Auto-racing fans should get used to the word Gymkhana, which according to Ken Block will soon blossom into a popular form of motor sports competition in North America.

"I'd like to see Gymkhana Grid become a serious series in the next year or two, one that has multiple races nationwide," he said of a series that will launch in early December. "Our goal with the Gymkhana Grid series is to make this motor sport bigger here, with an American flair -- more smoke, more power, more speed."

Gymkhana is a Hindi term used to describe a sport that tests the ability of competitors to negotiate a pre-designed route boasting a complex design. As a motor sport it's essentially a cross between rally-car racing and drifting, featuring absurdly tight corners and sideways driving on steeply-banked turns.

"What I do is actually more like Gymkhana on steroids," Block said, in reference to his wildly popular Gymkhana videos, which showcase the driver in a dizzying display of car-handling and provides viewers with a faint -- extra emphasis on the term faint -- perspective of what it's like to be behind the wheel of a souped-up rally car.

Block, a rally-racing star and co-founder of DC Shoes, knew he was onto something when the "Gymkhana Practice" video he released in 2008 went viral on the Internet.

"I honestly am just blown away that people are so interested and like these videos so much," he said.

Gymkhana races are held outside the United States, notably Japan. Block will stage the first U.S. competition, the Gymkhana Grid Ken Block Invitational, on Dec. 3 and 4 at Irwindale Speedway in Southern California.

The idea for a competitive race series came about because of the success of the videos.

Block's second Gymkhana video installment, a DC infomercial with a much stronger effort put into its production, made Advertising Age magazine's list of top 10 viral ads of all-time. Before the Sept. 14 release of the third installment -- in two parts -- Block's videos had been viewed more than 70 million times.

The latest, "Gymkhana Three, Part 2; Ultimate Playground; l'Autodrome, France," has been viewed by about 9 million people since the Sept. 14 release.

Presumably, its audience became duly inspired for their work commutes. The stunts "are without a doubt the craziest stuff I have ever attempted behind the wheel," Block said. "We knew in order to out-do the previous films, we'd really have to take it to the next level."

Did Block achieve his goal? Give the videos a look and judge for yourself.