The 2008 Summer Olympics are underway in China and with all the sports featured at the event I wonder if automobile racing will ever be included in the games?

So many other sports are given the opportunity to be showcased at the event, like basketball, baseball, aquatics, gymnastics, tennis and many more. And as sporting has changed over the years, new sports have been added.

Although it's not yet a part of the games, motorcycle racing is a recognized sport by the olympic committee. So could automobile racing become a part of the Olympic summer games?

I think drag racing could easily be included in the games as far as event management is concerned. Road course racing could easily be executed as well, but oval racing may prove challenging.

I guess maybe cost and time committment could be the limiting factors to including racing in the Olympics. It would be hard for teams to develop an Olympic program simultaneously while running a racing schedule. The cost to develop a car and transport it to the event would be outrageous too. Unless the Olympic committee adopted a practice like IROC did in the States where uniform cars were developed for the racers.

If that were the case maybe the sport could be used to develop and showcase more of the amateur racing talent that is out there.

What do you think?