Who are the craziest racers/showmen

We had a discussion at work yesterday about the perception of who is crazier for what they do. It started with our profession, electricians, and then progressed to cars and motorcycles. Here is what we came up with. For cars, the people that seem super human or just plain crazy are the rally and hill climb guys. I like an adrenaline rush as much as the next guy but going through the woods at 100 MPH or up Pikes Peak at speed just doesn't even sound fun. Then you have the FMX guys and other extreme sports outdoing each others tricks, on mega ramps. Travis Pastrana and his crew are out of their minds. So who do you think is the looniest?

In particular, the guys from Nitro Circus. Jumping between multi-storey building rooftops on kids' tricycles might be the most dangerous thing I've seen filmed in color.

imgon wrote: So who do you think is the looniest?

GRM post whores

The guy on the right.

^Good choice, but I would've linked a pic from a street circuit. Note the wall on the right.

Another:

Man, when I was a kid, sidecar racing was a staple of Wide World Of Sports. That and Figure-8 racing. I miss those days.

No other sporting event I've seen can compare with the Isle of Man TT. It's amazing they can sling a leg over with cajones that big.

At least rally cars have cages, harnesses and well....metal around them. All the TT guys have is courage....and lots of it.

Red Bull seems to sponsor a lot on the showman side of things

How did they get so big anyway? That stuff is gross

oldtin wrote: How did they get so big anyway? That stuff is gross

It gives you a big hit of caffeine more efficiently than coffee, and most importantly, it's extremely expensive.

They got so big because they pushed high-caffeine drinks into regular stores. They weren't so easy to find before.

I think Isle of Man TT has had something like ~150 deaths in it's ~110 years of existance. There arent many other races out there that average 1.5 deaths per race over that kind of time span.

Irish Road Racing

It's like the Isle of Man except it's not a time trial... it's actual racing.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/BzWf-6UzQUA

https://www.youtube.com/embed/LU-ynRoqDEs

Yeah, I don't know. When I had the meter on my house replaced, I asked the guy how he shuts down the power from the pole. He said he didn't, it's just a matter of knowing what not to touch.

F-That. I'll throw myself through the forest at 100+ mph any day over that.

Showmen? That title doesn't have anything to do with how you race, but presentation.

I would say Dennis Anderson and Grave Digger might top the list given my criteria.

I agree rally racers are completely insane, but I think the navigators are more nuts. They're strapped into a machine flying over all kinds of terrain, trying to read and talk to the driver at the same time. Then there's the Nitro Harley bunch. If you've ever seen these guys race, you know there's a whole different breed of stupid, insane bravery.

In reply to MadScientistMatt:

Those guys are a bit touched

Huckleberry wrote: Irish Road Racing It's like the Isle of Man except it's not a time trial... it's actual racing. https://www.youtube.com/embed/BzWf-6UzQUA https://www.youtube.com/embed/LU-ynRoqDEs

I drove up Pikes Peak before it got completely paved. It was nerve wracking going slow in a Chevy on gravel.

John Force is a nut job - is that what you're asking?

ncjay wrote: I agree rally racers are completely insane, but I think the navigators are more nuts. They're strapped into a machine flying over all kinds of terrain, trying to read and talk to the driver at the same time. Then there's the Nitro Harley bunch. If you've ever seen these guys race, you know there's a whole different breed of stupid, insane bravery.

I would try this with glee!

This would stain my leathers!

This was a breeze

This was a little more stimulating

https://www.youtube.com/embed/WTW7uNXmRz0?ecver=2

The people over at Nitro Circus are definitely the craziest.

As much as Travis and the Nitro Circus guys do incredible tricks/stunts, I now change my vote for craziest bikers to the Irish Road racers. They make the Isle of Mann riders look tame. That is some special kind of crazy mixed in with a huge set of kahones to go 200 MPH on narrow streets with spectators and other riders all around you. Talk about no margin for error. I can't imagine bouncing of the curbing at 30 MPH never mind at speed and recovering.

Don't forget the Baja racers who do the same thing in full-size trophy trucks through little Mexican towns... BJ Baldwin is definitely the showman king of the trucks at the moment with his recoil video series but Robb Gordon got much of it started.

There's too many nutso racers out there in too many disciplines to narrow down who is the craziest. Put up an eastern European indoor trials rider against any of the three crew members slinging a Kamaz through the desert in the Dakar rally, and tell me who is crazier...

I'd have to say that the craziest racers are the ones who ran the Dakar rally, on motorcycles, back when it went through parts of Africa engaged in civil war. Land mines and armed soldiers make the hazards of narrow streets and tight corners look tame.

The craziest racers are all dead. Tazio Nuvolari used to deliberatey pop the beads on his solid wheels so that when he came off the corner they would roll back on and give him some added push.