Want to race 60-mph electric scooters? Soon there'll be a series for that

Electric mobility scooters like those from Bird, Lime, Uber and Lyft are either super convenient means of last-mile transportation or a blight on the face of your fair city, depending on who you ask. Either way, they have become pretty damned popular since their introduction a couple of years ago.

Given that popularity, I suppose it was inevitable that someone would try to create a racing series around them, but I will admit to being surprised that it took so long. The eSkootr Championship dropped a very, shall we say, stylized promo video on its Twitter on Tuesday promoting the upcoming series, but what exactly is it all about?

The series is the brainchild of motorsport entrepreneur Hrag Sarkissian and Khalil Beschir, a Formula One broadcaster who will serve as CEO and COO, respectively. Sarkissian and Beschir are also partnering with Formula E racer Lucas Di Grassi and former F1 racer Alex Wurz, who will serve as sustainability and safety consultants.

"In creating the [eSkootr Championship], we wanted to celebrate the concept of mobilizing cities and liberating people who have been trapped within a transport system that no longer properly works," Beschir said in a statement. "By aligning that with a new category of motorsport -- one that works for both participants and audience -- we feel we can accelerate a collective conversation about mobility that will take us far into the future."

The racing itself will be done on specialized electric scooters capable of doing over 60 miles per hour and which will be priced such that the series will be a relatively affordable way to get into motorsport. The series expects to recruit its rider talent from the ranks of racing drivers, cyclists, skateboarders, snowboarders, motorcyclists and esports racers.

The series expects to have its first race in 2021, but while the company's press release says that the races will be held in "major cities," it doesn't specify which ones.