I've said it before, but it bears repeating. The Dakar Rally is truly the "last great race". Aside from the romantic notion of a grand race across the desert, Dakar represents the ultimate test of man and machine. While the 24 Hours of Le Mans is about pace and endurance, Dakar is about nothing more than basic survival.

The unfortunate thing about Dakar is that until several years ago it never enjoyed a great deal of television. Due to the nature of the event few media outlets cover it "live". In the US we'll be treated to a single thirty-minute segments after each day's stage on cable channel Versus and a special recap show on Sunday Jan 21st at 7pm.

I started following the Dakar in 2003 when Volkswagen unveiled the first incarnation of the Racing Touareg. Since then I've seen a monumental struggle erupt between the German manufacturer and rival Japanese maker Mitsubishi. It also seems like coverage of the event continues to grow, along with its popularity. In my opinion the web coverage was become incredibly refined both through the official site Dakar.Com and the American cable channel Versus (formerly OLN). In case of the later the network has actually posted most of the video content from each day as well as a web-only feature direct from the European feed.

At any rate I'm off to read up on the stage recaps on the official site and watch a few more of the video highlights on Versus.

Update: This would turn out to not be true. Even before I could fully post this article the bebe (baby) started screaming out in pain because of her teeth. It would continue well into the night.