Where Do You Race?

I was searching for a thread like this, but didn't find one. Let me know if I missed one, but if not:

With so many great options to choose from, it can be difficult to decide what class to compete in. Heck, there may be some cool racing happening in your area that you didn't even know was happening!

So to help get the lay of the land, I was curious about where you decided to compete, and what you like about the class?

Or maybe you haven't raced yet, but you are building something for a series?

Or maybe you have no plans to compete, but you just think some racing group is awesome and want to share.

Something like this:

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Ongrid Apex Time Attack Series:

https://www.ongridtrack.com/apex-time-attack

This is a California-tracks only (so far), Mazda only time attack series, which basically takes place as a run group during a normal track day.

I competed here because I have a street driven, daily Miata, and this is simply a well-organized track day with some more fun injected by adding a transponder to the car. You can compete here in a casual way without breaking the bank:

*You also have the option to build something really special and wild with the open rule set.

*You get gridded by lap time, so you are virtually guaranteed to get a few clean laps in at the start of a session.

*No W2W door-banging, which is nice when you have to drive your car to and from the track, and don't like doing expensive bodywork.

*Friendly competition with similar cars is FUN, and keeping track of points thru the season, and overall track records/class adds something extra to what is really just another casual track day. Plus it gives you some good lap time reference points to help you set goals to improve your driving skills. 

I ran with SCCA between 1989 and 2010 in a variety of cars.

The Datsun 1200, which I still have,  a Formula Vee for a year, a D-sports Racer for 4 years and 2 seasons with a Showroom Stock C Miata.

Currently I'm racing with Vintage Auto Racing Association (VARA), the are a SoCal group. I'm running the Datsun 1200 as well as my 87 Novakar Formula 500.

My reason for running with them is pretty much why anyone runs with any group; they're very welcoming and a good group of people. They also don't tolerate any fender banging nonsense.

I usually race on I80 in the morning from the Joliet, Illinois area eastbound until it merges into I294 near Kedzie Avenue.  Three lanes of fun X 5 days a week.

I ran autox and track days from 1998 to about 2004.  I stopped when my kids were born.  I resumed racing in 2012 with 24 Hours of LeMons and have never looked back.  I'm even still with the same team.  I have competed in all 3 classes...A, B, C (C is slowest, A fastest).  I have driven everything from the slowest car on the track (Rolls Royce, Citroen SM, a literal boat) to now driving a car that finishes consistently top 10...as high as 3rd out of around 115 cars.  I have been run a bunch of tracks and am adding more to the list this year.  I'm super fortunate and super spoiled.  

What do I like about it?  First and foremost...far above all else...the team is truly my second family.  Spending race weekends with them for the past 10 years has given me memories I will never forget.  I'm a shy and somewhat "keep to myself" person by nature, yet I feel so at home with these guys/girls.  I've also met so many other people and made friends.  I now even work for the series and have made more friends, and driven for other teams.  The camaraderie in LeMons is truly like nothing else I've seen.

The wheel to wheel racing, for me, is an absolute adrenaline rush.  Contact is not as common as people think, as it is strictly frowned upon by LeMons.  If you drive with your head and keep your eyes up, contact is fairly easily avoided 99% of the time.  The rush of picking through a pack of cars, safely, is like nothing else.  Same with racing against a car that's pretty much the same speed as you...running side by side, swapping positions, just having fun.  

Going back to the camaraderie part, just about everyone in the series is there for the same thing.  Have fun, be safe and help each other.  I can't tell you how many times I've seen one team help another team they don't know at all, just so they can get back on track.  Welding, giving away parts, giving advice...anything.  We had a race where we gave a transmission to a competitor...who wound up beating us to win the race.  None of us act like d-bags, or like F1 is scouting us.  The few that come in with that attitude don't last long.  We are fiercely competitive, and at the same time don't take it over-the-top seriously.

In a few weeks, I'm running in another series for the fist time, Lucky Dog.  I've heard wonderful things about them and I'm excited.  At the same time, LeMons will always be my home.

In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :

Yeah, what he said concerning a Lemons.  I'll also add that it is probably the easiest series to get started in from a rules and initial cost point.  Of course then you want to go faster.

I've been racing Lemons since 2013. We started racing a big slow reliable car and because of the classing and endurance we were still competitive. We've since moved to a smaller and faster car, now mid pack in a different class. It's very easy to get into the racing due to cost(3-5 $/min for us) and simplicity of rules. And at the pointy end it's quite fast/competitive.

Last year I got to run a race with Lucky Dog. I think it was actually simpler rules than lemons, very "run what you brung" and a bit cheaper due to series sponsorship. My only complaint was goofy sponsor advert rules and breaking a weekend of racing down into multiple smaller races. We were in a TR8 racing against the usual Miatas/E36s up to a FoST and as odd as an STS. I would love to run my racecar there if I get enough skill to finish it.

I am racing an E46 M3 in NorCal NASA ST4.

Kind of a long story how I got here.  I started doing track days in my Miata back in 1999, but just as I started thinking about the racing idea  the dotcom crash hit and then I got married and had kids.  In the 20 years since then I kept doing the occasional day and got into autocross for few years.  A few years ago I decided to go back to the track, ran into reliability problems with my turbo Miata (another long story), and decided to have TC Design (a local pro race shop) build me a car.

My goals for the car were (in order): safety, reliability, speed, and fitting into a race class.  TC Design did an awesome job on all fronts, the car is amazing.  I did a whole bunch of track days in it for a couple years, then NASA TT, then the competition school at Buttonwillow a couple weeks ago.  Last weekend was my first real wheel-to-wheel race, at Thunderhill.  I finished the race cleanly without incident, and not quite in last place. :).

We had 17 cars in ST4, the biggest class at the weekend other than Spec Miata so there are lots of opportunities to race.  The competitors were all very welcoming, some really great people.

I ran Lemons from 2008 until 2016 or so. Then again in 2019-20. All of the races were at CMP. Dollars per track time are hard to beat once the car is built. There is also something to be said about driving a car you really don't care about on track. 

I have also run several TTs at CMP. No beating and banging like w2w. 

In reply to gencollon :

I started at 14 with a local dirt track race, Hobby Stock.  Straight 8 Buick  with a cut down swing set as a roll cage.   The welds were my first attempt and looked like Chicken Turds.  My Helmet was a football helmet with the bar cut off. End of safety equipment.  
         SCCA I started out at Holtville as a corner worker , moved up to flag Marshall. Built a Jaguar XK150 for DProduction.  
      Post service I raced my MGTD in vintage racing.  Borrowed helmet, seat belt, and fire extinguisher. First race was free but we each put $5 in a kitty to start VSCRI.   
Went looking for the Black Jack special. ( Jaguar based special with fiberglass body from  Don Skogmo's D type and His Maserati. 
     Vintage raced that all over the country from 1976- 2001. ( Sold it 2011). 
   Currently building a Jaguar XJS V12 for SVRA group 10. VSCDA Group 6.  Goals?   Just to have a little more fun in the sun until the long dirt nap gets me. 
    Favorite tracks?   Elkhart Lake. Road America.  Ranfurlley's Circus Bahama Island.  Naval Air station North Island. 

Autocrosser, so I don't do racing. 

Building a car for the Challenge so I'll do a bit of drag racing to get it prepped for that.

I'd like to get onto a Lemons team but there are a lot more drivers out there than available seats.

Where do I race?  These days only when in deep REM sleep.

Started doing track days with NASA, some autocrosses with various orgs around here, then got my full competition license in 2019 with SCCA! Hoping to do more SCCA racing this year

Started with an 82 Reynard FF about a dozen years ago with the FRCCA (mid-Atlantic tracks), took a decade off and then ran an E36 in track days for a couple of years with NASA, THSCC, BWMCCA, etc.  Felt vintage racing would fit my track desires the best, and recently purchased an 81 Van Diemen, and on my 3rd event with the VDCA (Southeast tracks).  Hoping to climb my way up to mid-pack guy :-) The nice thing about vintage FF racing in the SE, lots of fun competition through the pack.  The E36 was fun, but there is just something about the feel of running an open wheel car.