Off-road racing
A Mitsubishi Pajero racing in mud in Bulgaria
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| Characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Mixed gender | Yes |
| Type | Outdoor |
| Presence | |
| Olympic | No |
| Paralympic | No |
Off-road racing is a format of racing where various classes of specially modified vehicles (including cars, trucks, motorcycles, and buggies) compete in races through off-road environments.
Desert racing began in the early 20th century. An early racing sanctioning body in North America was the National Off-Road Racing Association (NORRA). The body was formed in 1967 by Ed Pearlman. The first event was a race across the Mexican desert, south-eastwards through most of the length of Baja California, originally from Ensenada to La Paz. The event was first called the Mexican 1000, and it later became known as the Baja 1000. The event is now sanctioned by SCORE International.
Most desert races are set up on government recreational land and have tracks that run anywhere from 25 to 1000 miles. Various classes of vehicles run a different amount of laps depending on the size of the engine or the set up of the suspension system. Currently, there are several smaller organizations which are growing quite rapidly in this scene. One of the most popular is the Best in the Desert series, which is known for the Vegas to Reno race (the longest off-road race in the US with the 2009 Vegas to Reno race measuring 1000 miles). Also popular is the Mojave Off-Road Racing Enthusiast series. Started in 1997 as a small family oriented race series, it has grown to nearly 200 per race. MORE uses tracks set up on desert land in the Barstow and Lucerne Valley regions of the Mojave Desert in California. Mojave Desert Racing series has drawn many competitors from the now defunct CORR races.
On August 14, 2010, a modified Ford Ranger pickup truck, racing in the MDR sanctioned "California 200", careened off the track into a group of spectators, killing eight, and raising questions about the future of offroad racing on public lands.
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Wikipedia