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THE SCALE OF WHAT THEY BUILT
The numbers behind the Polaris activation at Fanatics Fest are genuinely hard to process. The track spans 650 linear feet, built directly above the 7 subway line, using roughly 200 tons of dirt hauled in across 25 truck loads and 5 tons of concrete. Construction took 7 days, teardown takes 4, and the total labor across the SixSpeed crew, Polaris team, and other partners adds up to 2,728 combined man hours.
Twelve different Polaris vehicles are on-site across the footprint, including nine off-road vehicles, a snowmobile, a Slingshot, and a military vehicle, running across a 0.7-acre space with a 742-foot perimeter. Riders are expected to complete roughly 1,000 laps over the course of the event, which adds up to about 123 miles, or approximately 21 loops around Central Park, generating 734 horsepower on track at any given time.
WHY POLARIS SHOWED UP HERE
I spoke with Holly Space, Vice President of Brand and Powersports Marketing for Polaris, about why a 70-year-old company known for work and outdoor recreation chose to build something this ambitious inside Fanatics Fest. The answer traces back to gaming. "We have been partnering with Call of Duty since 2024, and you really get a virtual experience of our products in their games," she said. "Call of Duty started partnering with Fanatics Fest this year and gave us an opportunity to come along."
The fit made sense immediately once she described the audience. "Fanatics Fest really is this center of culture, celebrities, athletics, gaming, and powersports. We see a lot of synergies, just the mindset of the types of people that are doing these activities or playing games or on a court." Polaris is betting that the person invested enough to build a virtual off-road setup in a video game is the same person who'd get real value from doing it in person.
THE ARGUMENT THAT ACTUALLY MATTERS
Here's where the conversation moved past brand strategy into something more relevant to anyone thinking seriously about fitness. Space made a case for outdoor recreation as a category most people underrate entirely. "When you think about outdoor recreation as a whole, it is such a big element of fitness. A lot of times, people miss what the outdoors can do for them physically and mentally. It only takes 10 minutes outside to boost your mood, lower your stress, and change your demeanor on things."
That's not a marketing line. It tracks with a growing body of research on outdoor time and stress regulation, and it reframes something like off-roading as more than an adrenaline hobby. Piloting a side-by-side over uneven terrain demands core stability, reaction time, grip strength, and sustained focus, the same physical qualities you're training for in a gym, just applied outdoors with an actual objective instead of a rep count.
THE ACCESS PROBLEM, SOLVED
The obvious barrier is ownership. Side-by-sides and off-road vehicles aren't cheap, and most people aren't going to buy one to test whether they enjoy it. Polaris built around that specific gap. "If you are in Manhattan this weekend, come join us," Space said, "but we have what's referred to as Polaris Adventures. At adventures.polaris.com, you can find over 250 outfitters across the US that give you really safe, memorable rental experiences. It's a really easy way to go experience this without having to own."
That's the actual takeaway buried underneath the impressive build numbers. You don't need a mud-covered Razor sitting in your garage to get something real out of this. You need one weekend, one outfitter, and a willingness to treat time outdoors as an actual fitness input instead of just a weekend distraction.
Most people mentally file off-roading under recreation, somewhere between a hobby and a vacation activity, not fitness. The 200 tons of dirt and the 734 horsepower are the hook. The real story is that ten minutes outside changes your stress chemistry, sustained off-road driving demands real physical control, and the barrier to trying it is a rental, not a purchase. The category deserves more credit than it gets.
