If you are like me, then the chances you pay attention to the sport of curling more than once every four years are pretty slim. Sure, curling looks like fun and actually may be an Olympic sport I could reasonably train myself to compete in, but by the time I think about exploring the world of curling, the Olympics wrap up and the sport escapes my mind for the next three and a half years.

But the sport of curling has a passionate following, and sometimes the fans of the sport find new ways to play it.

In Yekaterinburg, Russia, curling enthusiasts are playing the game on a whole new level by using actual automobiles, or what is left of them, as the curling stones. A team gives the car a good push and a driver inside works the steering wheel to give the otherwise useless car some direction down the ice rink.

Here’s the video, via The Telegraph:

The cars have been stripped of all normal necessities like an engine, gears and other parts that could weigh the vehicle down, which makes the car easier for the team to push. Teams receive nine tries to shoot their cars down the ice. The three closest to the center of the target earns the points, juts like in real curling.

And yes, the idea for this came from watching cars spin out of control on black ice in Russia.

“In autumn and spring, when there is black ice, something like auto curling happens on the roads,” tournament organizer Galina Kirkach said to the Associated Press. “Once my friends brought me to go curling, and this reminded me of that [black ice]. And an idea came to me to change stones for cars.”

This is apparently the first car-curling tournament of its kind, but if it takes off the way it seems to be starting, maybe we’ll see this form of the sport in an upcoming Olympics. Or maybe this will inspire the car Olympics.

So, what other Olympic sports would you like to see played using cars? I’d be down for some car soccer, sort of like real life Rocket League, a soccer-style video game using cars as the players.

[The Telegraph]

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.