… 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
3Dbotmaker Diecast Racing League (and associated series).
Race in Peace McClyde
Race in Peace, McClyde.
Living in the frozen upper midwest, anything other than NASCAR is considered vaguely “foreign” and suspect. I enjoy things that people here will not consider obscure, Dakar, WRC, and When I was in Iceland the locals were impressed that I knew about Formula Offroad.
I really wish there was WRC on tv in the US.
You took 3 of my 4 favorite off-the mainstream racing series.
You just missed quarter Midgets. Back before ESPN was all NFL and College Football, I wouldn’t miss their live Friday Night Midget racing.
I have two brand new favorites, that I discovered through the wonders of the internet:
1) Anywhere on earth you will find rural people with a high level of practical mechanical skills developed by having to repair their own equipment, you will find that bored rednecks have figured out how to use a common example of that equipment to invent a new motorsport to keep themselves occupied during the off season.
In America, this would include tractor pulls and monster truck rallies. In Thailand? Rice tractor racing. Apparently a rice tractor is like a weird little combination of a tractor, a motorcycle, and a stand-up mower, which also gives it a great power to weight ratio!
https://www.thedrive.com/news/what-a-spectacle-thai-farmers-drag-race-tuned-stand-up-tractors
2) Those crazy Russians are at it again. This time it’s “motorcycle sled racing,” a similar competition in the snow rather than in a rice paddy, which apparently not only includes copious amounts of vodka, but seems to be required by the rules.
https://www.wired.com/2017/02/alessandro-dangelo-unimoto-snow-dogs/
I’m guessing a Combine Harvester Demolition Derby would count?
Would it count? Hell, tell me where I can buy tickets.
There’s a couple state fairs and the like that have them.
My favourite motorsport is watching 80ies Paris-Dakar on Youtube
I like race cars for how they are engineered and developed but I’m not a motorsport fan, finding human powered sport much more engaging and fun to watch (road cycling, cross country mountain biking, cross country skiing, all kinds of running track/trail/mountain, non-competition climbing, etc). The motorsport I do watch is rally, primarily through Subaru’s viewpoint on the ARA circuit (and rallycross previous years). I sometimes go to the results webpage and look at deeper result (even from previous years) from people I might have heard of through Jalopnik, theDrive or Youtube (Orlove, Wyatt and Cyr from Team O’Neil), and watch some Dirtfish or see how Subaru alum like Oliver Solberg are doing.
Rally is not a sport I would ever want to watch in person though because it looks sketch for spectators (heard of deaths as recently as a year ago), and seeing cars going by once doesn’t really tell much of a story about the racing.
Pig N’ Ford racing – basically dirt track Model T spec racing with a squealing pig as your co-driver.
Drivers have to run to their car LeMans-style, but they have to run to a box of pigs to grab their pig first, then crank-start their car, hop in, and try to drive a lap around the track while holding onto the pig, and upon completing a lap you have to get out of the car, shut it off, exchange your pig for a different one, start the car again, and complete another lap, rinse and repeat. Oh, and if your pig escapes, you gotta go catch it. It’s utter chaos, truly challenging, and the most hilariously entertaining thing ever 🙂
The races are held annually in Tillamook, Oregon, which is the only place in the world you can see this motorsport unless you just watch it on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q51uEsq4hhY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPfGH7hRQc4
That popped into my head as soon as I saw the topshot (topgif?) 😀
I haven’t watched it ages, but I like motorcycle trials riding. They’re not races as such: riders earn points for doing hideously complicated things on specialized lightweight off-road motorcycles that make all the torque and have tires made of gummi.
Here’s a sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFMFrgF1RTk
I know it’s not the glory days anymore, but I still follow the Trans Am series and consider it amazing racing, and with stuff within-the-ballpark close to what you can buy yourself no less. Boris Said was the man!
As a fan of Baja and the old Micky Thompson series I fully approve of the Super Truck pick.
Micky Thompson had to run some races on pavement without dirt in the 80s when all the dirt was frozen he wanted to use.
Icelandic Formula Offroad. The droll announcers are great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKtPiLGDmEQ
Or, racing big trucks. In France: https://www.gpcamions-castellet.com/en
The GF and I went to a great race at Circuit Paul Ricard (https://www.circuitpaulricard.com) where there were a bunch of luxury makers (Porsche, BMW, Bentley etc.) that had all been handicapped to about the same level of performance. Watching a Bentley saloon battle it out with a 911 was hysterical.
If NASCAR started racing cars a person possibly could buy, I might watch it. What does that S stand for in NASCAR anyway?
Figure 8 school bus racing
Also Figure 8 trailer racing. Anything Figure 8, really.
Rally is really the only type of racing that’s captured my interest, even that I have a hard time following too closely. Great to experience in person though.
Ever seen rough truck racing? It’s just a bunch of rednecks driving old beater trucks around a dirt track with ramps that they have no business being on. It’s far from mainstream, it’s state fair…. fare.
I love cheap car competition. 24 Hours of Lemons, ChumpCar Challenge, Duct Tape Drags. Show me how fast and/or how long you can go for the absolute least amount of money!
Grassroots Motorsports. I was in that once. Would do again
I am quite fond of Legends cars. I like the classic body styles in 1/3 scale. They oval race them here stateside but I’ve seen road course racing with them overseas.
I like Legends as well. They run a limited road racing schedule here. I know they road race at Charlotte and New Hampshire. I think they also run Road Atlanta. I would assume it’s only the big money teams though as you have to completely change the setup for the car to be able to turn right.
Whatever is the cheapest. Expense is what kills budding enthusiasm.
Stadium super trucks is awesome, but I grew up watching dirt track racing, tractor and truck pulls, demolition derbies, and tough truck competitions down at the county racetrack and I still love them. Being an off-road enthusiast, I also love stuff like hill climbs, rock courses, and mud racing.
Something about the insanity of those hill climb motorcyclists is epic to watch.
This is true. It’s both fascinating and horrifying to watch when the bikes flip over backward and go bouncing down the hill.
Stadium super trucks are the go-to for me and my daughter when F1 is on the off season. It’s a riot.
Gotta love anything that combined skill with crazy. I want to see the truck races in the clip. However semi and school bus races are great. The local races are better. I think there comes a time that it becomes too expensive to race and whoever has the most money wins. Give me a ticket to a local race track over the Indy 500 any day
I dunno if IMSA sports car racing is or is approaching mainstream, but that’s my #1 right now.
I used to go to multiple TORC series races (short track off-road, similar to the super stadium trucks) and that was an absolute blast. Like supercross but with trucks and buggies. It would occasionally attract people like Travis Pastrana and Jeremy McGrath. Always tons of action and a family friendly atmosphere.
I too have loved IMSA for a while now, and while it’s still niche, I do enjoy that it’s becoming a little better known, getting more air time, etc. It’s ironically perhaps the most stock-car-y thing in the majors these days.
I have a particular love for the Festival Of Slowth.
I enjoyed a couple of combine (as in farm equipment) demolition derbies in the next town over, before the Pandemic shut it down. I wonder if they’re going to come back…
There is one answer and one answer only: TRACTOR PULLS
Yep, was going to say fair events in general. Tractor pulls, figure 8 racing, demo derbies.
Ahh yes, the figure 8 trailer racing is by far some of the rowdiest spectacles. Well, fair events in general are rowdy spectacles.
It’s not so much a particular motorsport (as it is drag racing) as it is a specific event, but the World Cup Finals: Import vs. Domestic, held every fall at Maryland International Raceway in Budds Creek is ridiculous. They do the best they can to regulate a “run what ya brung” event, but the cars are wild and the elapsed times and speeds are off the charts. Then you all in all the national and regional bragging rights that kick in at what includes racers from the States, various islands around the Caribbean, I think some from Brazil.