The Dakar Rally is dangerous for both spectators and participants. Participants for what they're doing below and spectators for what they're doing above. Danger's fun to look at.

NASCAR driver Robby Gordon built his own custom Hummer for the backbreaking Dakar rally. Yet when it got stuck on a boulder during the second day, Gordon turned to an unlikely tow vehicle — a local Fiat 147. UPDATED

As far as we know, this is the only official, Diesel-equipped VW that can pull wheelies. Of course, it's the only one that can pull stoppies too, as evidenced by the gallery of Dakar practice action photos below.

X-Raid's rally team worked up this Mini Countryman to fly over, as well as traverse, the blinding white dunes of Argentina's Fiambala, the vast Atacama Desert and the death-defying descent into Iquique in northern Chile. It's the 2011 Dakar, Mini-style.

Anyone else tired of press conferences and soggy croissants? Here's a mega-gallery of action from the 2010 Silk Way Rally, the precursor to The Dakar that runs 3,000 miles across Russia from St. Petersberg to The Black Sea. Nostrovia!

Motorsports is exciting because it's inherently unsafe and depending on the track, it can get even more... exciting. These are your picks for the world's ten most dangerous racetracks.

The Dakar Rally is full of insane trucks and motorcycles crossing rough terrain and even crazier support trucks keeping them operational.

It must be hard to be a retired Formula One driver. David Coulthard just visited the KAMAZ HQ in Moscow and was forced to hoon their Dakar race truck in the snow. Later, he also won a game of bingo.

The 2010 Dakar Rally ended last Saturday, and despite virtually no U.S. cable coverage, we've got video of all fourteen stages from Argentina's lowlands to the brutal Atacama desert. In total, 98 minutes of rally awesomeness. Suck it, productivity.

The 2010 Dakar (née Paris-Dakar) Rally is well under way. The race began on January 1st and is scheduled to end on the 16th, but a flood of amazing images have already hit the wire services. Gallery time? You betcha.

The Dakar is on its eighth day of its second year in South America. It's simultaneously the most interesting race in the world, yet the hardest to cover. Luckily, we've got an amazing set of images straight from Argentina.

The 2010 Dakar Rally will put bikes, quads, cars and trucks to the test through 5,600 miles of South American terrain and we've got the official route map. Fiambalá here we come! [Motorbiker.org via MahindraPlanet]

Given never ending concerns over Chinese quality, completing the punishing cross-continental Dakar Rally could send the right message. Both Greatwall and Geely are planning to enter the race as a proof-of-competency in vehicles that at least look like Pajeros. [ChinaCarTimes]

This year the Dakar Rally moved from its spiritual home in Africa to South America. That’s a good thing, as it resulted in more varied terrain, better racing and, most importantly, absolutely amazing photos.

If you were all bummed about Al Qaeda forcing the cancelation of the Dakar Rally, have no fear. Chile is here! The South American country has offered up their exceptionally long country for the marathon race. Chile is pointing out it has the required safety, infrastructure and geography to hold such an event (and…