# Racing: any mode of transportation not raced? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** racing-auto-boat\ **Created:** [November 4, 2021, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806 "2021-11-04T18:52:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/1 "2021-11-04T18:52:08Z")
Is there any form of transportation that is not raced? OK, spaceships are not raced (and don’t bring up the Space Race, that’s not the kind of racing I’m talking about) and neither are airliners. At least not officially, but if you google for \>\>airliner race\<\< you will come up with some videos of, I assume, informal races between airliners. So depending on your definition, even airliners are raced. Is there any other non-raced form of transportation? ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/2 "2021-11-04T18:54:04Z")
Elevators Submarine Bathyspheres Freefall Cablecars Ski lifts ??? ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/3 "2021-11-04T18:57:36Z")
Airplanes on treadmills? Men shot out of cannons? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/4 "2021-11-04T19:03:26Z")
There are surely lots of informal _ad hoc_ races of virtually all human conveyance. I’ve never personally seen or heard of unicycle racing or skateboard racing. But no doubt they’ve been done many times. I can’t imagine _sanctioned_ tank racing (e.g. M1 Abrams) has ever been done. But I can’t rule out that a few servicemen somewhere screwed around and raced a pair of them. Would seem to be risky behavior – with potentially heavy penalties for those involved – but I wouldn’t know personally. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/5 "2021-11-04T19:05:00Z")
Moving walkways? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/6 "2021-11-04T19:06:30Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Submarine [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/o-XUfpRzxhY/maxresdefault.jpg "International Submarine Races 2019") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-XUfpRzxhY) > [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Airplanes on treadmills? First one to take off wins? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/7 "2021-11-04T19:06:45Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Elevators We did informal “elevator races” all the time in the dorms in college, though I suspect that there is not a sanctioned elevator racing league. > [@](#): > > Submarine There was absolutely submarine racing in the Milwaukee area in the 1950s – the teenagers in _Happy Days_ used to drive out to a secluded area to watch it. (OK, maybe not, but they used the term “watching the submarine races” as a euphemism for going to “lover’s lane” to make out.) ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/8 "2021-11-04T19:08:11Z")
Pretty sure the days of racing locomotives are over. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/9 "2021-11-04T19:12:35Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > Pretty sure the days of racing locomotives are over Yes, but they used to be raced, so I rule that they aren’t an answer. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/10 "2021-11-04T19:19:49Z")
“funicular racing” only has 391 Google results, none of which appear to be about funicular racing so I’m pretty sure that’s not a thing and also not really a thing that, logistically, could happen. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/11 "2021-11-04T19:22:27Z")
**Modification of the question:** each of the two racing vehicles must have a human pilot/driver/operator controlling their speed independently of the other. So things like elevators, ski lifts, cablecars, and moving walkways are out. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/12 "2021-11-04T20:17:35Z")
Tunnel Boring Machines ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/13 "2021-11-04T21:06:37Z")
[The 2021 Not-a-Boring Competition](https://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/hyperloop/competition#block-bean-grid-featured-design-elements) > Teams will compete to bore a 30-meter tunnel with a cross-sectional area of 0.2 square meters (equivalent to a circle with a 0.5-meter diameter). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/14 "2021-11-04T21:31:45Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > I can’t imagine _sanctioned_ tank racing (e.g. M1 Abrams) has ever been done. But I can’t rule out that a few servicemen somewhere screwed around and raced a pair of them. Knowing my cousin, who was a tank commander in both Iraq and Afghanistan, there’s zero chance that he never raced his vehicle. I don’t think he’s ever in his life used any form of transportation at anything less than its maximum possible speed. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/15 "2021-11-04T21:36:50Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Bathyspheres You mean bathyscaphe, since the Bathysphere was a one-of-a-kind, non-self-propelled diving ball. Bathyscaphe would be an answer, I believe. > [@kanicbird](#): > > Freefall Not counting inside orbiting spacecraft, the main occurances of extended freefall are in the first part of a parachute jump. I imagine that there’s been many informal races by chutists to see who can get to the landing zone first. So I don’t think this one is an answer. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/16 "2021-11-04T21:41:16Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Bathyscaphe would be an answer, I believe. But just once, for 20 minutes, in 1960. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/17 "2021-11-04T22:36:46Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > First one to take off wins? I mean that would just depend on which is the faster treadmill, right? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/18 "2021-11-05T00:26:31Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > Moving walkways? Oh yes, they’ve been raced. Not formally, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/19 "2021-11-05T00:29:43Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > unicycle racing or skateboard racing. Unicycle, I’ve seen. Skateboarding, I have not. However, I bet they have timed events with one board at a time, like a gymkhana or autocross, but not wheel-to-wheel. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2021, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806/20 "2021-11-05T01:21:38Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > Skateboarding, I have not. Skatercross [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XYBwwl2pVH0/maxresdefault.jpg "Skatercross 2016: FULL BROADCAST | World of X Games") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYBwwl2pVH0) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racing-any-mode-of-transportation-not-raced/953806.md?page=2)