What Is The Sport

This sport gives fans all the unique features of all other forms of racing rolled into one. Like many events, the sport has timed qualifying sessions to determine their starting positions. Besides a prominent grid position, championship points are offered for the fastest qualifier so it benefits the driver to put his best foot to the floor. Having the track all to oneself for a couple of laps is fun also. Once racing, short course is a driver’s sport where one has to use all their facilities 100% from start to finish, this while getting dirt sprayed into their face and physically feeling the pressure from the competition. We are talking Wham-Bam, bouncing off one another, racing action. Nowhere else can fans see high horsepower vehicles flying over man-made obstacles in such a confined arena. Similar to dirt track circle racing this sport gives fans all the racing action right in front of them as the average racetrack is approximately one mile in length, and twists it back and forth in front of the grandstands. Fans enjoy the action as the racers are tightly packed together as they slide side-by-side around corners, or, more often than not, better expressed as rubbin’-is-racin’ due to the tight confines. Although the “rubbbin” does get a little rough causing some to compare it to a demolition derby at the end of some races. It is common for trucks to lose fenders, hoods, and even the door panels to the aggressive competition. Although one could consider it a contact sport a Rough Driving Committee oversees the competition and if the competitors get to physical then the drivers will get black flagged sending them off the track where they must set in a designated penalty box. One thing is for sure is that it’s a drag race from corner to corner. Like road racing braking and cornering is a concern for the drivers. But unlike a road racer trying to finesse his machine around the corner, short course racers throw their rides sideways using as much as 900 HP while creating monstrous sprays of dirt through the corner. Once through a corner, both man and machine’s mettle are tested over some of the roughest sections of man-made whoop sections imaginable. The closest comparison to the high flying jumps in short course would be motorcycle racing’s Supercross where they jump 200-pound motorcycles while short course racers fly their 4000-pound machines over spectacularly similar jumps. And need I mention the out-of-this-world crashes that can happen to cause fiberglass body parts to fly off vehicles. If you are reading this then it is likely there is no need to sell you, as a short course fan, you know the fierce competition and dynamic entertainment that draws fans year after year, event after event, in this fascinating sport.