Last night ESPN showed the "Championship" race of Global Rallycross, which was held in the parking lot across the streetfromthe Hilton, right here in LasVegas. This race was held in conjunction with the biggest convention of the year here, SEMA. It's the first time this race was held as part of SEMA. There was a good crowd, and there was a lot of action. The field is international, with some big buck sponsors on board.
I witnessed the previous Rallycross race here in Las Vegas as a companion event to the recent NASCAR Truck Race at LVMS. I didn't actually know the Rallycross race was scheduled - we decided at the last minute to go see the trucks run this year. From what I could tell at the race I watched in person, and the spectators and commentators at last night's race, the audience all appears to be younger - the Skateboard / BMX / X-Games crowd. I think our young people are going to gravitate to this form of racing rather than watch a boring old race where a bunch of guys run around in a big circle.
Don't know whether that's bad or good - that's why I brought it up here. I'm sure there will be some good discussion.
I admit I don't know much about Rallycross, so I looked them up on the internet. There's been a BUNCH of races for this group here in the States, as companion races to other events. Curiously, all of them seemed to be at Bruton's tracks. If there's a spare buck to be made, Bruton will be all over it.
Anyway, I thought I'd throw this out there for discussion. Are we eventually going to be subjected to fast, but dinky four banger cars that run around on some weird shaped road courses made up of Superspeedway pit lanes and Legends tracks, with a jump or two thrown in, and a big pile of dirt ? Looks that way to me, as I gaze into my crystal ball.
Great points, Steve. If managed properly, it has a bright future ahead of it. Think about it.. modified production cars that are way more appealing to the 18-34 year old male demographic than big family sedans, participating in a form of racing that even a non-motorsport fan would stop to watch yet at the same time, appealing to tuners and hard core motorsport fans also, as attested by you both enjoying it.
Even though the series is self owned at the moment, it's not a stretch to think that someone like Bruton Smith could buy it at some point and slowly try to go up against NASCAR with it. It already races on a lot of his facilities. Although this style of racing does not even need a permanent racing facility and they were just being held at Bruton's tracks during NASCAR or Indycar weekends to grab new fans.
As we know, Bruton ran NSCRA, a competitor of NASCAR from 1949 to 1951, before its dissolution due to mismanagement following his being drafted. Since then he has always wanted to launch a rival series to NASCAR using his own tracks, with rumours to that effect surfacing as recent as the late 90s.
Since the 70s/80s, the Old Dominion 4-WD Club has run off-road mud bog races at Bodatious Motorsports Park west of Richmond at Cartersville, Virginia. The events there are every bit as much a rite of Spring and Fall to Richmond motorsports fans as the two NASCAR race weekends at RIR.
The Flavor of Mud
By: Christine McLean
I took a sip from my cup of coffee, got in the truck, and made my way down the road to Cartersville Virginia, where I would be helping photograph the backwoods event, Bodatious. It was still dark, being I left so early in the morning in order to arrive at Bodatious before any of the events started. I was jamming to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and my stomach had butterflies not only from being slightly nervous, but also because I was so excited. I had heard about Bodatious for years from friends, but I never managed to make it out there, so I was finally going to experience it. I made my way off exit 167 and hit a few pretty backroads just as the sun was coming up above the trees. It was such a pretty area, and I was imaging what the Motorsports Park would look like and where it was. I saw Boston Hill Road and made my turn. It was at the end of a long dirt road in a bunch of open fields, which I expected, and I saw nothing but trucks. It was like a dominos effect but only in truck form all lined up one after the other. I parked the truck by a tree and got out and took a deep breath of the cool crisp morning air, and wandered around to see where everything was. The motor cross was supposed to start around 9:00 am, so I had a little bit of time to prep my camera and get the feel for everything I would be doing that day. People were starting to wander around and get moving that had been camping there for the whole weekend, and the sound of car and truck engines revving up gave me cold chills because they sounded so good. I moseyed around and got some images of the fans that were coming in and some of the vendors that were setting up. 9:00 finally came around and the guys who would be racing were starting to line up near the entrance of the track. There were of all age groups, and they all had their 4 wheelers pumped up and ready to go. I could not wait to see them take off and race around the track getting muddy, and going over the jumps. Thankfully, there were not many bad wrecks, only minor ones. Around 11:00, there was a good breaking point so I took a little break and went up to the truck to eat lunch. Everyone there was so friendly, and most of them had been coming to Bodatious for years so they told me stories of crazy things that had happened years ago. It was really interesting meeting people and hearing different stories. The sun finally warmed up that April air, and made the temperature quite pleasant for the occasion. The sand drags were next and I was really looking forward to them. The aroma in the air smelled like high octane and it brought back memories of my dads drag racing days. I found a spot right by the starting line and waited as each car pulled up to take off. I captured the dirt flying in the air making a rooster tail. The engines were so loud that it almost tickled my ears when they took off. It was very exciting. The day went on and the mudbogs were about to start. The bulldozer was preparing the pit for the trucks to run their enormous tires through the slippery mud. I stood by the guardrail and waiting impatiently for the trucks to start coming, and I wished that I could be the one running a truck through there instead. The crowd was getting rowdy and it seemed like they had been waiting all day for this event. One after the other, Chevrolets, Dodges, Fords, you name it were running through the pit. The mud would spray up in the sky like 4th of July fireworks, and you had to watch out because you would get splattered if you didnt. It soon got dark and the air again cooled off, but the night sky was so pretty with all of the stars shining. The Baldy McGreggor Band was performing a bunch of classic and southern rock songs, and they really rocked. They sang some Lynyrd Skynrd, Tom Petty, Hank Williams, and all of the good songs to get down to on a Saturday night. The crowd was really into the band and everyone was singing and dancing. The night finally got old, and it was time for me to hit the road. I was very tired, but satisfied with the shots that I had gotten. Bodatious was funner than I had imagined, and I would love to go back whether making images or just going to have a good time.
Steve, you make a very good point about today's young fans. Although the young fans of stock car racing are still very much into it, the numbers continue to dwindle. Part of it is the "boring" events put on by NASCAR. I was sitting in the hospital with my uncle a few weekends ago and there was one of the events you described on tv Saturday. Every nurse and aide that came in the room stopped to watch a few minutes of that event. The Cup race was on Sunday and we were watching that and only ONE nurse who came in looked up at the tv. She made a comment about how she used to like to watch but the races were too boring now. She was probably in her 40s. NASCAR needs to respond to the fans, fans like those of us here. They are starting to, maybe, we will see.
-- What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.
