Racing for Gold

I suppose that every four years during the Summer Olympics it's inevitable that some gearhead proposes making motor racing a part of the Games. What I never knew is that there once was a serious proposal to do just that. Eddie Gossage is the man in charge of Texas Motor Speedway, home to NASCAR and IRL races. When Dallas was in the running to host the 2012 Games, Gossage floated the idea of making motor racing an exhibition sport. Dallas's bid didn't win, so the proposal was dropped with a lot of details to work out.

The most frequent problem that those who makes such proposals is what kind of racing would you have? Oval or road course? Dirt or asphalt? What about rallying, time trialing, or (dare I say it) autocross? To be honest, I don't see that as a huge impediment. After all, most Olympic sports have multiple disciplines. Swimmers have different strokes and distances, while gymnasts compete as a team and as individuals in both overall and individual apparatus competitions. Surely it wouldn't be a deal breaker to have a few different racing disciplines represented. The better question is exactly where would the cars come from? Spec cars (the same for every driver) might make sense, but what about forcing each country to build a car for its drivers? Also, would we want Olympic gold decided by the failure of a 5-cent part, as sometimes happens in racing? I'm not so sure.

Regardless of the fate of Olympic racing, there is one place where you can see drivers compete for gold, silver, and bronze in the not to distant future: the SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by Kohler. The Olympics of amateur motorsports take place this year from September 20-26 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course north of Columbus. If you're a race fan and you're anywhere near the area, you owe it to yourself to check it out.