The last class i had in college i met a dude that was telling me of how he used to race a long time ago. He was probably in his late fifties early sixties. We got talking about cars and he told me about how he used to race when he was younger.

Im not talking about street racing, the races are legal and are done at race tracks. The car that he told me about was mostly stock, very small modifications performed on the car. They didnt even relocate the fuel cell, but i dunno if that was done back when he raced.

So what im getting at is where can i find information on these types of races? He said that was a fun thing to do and at the time really wasnt all that expensive. I would like to try something like that if somebody could point me in a direction.

 

The only thing I know of that will allow almost no mods to full mods is the scca. You can catch em in most of the bigger towns throughout the country all summer long. They used to race at a different location every weekend up here, turner field,road atlanta, several different fairgrounds. Most of the racing was time trail on a coned course, but all you needed was a car and a helmet, it would cost a about $20 a driver for three passes throughout the day.

Since your in Fla, there are several tracks down there, why not build a hobby car and race on sat night? You can take an old v-8 sedan and weld a cage in it,eng mods to rule books, fire suit/helmet, and trailer it there; great fun till you figure out you wanna go faster then you start building/buying late models and the cost goes through the roof.

 

This racing is very like very early NASCAR but it is typical dirt track racing of the 60s, 70's and early 80s. At the 1/2 mile dirt track near me, the "bomber" class was the cheap racing. The rules were simple and cheap. You generally took a big old car with very little value (Monte Carlos, Impalas, Galaxies, etc) and removed the interior, broke out or removed the windows and welded in a roll bar. The old cars didn't go very fast (worn out and stock) and were heavy enough to take a pounding so injuries were few. It was great fun to run and to watch but it sometimes looked like a demolition derby. They still have that racing here but they have added some safety improvements.

 

Try www.racingaroundamerica.com

Find a local oval track near you. They all have street stock or similar classes that have very low startup costs. Go to the track, buy a pit pass, and go talk to some of the racers. Almost all of them will want to talk to you about their racing and race cars.

 

Racing is only expensive once you decide that you want to be competitive. You can start out with low start up until you hooked.

 

^x2.. but be warned that you WILL get hooked and you WILL spend a LOT of $$$! trust me...

Around here we have a Nascar sanctioned track. We run Hornets (occasionally) - they are 4 bangers, stock with only some safety mods.

Thunderstocks - older v8s, same rules as hornets

Sportsman - same as above but you get away with more performance-wise

and Late Models - big $ "race cars"... basically all hand built with lots of mods. here's a link to one of the local tracks:

http://www.lacrossespeedway.com/

They race every sat night during season with some "special" events running fri nights or on sat nights (i.e. trailer race, bus race, jet car, etc).

We also have a dirt track 45 mins and 1.5 hrs away that i attend. Like I said, the "La Crosse" track (in West Salem) is Nascar sanctioned, meaning, Nascar bonuses

You should def. look into it if you have the $ and time. It'll take lots of both, not matter how many sponsors you have!

 

I helped a guy throw together a Celica for an SCCA car. I was going to put together a Saab 900 turbo for one, but didn't have the spare cash.
Be careful on what class you shoot for, things like tires, shocks, engine mods (including aftermarket intake and exhaust), and even windows can throw you into a class where you will not be competitive.
I would start out with an older RWD car, maybe something smaller like a Celica, Datsun B210, etc, that you can mod for fairly cheap.
Make sure you get an up-to-date rule book as well. It would really suck to build a car to last years rules, and get sent home.

 

Yup.


Yup yup


Yup yup yup.


Ok, enough yups. Been there, done that, and decided to use a nice little Ford-powered car as a <cough>cost containment<cough> measure as was doing driver education events (45+ road course track days wgi/nhis/lrp/etc) with an exotic.

Don't laugh at that Pinto, the lil Kent (Pinto) Ford engine does great when properly messaged to SCCA rules and when it only needs to pull a 1190 lbs package. Even sup'ed up Miatas and Subies do not stand a chance at being anywhere close to me in time trials.

 

So can you guys throw me a guestimation of how much it would cost to start up? Like other than the cost of the car what would i need to spend money on?

 

Check out the NASA as they have several spec classes where they keep the cars comparable and low cost. They use to have a VW Golf GTi class that had a cap of $5000 including the cost of the car. You could spend more, but if you were challenged and lost the challenge due to a rule violation your competitor could purchase your car for $5000. Kept people pretty honest. They have Spec Focus class if you want to stay with a Ford.

 

Let's not forget about what might be the most exciting racing of all...figure eight!

 

If you check out your local dirt track you might be able to find a "pure stock" style class. There are those in upstate ny and all you need is a car with a cage and you race on dirt...where racing is supposed to take place.

 

It all depends on the league, the type of vehicle chosen to race, and how competitive you choose to be. It can be a few thousand (tires, fluids, food, etc) to millions of dollars a year (multi-sets of $4k+ tires per event, $8+/gallon gas, tweak fluids, custom aero packages/development, and too many etc's to mention).

Frankly, start small and LEARN driving skills first. No need to feed the 'tweak of the month' club. First get a cheap car with good reliability and cheap to fix. A nice momentum car like (as an example) a retired race-prepped Miata are cheap enough, generally reliable, and tons of inexpensive parts and support.

PLEASE... safety is key as cars can be replaced, though you can not. Plan on about $1k for a proper 3-layer Nomex suit and good helmet and neck device. While a HANS is around $1k and WELL WORTH IT, the cheap foam neck wraps are sorta ok. Also pay close attention to the condition of your brake package and be very strict about bleeding the brakes and ensuring the brake package is always in top operation. A blown engine is ok, but lackluster brakes that fade often when going 120mph towards a wall is something NOT to be experienced.

Before racing, you might want to seek out various clubs that do "Driver Education' days. These are not wheel to wheel races, but they are a VERY GOOD opportunity to learn how to drive in track conditions with a quality instructor by your side. This is what i did for a few years until 'graduating' to a 'proper' race car.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL AND FULLY UNDERSTAND that racing on a track is an amazing experience and very rewarding... and dangerous. Unlike a video game there is no 'reset button.'

FYI: after years of track had my first race this past weekend and came in third in class at SCCA event even after having a spin. If you want, read my blogs at http://www.enjoythetrack.com/blogs/ . Feel free to e-mail me from the site as well.

 

If you decide to get into figure eight racing, you'll want to keep your initial costs to a minimum.

 

See avatar ... I have a Camaro/Mustang Challenge Firebird I built in late 2004. Saw it's first track duty in 2005. Nothing like a bunch of snarling, angry V8s all mashing the loud pedal at the same time.

I raced Hobby Stock and then moved to Econo-Late Model on local dirt tracks. Those guys above are correct ... if you want to be competitive, you have to write some pretty serious checks.

Camaro/Mustang Challenge is a real budget racing series. Limits on HP and TQ, limits on brake packages, limits on weight reduction, limits on suspension changes and a spec tire make this a real bargain for a hobbyist.

I put the car on the track for about $8500, doing 90% of the build myself. Since then, I've spent another $2000 in shocks, oil cooler, power steering pump, alternator, upgraded seat and radiator.

Since the beginning of 2005, I've purchased 4 sets of tires at $800 a set and 2 sets of brake pads at $250 a set, fuel and oil.

Not included in that figure is the required safety gear. That is quite an investment. I have about 1/2 in safety gear as I do in car.

The motor and trans is a junkyard pull out that had 80K miles on it. Because I am restricted to 230 RWHP, the motor isn't taxed at all. With a restrictor plate, it runs out of breath at 5K and a SBC will run all day long at 5000 rpm as long as you keep it cool. It still makes the number it did at day 1.

It costs $300 to enter a weekend's events. Here in Texas, that is 4 races, 2 quals and a practice session. We have 6 weekends per year.

I sleep in my trailer, so lodging expenses are small.

Competition is close, but not like Spec Miata ... we call them Spec Pinata because of all the body contact they have. We have our bumps and nudges, but rarely any major contact.

It very easy to get your competition license, requiring you to run NASA's Racecraft program which helps get you comfortable being on the track, in traffic.

Here are some links to check out and to find road racing in your area.

www.nasaproracing.com

www.drivenasafl.com

www.nasa-southeast.com