Indoor ATV racing vs. Outdoor ATV racing

When you talk about ATV racing, you often imagine mud-splattered faces, angry scratches on ATVs and riders, loud roaring of the engines emitting from the hard-driven ATV and veils of tree branches outdoors. While it’s fascinating to race an ATV out in the wild, the bad thing is that you don’t always want your kids to go through a tough time wrestling with wild animals and Mother Nature in a bad mood. So, while it’s perfectly fine for the adults to go ATV racing, the kids and teens lose out because they don’t get as many chances to race among their friends or compare notes on how to improve their ATV racing skills. If you have kids and teens who are ATV enthusiasts, you’ll know what I am talking about. They’re often itching to show off a new move or showcase a new-found trick on an ATV and have nowhere to race but the backyard. Racing in the backyard is not only dangerous but also hardly legitimate in most states in the country. It would be OK if you had kind neighbors who understand your family’s fascination and obsession with ATV racing. If you don’t, your life as a parent is going to be a rough one.

That is why when I heard that ATV racing was moved from outdoors to indoors, I popped a champagne bottle in celebration! In October 2007, it all started with the ATV EnduroCross which was held in Lazy E Arena in Oklahoma. The event was organized, managed, promoted and produced by Pro-Motion Motorsports which is stranger to the ATV racing scene.

The first question that went through my mind when I heard about how ATV racing has been taken indoors is this….the noise? The danger? Part of the thrill of racing an ATV or watching ATV racing is in watching how the ATV racers overcome the many well-planned obstacles (and how they screw up as well, I admit!). And since the excitement of watching ATV racing is derived from watching these ATV racers handle obstacles, how exciting would it be to watch ATV racing without all those difficulties? Wouldn’t racing indoors be less challenging, hence, less fun to watch? Well, accordingly, this is not the case.

Since indoor ATV racing gives the organizers more control over how the track is designed and how and where the obstacles are placed, the flexibility will make ATV racing indoors no less challenging than it would be outdoors. To the organizers of such ATV racers, being given the chance to design and construct their very own ATV racing course is like a dream come true. “It’s up to the team’s imagination how we want to make the ATV race course. And the ATV riders are at our mercy”, says one organizer. Come to think of it, that’s kind of true. The indoor ATV racing course would be like an empty canvas and the designers of the ATV race course have complete control over the difficulty level. How enticing!

Another thing is this…racing outdoors is a messy affair. With indoor ATV racing, you can plan where to put your logs, rocks, boulders, water, hills and valleys. You can decide where on the race track would it be wide and where it would be narrow. You can decide where on the ATV race course would there be holes so huge you can fit a truck in it. People who watch ATV races outdoors can tell you that watching a race outdoors is tiring and tedious (although very fun). During summer months, you’ll want to curse at the unforgiving weather. During rainy seasons, you’ll be soaked right down to your bones. And if you bring kids along, you’ll have a pretty tough time trying to get them to stop whining about going home and crying because they’re hungry.

With indoor ATV racing, all those problems are eliminated. In fact, with an indoor ATV race course, you can include concession stands, activity areas for little kids, nice and clean bathrooms, catering, full service bar and whatever else your mind can come up with to make the audiences’ experiences more comfortable and enjoyable.

I don’t know about you but I can’t wait for the next indoor ATV race so that I can book my tickets early. I’ll let you know soon when I catch wind of one.

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