Robby Gordon’s Stadium Super Trucks Series: Awesome thing or awesomest thing?

We haven't seen Robby Gordon much around the ol' track this year, and this is a major reason why: he's launching Robby Gordon's Stadium Super Trucks Series in 2013. It's a whole new offroading experience: offroading in a stadium. (What? There aren't any roads in a stadium.)

"Stadium racing helped Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears and myself launch our careers," Gordon said in a promotional stop this week. "SST offers attractive racing venues, remarkable track designs, substantial purse, and opportunity for network TV a lot like NASCAR because you can visualize the whole track."

The series will kick off next year with a 10-race slate to include stops in Los Angeles and San Diego. Each race will be a two-day event, featuring qualifying, heat racing and showdowns as the sun sets on Saturday night. Both Bigfoot trucks and SSTs, featuring stock parts and 600-hp engines, will race in various events. Drivers will draw numbers at each track, so they won't race the same truck each race.

Gordon noted that each race will have a $60,000 purse, with money going to the top 3 finishers, and the overall series champion will pocket a cool $500,000.

With its fan-friendly angle, SST is clearly looking to fill the "NASCAR doesn't care about us" niche in the hearts of racing fans. And given Gordon's perpetual outsider status, he could well be onto something. Starting a new race series in this economic climate seems borderline insane, but then "borderline insane" could be the title of Gordon's biography. We'll be watching this one closely.