the unlimited races. It doesn’t quite translate to the small screen.
FIA European trucks
Isle of Man TT
Swamp Buggy racing.
Autocross and SCCA
Shout out to big wheel drag racing. The absolute insanity of some of those builds while rolling on 30s.
UK car trials. If you love weirdness over power and tech, this is right jolly fun.
Cotswold Clouds 2024: Two cars overturn on ‘Crooked Mustard’ motor racing trial in Gloucestershire
Modern racecars have just gotten so advanced and uniform. I struggle to get into it. I generally prefer vintage racing sports, in particular rally and just about any event at Goodwood Revival. Also, watching videos of people with far less talent than they think they have on Nürburgring Touristenfahrten days.
I know when I used to bartend I would always have a few of the televisions tuned to Supercross, Redbull air racing, and then something weird like Jetsprint, swamp buggies, tractor pulls, or something a little outside the mainstream, but still sometimes shown on satellite tv channels.
If I am looking for something in my spare time, I love the clips of Dajiban racing. Super truck racing is insane. Pig N’ Ford races are truly hilarious.
The FIM X-Trial series. Now, I generally don’t make it a point to watch them but whenever it pops up in my youtube feed I just gotta watch it.
Yeah, I click whenever they show up. It’s freaky what those guys can do.
Offshore boat racing is awesome. I wish it had more coverage. The guys in that are blowing tons of their own money, all for the love of the sport. Similarly boat top speed shootouts are awesome. The annual Lake of the Ozarks Shootout is a fun event and the hardware is incredible.
I watch a lot of racing but most of it’s fairly mainstream. I’ve watched Dakar the last two years and enjoyed that. WRC is always good, but there is a learning curve to watching it and there’s certainly a time commitment to it. I started watching ETRC two years ago, which can be entertaining in the reverse grid races, otherwise Norbert Kiss just runs away from everyone.
I’ve been a MotoGP evangelist since 2020; as good as it is, Moto3 might be even better, but you’re not going to see it without a VideoPass subscription. I’ve seen some incredible Moto3 races over the years.
Also I watch several F4 series; F4 is great because the drivers are young and hungry, there’s little aero and aero-related issues, and the races are short at a half hour or less. Production values vary, but almost every F4 series globally is available free and live on YouTube. If you’ve only got time for one, the one to pick is Italian F4; pretty much anyone who’s a serious prospect for F1 someday is going to come through Italian F4. And when they do you’ll be able to say you saw them race four years previous, which will impress your F1 fan friends.
MotoGP is probably as good as mainstream racing gets.
Stadium Super Trucks is the series that got me to watch motorsports in the first place