Guide to Sports on Wheels

By Graphics Editor Hannah Bi, Staff Writer Alex Duan & Centerspread Editor Naisha Koppurapu

From roller skating to cycling and racing, wheel-based sports have taken the recreational and competitive world of sports by storm, packed with pure adrenaline and speed. 

Auto Racing 

Racing automobiles for competition has existed since the birth of gasoline-powered cars, catering towards car fanatics and adrenaline junkies. Originally created in 1895, the sport was invented to showcase the reliability and practicality of cars, since many people weren’t completely open to the possibly unsafe technological advancement. As ancient as the sport itself, the oldest racing event still standing is the 24 Hour Le Mans, a 24-hour long endurance test entirely dependent on which car travels the farthest distance. From F1 to NASCAR, a variety of races have gained universal popularity, each specializing in their own type of automobile and testing different aspects of driving. Monster truck racing is a common form of entertainment across the US which focuses on performances and car tricks. Demolition derby follows a similar, performance-based format, where multiple drivers crash their vehicles into each other aiming to be the last car standing.

Scootering 

Since it was brought to stores in 1999, the foldable kick scooter has quickly gained traction, attracting the attention of kids and teens around the world. Originally made to be light and foldable for easy transportation, scootering became a popular pastime and eventually morphed into a performance sport based on freestyle tricks. However, since the original structure of scooters makes performing tricks difficult, they became sturdier over time, transforming from a simple pastime into a hardcore sport. The largest scooter company, Razor, eventually decided to form their own team of stunt scooter riders in the early 2000s, which fed into the scooter craze of the time. The International Scooter Association (ISA), today known as the International Scooter Federation (ISF), created the first scootering world championships in 2012, a now annual competition judging hundreds of competitors based on difficulty, execution, style, variety, and use of the park.

Roller Skating

Roller skating covers a diverse arrangement of athletics like roller derby or jam skating. The activity features footwear with four wheels arranged side-by-side on the sole, offering speed and stability. Roller derby is a contact sport where two teams of five circle around an oval ring. The team jammer, or point-scoring skater,  races to pass all four of the opposing team’s blockers, who aim to physically obstruct the jammer, to secure victory. Jam skating, on the other hand, focuses on performance over physical competition, featuring intricate hip-hop footwork while blending gymnastics and breakdancing with rhythmic movements. Similarly, artistic roller skating also concentrates heavily on dance-like [elements], incorporating elements of figure skating and acrobatics into graceful performances. 

Inline Skating

Inline skates have transcended beyond the athletic community as well, and are often used by police and the military for law enforcement purposes. Originating in eighteenth century Europe, inline skating features footwear of 2-5 wheels arranged in a straight line along the sole. Although the sport was soon overtaken in popularity by quad skating, they saw a re-emergence in the 1980s when Minnesota brothers Scott and Brennan Olsen founded Rollerblade, launching their improved skates that drove a surge in the activity. One discipline of the sport, aggressive inline skating, peaked in the 90s, showcasing tricks and stunts in skateparks. Another sport, alpine skating requires athletes to navigate courses marked with gates, similar to the movements and techniques of alpine skiing. Roller soccer also features attributes of another sport, with two teams of five playing on a handball court.

Cycling

The first concept of a bicycle appeared in one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s sketches in the 16th century. However, bound by the material constraints of the time, the materials necessary for steel bicycle chains wouldn’t exist until the late 1880s when the “safety bicycle” was made with two equal-sized wheels, a chain, and a pedal. Now, pro cycling is a worldwide event, but it’s most popular in Europe. Europe’s three grand tours, where hundreds of contestants cover hundreds of miles across a European country in just days, are the most prestigious events in pro cycling. These major Grand Tour events include the Giro d’Italia, the Vuelta a Espana, and most famously, the Tour de France. These events are governed by the Unione Cycliste Internationale (UCI), a Swiss body that runs the three events along with many other events on the European tour such as the Mountain Bike World Series. 

Motorcycling

Motorcycles have come a long way since first being a variation of the bicycle with a gasoline tank strapped on it. Now, sport motorcycles can go faster than the fastest sports cars and are deeply entwined within American street culture. Motorcycles were developed in the late 19th century when a German inventor decided to detach the pedal and replace it with a gasoline-run internal combustion engine. In today’s sport, MotoGP is the crown jewel of professional rave motorcycling. With a format of 11 teams with 22 drivers total, drivers compete in racetracks with strictly regulated equipment, making many races come down to a unique combination of driver skill and technical marvel. They travel through the world, visiting different tracks to greet millions of fans while going 200+ miles per hour and turning tight corners. 

Skateboarding

Skateboarding was invented in California when people tried to emulate surfing on land, and it quickly became embedded within Los Angeles’s youth street culture. However, it’s now a much more mainstream sport. With the spread of skateboarding throughout the world, skating has even found its way into the Summer Olympics. It’s divided into street and park categories where the track emulates either a skate park or a street. Skaters perform tricks including ollies where skaters pop the behind of the board, flip tricks where skaters are flipping their boards midair, and grinds on corners and railings. Out of the olympics, a young phenom from japan named  Yuto Horigome is the only skater to defend a gold medal twice in Tokyo and in Paris and is expected to pull off the win again in the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles — where the sport was invented.