I'm going to say Central Texas. I live in Brownwood (25 miles from the exact geographic center of Texas) and the selection of tracks and yards is absolutely staggering. I'm not saying move to Brownwood, please, no. LOL But Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth area is prime. Check out the link...
Cleveland can't be beat, it has approx. 15 road courses within 5 hrs, 3 dragstrips within 1 hr, Summit Racing and car shows everywhere in the summer.
Javelin wrote: Any questions?
Does the snobiness of the vancouverites in BC cross over? Portland is my favourite city in the USA, soooo pretty 
I think I'd like to move there one day!
HiTempguy wrote:Javelin wrote: Any questions?Does the snobiness of the vancouverites in BC cross over? Portland is my favourite city in the USA, soooo pretty
Uh, no. I was speaking of Vancouver, WA which is over the Columbia river from Portland.
Also, I didn't mention the microbreweries everywhere nor the wineries nor the restaurants.
JoeyM wrote: Clearly, half way between Atlanta and Gainesville.
Exactly where I live! 
Javelin wrote: I'm going to make an argument for where I am, Southwest Washington State (I live in Kelso, but Vancouver is probably better).
You make a good argument and I have always thought that the Washington/Oregon area would be an awesome place to live. It just seems all of my friends and family disagree and want to stay between NYC and Philly.
Charlotte NC. I know first thing most people think of is stock car racing, but motorsports in general is huge here. More racers per square mile than anyplace else. Short hop to VIR, bit longer hop to Road Atlanta. Carolina Motorsports Park just down the road. Charlotte and Rockingham hold Chumpcar and 24 Hours of LeMons events. Plenty of salvage yards around. No or very little snow during the winter. Racing almost all year round. Middle of the east coast which translates into short trips to most of the race tracks. 8 hours to Daytona, 8 hours to Indianapolis. I could go on, but I'm done. Penske moved all of his race teams here for a reason. Oh - NO RUST!! Cars just do not rust here - major, major, plus marks. Tons of cheap used cars all over the place.
FlightService wrote:LopRacer wrote: As much as I don't really want to live there Greenville/Spartenburg area of SC. Road Atl is 1.5-2 hours down I-85 Carolina Motorsports park is 1.5-2 hours down I-26 Roebling Road and Barber are a bit farther but still easy drive Atlanta Motorspeedway and Charlotte Motorspeed way few hours on I-85 Good AutoX support in both the Upstate and Atlanta areas. Great driving roads just up the mountain in NC. Greenville has a decent light life so I am told. Greenville has Minor league Hockey and Baseball Greenville has a good sized arena down town so oyu get good events. Ikea is only 2 hours up I-85 in Charlotte. They have an International (I think) Airport. Land outside of the city is plentiful and can get really cheap if you look hard enough. No state vehicle inpections at all. You hav 4 real seasons of the year. The beach is just down I-26, 3 hours. Don't know about the wrecking yard situation but it can't be any worse than some of the other places mentioned.I will give you a few good reasons not to live in the Upstate. Yearly property Tax on your car. They don't inspect it they charge you for it anyway. State income tax Per capita one of the most violent areas of the country Extremely high racism Salvages yards are scarce and are priced accordingly High crime rate Schools are garbage. Used car prices are high. The International Airport is there for it's direct flights to Germany (BMW) and as a FTZ for local manufactures. Everything else goes to a bigger airport for exchanges. Who told you there were 4 seasons? You have 3 months of Fall, 3 months of Spring 1 month of heavy frost, even if it snows it is just heavy frost. and 5 months of summer. By summer I mean you parked on the face of the sun. SC has been in a drought for about 6 years now. You can spin that to fewer rain delays. If you get a ticket in Greenville proper you can't go in front of a judge, you go in front of a court officer. Which is a Greenville cop. Guess who he sides on, every time? I graduated from Clemson, and worked in Greenville for a BMW supplier and at Carmax. I find Greenville proper a nice place, but if you aren't living in the upper scale part of town good luck. I haven't found an area where people with less money and education than you are as aggressive about you owing them something than in SC. Despite the few good reasons (close to tracks, very active Clemson NASA at least 5 years ago.) All the other qualifications it fails miserably at. So if you are wealthy enough to send your kids to private school, buy a large piece of land to avoid your neighbors stabbing you, don't mind crooked cops, paying for your cars value in taxes in about 5 years, and having to create your own water. Enjoy!
I ran with the Clemson on campus a-x for a few yrs... so I fixed your post... they ended up being kicked of campus (after many, many yrs of safe operation) but have now gotten back on campus (head honcho of on campus parking has been replaced)
otherwise I think you hit it pretty squarely .... I live ~ 1 1/2 north.... WNC and you couldn't pay me to live in the upstate
In reply to wbjones:
I could have swore it was SCCA, not the first time I have been wrong. LOL Yeah the Ricard Petty Driving experience Clemson partnership they started a stink over aided in their removal. They never had a vehicle incident and yet they were deemed un-safe. More highly educated policy making by SC employees.
Thanks for the back up
NE Maryland sucks. As far as I've found, there is nothing fun, the junkyards aren't anything special, and Cecil county is run by retards.
Grizz wrote: NE Maryland sucks. As far as I've found, there is nothing fun, the junkyards aren't anything special, and Cecil county is run by retards.
Having had the misfortune of living in Elkton, I agree there isn't much of anything redeeming about that area. The only racing, that I know of locally, is the drag strip, but at least that is a full quarter...
Well, Elkton is the worst part of the county. I'm sorry you had to live there
There was an autocross being run down near Aberdeen, but last I heard it went kaput.
There are some autocross opportunities with PCA DE as I understand. I haven't gone to any of them yet, but hopefully I'll get my MGB or the Miata out to one this summer.
Well, Summit Point is only 2 hours or so west, I figure driving that far to spend all day at the track isn't that bad, but I've never gotten around to going. Might have something to do with having nothin but pickups.
I'll have to look into DE and SE PA, there's got to be something around here for talentless drivers like myself. Course, with the way stuff is going in this county, I could theoretically buy a commercial lot and run events myself.
You'd be a small business venture, and at that point Wal-Mart would find a way to compete with you and force you into bankruptcy.
NJMP isn't all that far away either. I wish I could come up with a terribly large amount of money and buy the old track down in Marlboro, but sadly that won't happen and it's lost to history.
I would go to Walmart even more if they started running autox events. Those massive lots would be perfect for them
wbjones wrote:FlightService wrote:I ran with the Clemson on campus a-x for a few yrs... so I fixed your post... they ended up being kicked of campus (after many, many yrs of safe operation) but have now gotten back on campus (head honcho of on campus parking has been replaced) otherwise I think you hit it pretty squarely .... I live ~ 1 1/2 north.... WNC and you couldn't pay me to live in the upstateLopRacer wrote: As much as I don't really want to live there Greenville/Spartenburg area of SC. Road Atl is 1.5-2 hours down I-85 Carolina Motorsports park is 1.5-2 hours down I-26 Roebling Road and Barber are a bit farther but still easy drive Atlanta Motorspeedway and Charlotte Motorspeed way few hours on I-85 Good AutoX support in both the Upstate and Atlanta areas. Great driving roads just up the mountain in NC. Greenville has a decent light life so I am told. Greenville has Minor league Hockey and Baseball Greenville has a good sized arena down town so oyu get good events. Ikea is only 2 hours up I-85 in Charlotte. They have an International (I think) Airport. Land outside of the city is plentiful and can get really cheap if you look hard enough. No state vehicle inpections at all. You hav 4 real seasons of the year. The beach is just down I-26, 3 hours. Don't know about the wrecking yard situation but it can't be any worse than some of the other places mentioned.I will give you a few good reasons not to live in the Upstate. Yearly property Tax on your car. They don't inspect it they charge you for it anyway. State income tax Per capita one of the most violent areas of the country Extremely high racism Salvages yards are scarce and are priced accordingly High crime rate Schools are garbage. Used car prices are high. The International Airport is there for it's direct flights to Germany (BMW) and as a FTZ for local manufactures. Everything else goes to a bigger airport for exchanges. Who told you there were 4 seasons? You have 3 months of Fall, 3 months of Spring 1 month of heavy frost, even if it snows it is just heavy frost. and 5 months of summer. By summer I mean you parked on the face of the sun. SC has been in a drought for about 6 years now. You can spin that to fewer rain delays. If you get a ticket in Greenville proper you can't go in front of a judge, you go in front of a court officer. Which is a Greenville cop. Guess who he sides on, every time? I graduated from Clemson, and worked in Greenville for a BMW supplier and at Carmax. I find Greenville proper a nice place, but if you aren't living in the upper scale part of town good luck. I haven't found an area where people with less money and education than you are as aggressive about you owing them something than in SC. Despite the few good reasons (close to tracks, very active Clemson NASA at least 5 years ago.) All the other qualifications it fails miserably at. So if you are wealthy enough to send your kids to private school, buy a large piece of land to avoid your neighbors stabbing you, don't mind crooked cops, paying for your cars value in taxes in about 5 years, and having to create your own water. Enjoy!
I think I prefaced that I don't want to live there, it really doesn't appeal to me but the friends I have that live there keep telling me how great it is and how much they think I should move there. I live in the mountains and like it here even if it means much longer tows to all my favorite tracks. I like real winter with snow and milder summer. I guess you would know better having lived there, as I have only really visited. I too used to run the Clemson AutoX back when it was no class run what you brung and the FTD went to the fastest car with the best driver, no classes and such. It was really fun that way, you just ran against the clock and against your friends. I haven;t been back since they got back on campus after that huge mess with parking enforcement. I hear it's doing pretty well. I had no idea the taxes were any worse than in NC or GA, I know their gas taxes are much lower than NC but that's about all I know for sure. Oh well I guess it does suck there as much as I always thought but couldn't get anyone to admit.
It seems to me like every were has potential except of course NYC. I like living in chattanooga. We have decent autocross sites, a super cheap drag strip, road atlanta, barber, little talledega, nashville super speedway are close. Killer twisty driving roads in every direction including some of the most popular within an hour. We are definitly a hit stop for many classic car tours and shows. And we have a brand new auto plant still hiring gearheads as we speak.
In reply to unk577:
I agree Central Florida is the best place for about every kind of racing exept snowmobiles(we would try if we found one down here).Something going on every weekend and winter is just right for track days at several local places.
curtis73 wrote:FlightService wrote: number of Salvage yards number of Autocross events miles to the nearest road course number of road courses X number of miles/minutes away average used car price (lower price is better) number of GRM forum faithful willing to pitch in.I'm going to rate L.A. on this list - (even though I don't live there anymore) Salvage yards? Heck yes. Where the two geologic faults meet in Sun Valley there is nothing but yards for 10 square blocks. There are even brand-specific yards ranging from Ford to Fiat and Mercedes to Mazda. Autocross events seem to be rather common in Orange county. Its 10-30 miles away from L.A. depending on where you are. Average used car price is a LOT lower than you might think. While there is a large concentration of low-income folks who think their 89 Camry is worth $3000 there is a very high percentage of rich-types who think their 99 Mercedes is also only worth $3000. I snagged a 5-series with a blown motor for FREE in L.A. I also grabbed a 62 Caddy CDV that was chopped, dropped, and shaved for $1500 because the builder thought it had "too much bondo." The sheer number of vehicles that are for sale within a 20-mile radius of your front door is staggering. Pick your favorite vehicle of all time. Got to LA's CL page and search for it. Seriously. Question is.... can you afford a 2br/1ba house in a bad neigborhood with bars on the windows for $350k? I couldn't .... that's why I went to Austin.... but that's another post.
You forgot about the the tracks at Bakersfield and Willowsprings. I always wished they'd close the south end of the 2 and run time trials from the closing to, Pasadena I think is where it ends.
I am really considering moving to Portland or Seattle. Chicago has some of the worst roads ever. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.
+1 for North Carolina.
The salvage yards are filled with goodies for cheap, lots of racing fun within a couple hours of central NC, and the weather is decent.
Maroon92 wrote: Atlanta is pretty damn cool. Road ATL, Barber, Talladega, Atlanta Motor Speedway, and Roebling Road are all pretty close. There is a very hot autocross scene. The car scene in general is very good with almost weekly car shows. Cars are cheap and rust free. We are pretty limited on salvage yards though. We had more in my small home town in Michigan than we do here in ATL. I would personally rather work in weather that is too hot than weather that is too cold, so it's conducive to wrenching and beer drinking.
i agree with all of this except that the salvage yards really arent that bad. i just spent 3 hours in one on saturday and found everything on my list in one trip. what they lack in quantity they seem t make up for in quality.
plus atlanta is a very short distance from some nice windy foothills roads that are a lot of fun to drive when there arent any local track days!
NE PA. Anywhere between Allentown and the NY border.
Junkyards and pick-n-pulls in every direction
Racetracks... within a 4hr drive
- The Glen
- NJMP (2 tracks, 2 kart tracks)
- Summit Point (3 tracks, 1 kart track)
- LRP (karting too)
- Pocono (3 configs)
- Beaver Run
- Montecello
- OVRP (karting/motocross)
- Hurricane Hills (hillclimb / motocross)
Cool used cars are plentiful thanks to NYC, Philly & greater NJ being within 2 hrs.
Dirt / Oval / motocross racing at 20 venues any Friday/Saturday nite.
Housing is dirt cheap, especially in the flood plane near the river :)
LopRacer wrote:wbjones wrote:I think I prefaced that I don't want to live there, it really doesn't appeal to me but the friends I have that live there keep telling me how great it is and how much they think I should move there. I live in the mountains and like it here even if it means much longer tows to all my favorite tracks. I like real winter with snow and milder summer. I guess you would know better having lived there, as I have only really visited. I too used to run the Clemson AutoX back when it was no class run what you brung and the FTD went to the fastest car with the best driver, no classes and such. It was really fun that way, you just ran against the clock and against your friends. I haven;t been back since they got back on campus after that huge mess with parking enforcement. I hear it's doing pretty well. I had no idea the taxes were any worse than in NC or GA, I know their gas taxes are much lower than NC but that's about all I know for sure. Oh well I guess it does suck there as much as I always thought but couldn't get anyone to admit.FlightService wrote:I ran with the Clemson on campus a-x for a few yrs... so I fixed your post... they ended up being kicked of campus (after many, many yrs of safe operation) but have now gotten back on campus (head honcho of on campus parking has been replaced) otherwise I think you hit it pretty squarely .... I live ~ 1 1/2 north.... WNC and you couldn't pay me to live in the upstateLopRacer wrote: As much as I don't really want to live there Greenville/Spartenburg area of SC. Road Atl is 1.5-2 hours down I-85 Carolina Motorsports park is 1.5-2 hours down I-26 Roebling Road and Barber are a bit farther but still easy drive Atlanta Motorspeedway and Charlotte Motorspeed way few hours on I-85 Good AutoX support in both the Upstate and Atlanta areas. Great driving roads just up the mountain in NC. Greenville has a decent light life so I am told. Greenville has Minor league Hockey and Baseball Greenville has a good sized arena down town so oyu get good events. Ikea is only 2 hours up I-85 in Charlotte. They have an International (I think) Airport. Land outside of the city is plentiful and can get really cheap if you look hard enough. No state vehicle inpections at all. You hav 4 real seasons of the year. The beach is just down I-26, 3 hours. Don't know about the wrecking yard situation but it can't be any worse than some of the other places mentioned.I will give you a few good reasons not to live in the Upstate. Yearly property Tax on your car. They don't inspect it they charge you for it anyway. State income tax Per capita one of the most violent areas of the country Extremely high racism Salvages yards are scarce and are priced accordingly High crime rate Schools are garbage. Used car prices are high. The International Airport is there for it's direct flights to Germany (BMW) and as a FTZ for local manufactures. Everything else goes to a bigger airport for exchanges. Who told you there were 4 seasons? You have 3 months of Fall, 3 months of Spring 1 month of heavy frost, even if it snows it is just heavy frost. and 5 months of summer. By summer I mean you parked on the face of the sun. SC has been in a drought for about 6 years now. You can spin that to fewer rain delays. If you get a ticket in Greenville proper you can't go in front of a judge, you go in front of a court officer. Which is a Greenville cop. Guess who he sides on, every time? I graduated from Clemson, and worked in Greenville for a BMW supplier and at Carmax. I find Greenville proper a nice place, but if you aren't living in the upper scale part of town good luck. I haven't found an area where people with less money and education than you are as aggressive about you owing them something than in SC. Despite the few good reasons (close to tracks, very active Clemson NASA at least 5 years ago.) All the other qualifications it fails miserably at. So if you are wealthy enough to send your kids to private school, buy a large piece of land to avoid your neighbors stabbing you, don't mind crooked cops, paying for your cars value in taxes in about 5 years, and having to create your own water. Enjoy!
Well I've lived in Spartanburg for 23+ years and don't know where you guys get your hardon for the upstate of SC. But that's OK. A lot of other people disagree. Much of what has been said is not very accurate.
We do have a lot of salvage yards, but only one pick and pull. There are some in Charlotte and Columbia. Autocross scene isn't great, unless I am just not hearing about it. Highlands car club holds a few. The Clemson car club has been able to hold autocrosses on campus again. SCCA hold a few at the Michelin test grounds (called Black Lake).
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