Earlier this year, right smack in the middle of the month of May, on a day located somewhere between Formula One‘s Miami Grand Prix, the NASCAR All-Star Race and the Indianapolis 500, I was with my family in Paris. We were strolling the aisles of a pop-up museum located in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, enveloped in the noise of construction as grandstands furiously rose along the banks of the River Seine ahead of the Summer Olympics, then still two months away.
This “Spot ’24” museum was dedicated to the sports that will either make their Olympic debuts in the streets and waters of France or are still new to the roster, including skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing, 3-on-3 basketball and breakdancing. One wall displayed the complete rundown of the 32 sports that will be in Paris, awarding a total 329 medals in everything from badminton and boxing to table tennis and taekwondo.
After reading that extensively exhaustive list, my daughter asked a very logical question and one that I have asked aloud every four years of life.
“Why isn’t auto racing in the Olympics? They have everything else.”
Just imagine it. While LeBron James and his NBA colleagues hoop it up, Simone Biles flies through the air, and Alexandre Lacazette leads the home team up and down the pitch, what if a red-white-and-blue-uniformed Kyle Larson was battling a Dutch-flag-draped Max Verstappen at Magny-Cours? Or Scott Dixon, his helmet decorated with the stars of New Zealand, running door-to-door with the Union Jack-painted machine of Lewis Hamilton, two motorsport GOATS fighting for the Turn 1 hole shot at Circuit Paul Ricard?
Close your eyes and picture the podium. Ryan Blaney wiping tears from his eyes, a gold medal around his neck as Old Glory is raised behind him and “The Star-Spangled Banner” plays, standing alongside silver medalist Álex Palou and bronze champion Lando Norris, the Spaniard and the Brit.
I mean, why are we not doing this?!
Two-driver teams representing nations from around the globe. F1 winners, Indy 500 champions, legends from stock cars, sports cars, super cars, rally cars, you name it, qualifying and racing identically prepared racing rides, run on…
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