Fast And Furious: Amateur Motorheads in Iraq

Interestingly the winners of the races don't get any prizes. Everyone here is in it for the glory and the love of motorsports. Some of the races also involve betting but Salem says he avoids those.

Salem says the Jadiriyah venue, which has an incomplete motor racing track, is just about the only place in Baghdad where this sort of event could be held. Motor races were held here before 2003 but there was no official body that ran the races. Some earlier races were sponsored by Uday, the son of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. However since then the construction of new buildings has shrunk the size of the racing area even further. It is only about 400 meters long now.

The most recent batch of semi-official racing first started here in 2011 and was organised by an Iraqi motorsports club. The events have proven so popular that they have diversified and grown. Now there is a motocross race, special burnout events, a gathering of BMW owners as well as events focussed more on motorcycles.
But Baghdad's car fanciers are more than just drag racers and different motoring events seem to be being held on the Iraqi capitals streets on an almost weekly basis now.

At the end of March a large group of SUV owners organized a parade of their vehicles through central Baghdad, to celebrate recent victories against the extremist group known as the Islamic State. The motorcade drove through Baghdad in long lines, with their car stereos blasting nationalistic songs and the passengers waving Iraqi flags.