Illustration: Nikko Lencek-Inagaki; Photo: Courtesy FireballRun
The intersection of motorsports and queer culture doesn't happen terribly often. Actually, it's only happened once so far that I can think of: the Rainbow Rampage this past June. But, ever on the look-out for possible trends in gay travel, when we found out that the Fireball Run Transcontinental Race and Rally is heavily recruiting qualified gay teams to compete this October, it made us slam on the brakes.
One gay motosport festival is a fluke and two is an interesting coincidence, but three will be a full-fledged trend. Of course, Rainbow Rampage -- which kicks up it's well-oiled heels again with a drive through California at the end of September -- is less engine revving and beer guzzling than scenic tour, so it may not fully count.
Fireball Run, on the other hand, is dieseled-up competitive sports, even if it did boast the first openly gay rally team in motorcross history last year. This year, the 9-day cross-country rally is pushing even harder for diversity -- LGBT teams, all-women teams and people of color -- in addition to continuing it's "Recover America’s Missing Children" program, which assigns each team a missing child to try to help locate while traversing the U.S.
If you'd rather travel the leisure and luxe route, however, check out the bodies from the best auto shows and our top picks for road trips in California, Australia/New Zealand and Switzerland!
Note: LGBT teams interested in joining Fireball Run will be offered a discounted media entry rate and are welcome to secure their own sponsers.
