Race cars are brightly colored and ferociously loud, they might just be some of the most conspicuous machines ever built by mankind. Despite this, actually finding the places they race can be quite tough, particularly if you’re looking for amateur-level tracks and series. If you’ve decided you want to start racing, now you have to find local race tracks and racing events near you.

This is easier said than done. Many race tracks and series organizations have outdated, bad, and/or confusing websites. It’s really easy to miss out on events and tracks near you if you’re not actively looking for them. Here’s where to start.

MotorsportReg.com

If you’re going to sign up for a motorsports event, it’s most likely going to be handled through MotorsportReg.com. 

MotorsportReg is an awesome tool for racers and event organizers alike – it’s solely dedicated to helping people find, register for, and even plan motorsports events. It’s very popular and widely used for autocross, track days, club racing, and lots more.

Its default view will show a list of all events within 300 miles of you (better get used to traveling for motorsports!) and it has search functionality that lets you actively search for events.

It has a modern-minimalist user interface, which is easy to use but prevents it from being as robust as it could be. Tracks and organizations have their own pages with a list of upcoming and recent events. However, there are no master /venues/ or /organizations/ pages that allow you to browse and find ones near you, the only way to find them is through the events they are hosting.

At least once you’ve found a venue or organization, you can bookmark their page to see said list of events.

MotorsportReg also provides some infrastructure for event organizers, making it easy to do important organizational work like disseminating information, generating attendee lists, and collecting payment from registrants. Organizers will even create specific, “separate” events to facilitate volunteer registration for race days. Even some pro series like IndyCar handle volunteer registrations like this!

Unfortunately, there isn’t much oval racing representation on MotorsportReg. If ovals are what interest you, you’ll need to look elsewhere. More on that later. 

The paddock at Thompson Speedway during an SCCA weekend.

Local Car and Racing Clubs

There are a truckload of car and driving clubs out there that organize motorsports events. Just to name a few:

The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), the National Auto Sport Association, the Sports Car Driving Association (SCDA), the Vintage SCCA, the Vintage Sports Car Racing Association (SVRA), the BMW Car Club of America (BMWCCA), the Porsche Club of America (PCA), and the numerous-but-not-nationally-organized Miata clubs.

These types of clubs will often host events ranging from autocrosses to amateur road racing. 

Finding a club you like that hosts events you want to drive in, and participating in them regularly will be a good way to join “the community” and make some friends. This is an important part of enjoying any hobby to its fullest! 

Here’s what you should do:

Find some local regions’ websites either through a national club’s website, or by searching something like “Miata Club Chicago.” While many car club websites are very outdated looking, they will usually function fine and be updated regularly with club happenings if the club is in fact active. If they’re really good, they’ll have a calendar with information about upcoming events, complete with links to the MotorsportReg.com entry. 

Track-Finder Websites

There are a handful of websites run specifically for the purpose of helping you find local race tracks, including https://www.racingin.com/track/, https://www.getinthestands.com/, https://speedwaysonline.com/, https://www.thefoat.com/, https://www.fastspeedways.com/. There may be more, but these are the notable first-page search results.

These sites are all just okay. Without exception, they all have outdated or incomplete information. Some don’t appear to be updated regularly at all.

For example: GetInTheStands.com. I think this site is the best of these, the admins appear to update the site at least somewhat regularly. Plus, they have listings for all track types, paved ovals, dirt ovals, drag strips, and even kart circuits. It’s simple to use too, visit the state directory, select a state, and you’re taken to a page that lists tracks in that state. 

But that list of tracks may not be accurate. At time of writing this article, only three tracks are listed in Massachusetts: Whip City Speedway, Hillside Raceway, and Seekonk Speedway.

Whip City Speedway announced it was closing in 2011 and the only Hillside Raceway I can find evidence of is an RC track in New Hampshire. Seekonk Speedway, a short paved oval, happily does exist.

So only 1/3 of the site’s listings are accurate for MA, and it’s notably missing Palmer Motorsports Park, a 2.3-mile road course that opened in 2015. It’s the only road course in Massachusetts.

GetInTheStands.com has a form where tracks can be suggested. I will submit an update to the information for MA and see how long it takes for them to get back to me and update the site.

Anyways, this situation plays out across all of the track finder websites. While they’re useful for a first look, you can’t count on their information to be 100% reliable. You’ll need to confirm that tracks are still open and for any missing entries.

Compared to MotorsportReg.com, track finders (and the next method I’ll cover) are important for finding oval tracks. 

Thompmson Speedway Oval Infield
Thompson Speedway’s infield, in road course configuration.

Google Maps

Google Maps is the best place to find local race tracks that might be missing from GetInTheStands.com or another track finder.

Just open up Google Maps, zoom out to the region you want to search, and type in “race track.” This will return a list of all tracks with an active listing, along with some other motorsports-related businesses and locations. You can obviously search “oval race track” or “drag strip” if you want to look for something more specific.

If you’re looking for places to go kart racing, you’ll probably need to specifically search for “kart racing” or something similar. Unfortunately, Google Maps doesn’t make the distinction between proper kart racing circuits and amusement park style go-karts, so you’ll have to check each entry near you to see what type it is. 

Google Search Results for Kart Track
Castle Creek Adventure Land might have “karts,” but they’re not the kind we’re looking for!

Oval Track Websites

While road racing tracks host events run by many different organizations, the bread and butter of America’s short ovals are their own Friday and Saturday night racing series. 

So, if you want to go amateur oval racing, you’ll need to start at your local oval’s website. Check out the Sycamore Speedway (dirt oval) and Seekonk Speedway (paved oval) websites as examples. They both have a list of classes that race at their events and information for racers online, including rules for building a car and procedures for registration and tech inspection.

Screenshot of Seekonk Speedway's Rules Page
Seekonk speedway’s rules and registration information is publicly avaialable on their website.

This is probably why oval racing doesn’t make a big appearance on MotorsportReg right now. Most oval circuits have their own registration structure in place. Why fix what ain’t broke? 

Where do I start?

I think it’s nice to have a picture of racetracks near you to start. Use RacingIn.com/GetInTheStands.com and Google Maps to find local race tracks and racing clubs near you.

Then, depending on what type of racing you’re interested in doing, pick a local club or oval track you’re interested in participating with. Pour through their website and all the information they have, and do what they say to get involved!

(Obviously, there’s a lot of work to do between reading a website and getting on track but it’s outside of the scope of this article).

Lastly, try and frequent your local tracks as a spectator! Friday/Saturday night oval racing and club racing weekends at road courses provide tons of racing action at a pretty cheap price.

Spec Miatas among other club racers at Thompson Speedway.

It’s great fun, and you’re supporting the racers and organizations that make this hobby possible.