I guess this question is aimed at people who do race. But how did you get into it and how does one get into it? I've been making a list of things I want to do before I die. Among them is run a marathon at under 3 hours and be a racecar driver **but thats been since i was like 5-years-old**

I know they have schools that teacher you how to race, but how do you get into the sport after you learn? Or how did you learn and get into it?

Well, there are several different kinds of race car leagues. The cheaper ones usually involve just one type of car, (the Mazda Miata, Volkswagon TDI, even the Mini Cooper I believe) or you can always just check the SCCA and see what kind of race series that have going on. That's probably going to be your best bet. Just realize that you're going to have to buy a car and turn it into a racecar...that's pretty spendy, especially when you need to buy new tires pretty much every race too. As far as anything higher up such as Champ car, Toyota Atlantic, or hell, F1, I'm not exactly sure how you join those teams. I would imagine you would have to contact the sponcers and talk to them.

anyway, I'd start here:

http://www.scca.com/hub.aspx?hub=1

Couple things... what kind of racing do you want to do?

Race schools are a great place to start for two reasons but I have to explain something first...

There are people who learn, train, and drive race cars and there are people who are RACE CAR DRIVERS. They're naturally talented. They get out on a track and it's like being born. Gear settings feel natural, apexes are second nature, braking points are in their blood. I may be getting a little dramatic but you know what I mean.

Now... go to a racing school and see what happens. They teach fundamentals. They teach the basics of braking. They teach you everything you need to know to train as a driver. If you get there and the track feels natural, you instinctively know when to drop a gear and where to let off the brakes on an apex, and you just feel like you're meant to be there then go on to the intermediate and advanced classes. You never know, you may be a natural...

The second good thing about racing schools is that they can help you make contacts. Racing is a lot about who you know. I've had the wonderful opportunity to take quite a few different cars down the drag strip and around road courses because of who I've made friends with in the racing world. Not to mention some of the street cars I've been able to borrow and drive...

Rally!:D
This is like deja vu or a coincidence... I was just thinking on how to become a rally driver then i saw your post:P

In all honesty I don't know what kind of racing I would want to do. I wont say yes or no to anything. Mean dragracing looks boring as hell. But then again when I had my Dodge Neon doing 120 it was one hell of an adrenaline rush so I could only imagine what it would be like to actually be in the a drag car.

I guess I am just trying to learn and test the waters so to speak to see where and what I would want to do

edit:
Dear DRiFT:
They actually have some info on rally racing at the SCCA website
Always Refreshing
sMi.rnoff

Go for some karting first.

It's the most basic form of 'motorsports' and it will give you a great first impression. It's also comparitively cheap to take part in.

The 'talent' that Monkey mentioned will be instantly recognised on a kart track. Last year I took part in a 3 hour kart endurance race, in which we came 12th, out of 32. Not bad, considering that our team consisted of me (no competetive driving prior to that) my close buddy (again, same age as me, same experience) and Patrick (in his 50's but used to race Cortina's and Escorts in his day, is now an occasional co-driver in private rallies). All in all it's the most fun you can have being a bloke. Everybody suddenly becomes Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. Endurance racing and 32 karts meant that keeping an eye on position was left to the computer, but setting your fastest time was really competetive. Suffice to say, I missed out by a whole .2 of a second to my friend.

It takes 5 laps and you're hooked. We will be going again. Only this time....We will win!

Seriously though, get together with enough friends (not 150 like in our race!) and spend it on a karting day. If you're really good the next step is really up to you. There's schools, contracts and private team club racing.

Chris.

In all honesty I don't know what kind of racing I would want to do. I wont say yes or no to anything. Mean dragracing looks boring as hell. I've done a lot of different types of racing in my life and the only thing harder than professional drag racin gis off road hill climbing. Drag racing is FAR from boring. lol

The 'talent' that Monkey mentioned will be instantly recognised on a kart track. Last year I took part in a 3 hour kart endurance race, in which we came 12th, out of 32. Not bad, considering that our team consisted of me (no competetive driving prior to that) my close buddy (again, same age as me, same experience) and Patrick (in his 50's but used to race Cortina's and Escorts in his day, is now an occasional co-driver in private rallies). All in all it's the most fun you can have being a bloke. Everybody suddenly becomes Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. Endurance racing and 32 karts meant that keeping an eye on position was left to the computer, but setting your fastest time was really competetive. Suffice to say, I missed out by a whole .2 of a second to my friend.
I agree. Thanks C.A.R. for bringing that up. Get into basic Kart racing and then, if you like it move up to the serious Shifter Karts and then get into open wheels. It's all up to you from there...

ha I love kart racing! its so much fun. Now I will not say that im talented, mean I never lose at kart racing, but the people I go with are not exactly the most talented slugs out there. But it is sooooooooooo much fun.

I went to this church work camp one time, so one day about 50 of us went to the kart palce down the street. My Friend and I smoked them. It was funny to cause I'm in the lead adn right behind me never having driven anything a day in her life is my friend Amanda =)

I would like to think I taught her everything she knew, which was nothing at all. Mean I dont know If i had the fastest time But i had the most consitent time, and laped most of the people. I credit what skill I have to gran turismo.

so monkeyflkkr, I know if i were doing it drag racing would be far far far from boring. And my uncle tells me they do drag racing like once a week at the track in Syracuse, and Im sure they have something at the Glen, both of which are either a little over an hour north or south of me. But how did you get into it?

Me? I got into racing when I was a kid. I went down the track at OCIR as soon as I could reach the peddles in my dad's car. My whole families into racing.

I went to this church work camp one time, so one day about 50 of us went to the kart palce down the street. My Friend and I smoked them. It was funny to cause I'm in the lead adn right behind me never having driven anything a day in her life is my friend Amanda =)

Im sorry to tell you this but its way to late if you want to get anywhere.
Even if you "just" wanted to do formula 3000 (if its still going on) or something like that its way too late to start. You really cannot imagine the quantity of guys who have been into motorsport since they were 5 years old, every single week in every single karting category. All really good drivers and among those the talented rise to the top. But its not like thats it, youve also got to be lucky, find sponsors, perform well at special occasions and have regularity, a good car...

Its really complicated.

There is another way to go and that is if you are filthy rich. Then you could just buy a GT3 RSR, get one of your employees to organise a team, find two more drivers and pay the fees to enter Le Mans Series... If Im not mistaken an owner of a CD label company does that.

If I were you Id buy a kart (which are cheap for how fast they are) and enter the category you fit in. And sorry to bring you down to Earth again but rental karts mean absolutely nothing. On most you dont even have to brake on the whole track. I can overlap most of my mates 3 times in 15mins and that doesnt mean absolutely anything about me.

Anyway good luck and I hope you accomplish your objectives.

You're an idiot you know that? Don't ever tell someone they're too late to do something like that. lol... Who the hell are you?

You're an idiot you know that? Don't ever tell someone they're too late to do something like that. lol... Who the hell are you?

I posted my reason to think its too late. If you dont agree just say so, dont start insulting.

maxmx89 seriously, i feel like shoving my foot up your ass O_o

but its fine if you think that. There were also people that said I could never play college ball, but they were wrong. So just get in line with all the other people always saying you cant do it.

phhh Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks was told he was too short to paly basketball. he wouldnt make it in the NBA, and the 5'6" kid won a dunking compitition, and is one of the key players to an NBA franchise.

Look I have no intention of going to le mans, but it is never to late to accomplish a dream. Maybe I am not the most talented individual, the most lucky individual, but I promise you I am one of the hardest working and most dedicated people you will ever meet. If I want to do something then who the hell are you to say I can't do it?

Yea I might be an underdog but I've played that roll all my life and its fine with me. Skill talent and desire are not something you get with age.

Maybe in Spain your dreams die young, but then I am in America, the so called land of opportunity. Mean if your content to just settle for **** in life and give up just cause its hard or your too old thats fine max, but you will not see that from me

Karting is probably your best shot for any open wheel racing.

I posted my reason to think its too late. If you dont agree just say so, dont start insulting.
No, you didn't post your reason for 'thinking it's too late'... you straight up told him, and I quote "Im sorry to tell you this but its way to late if you want to get anywhere."

That's not posting your reason for something. That's telling him to forget it, he won't make it...

if your content to just settle for **** in life and give up just cause its hard or your too old thats fine max, but you will not see that from me
Damn right brother. I wish you the best in everything. You're old enough to know that hard work equals happiness...

but its fine if you think that. There were also people that said I could never play college ball, but they were wrong. So just get in line with all the other people always saying you cant do it.

phhh Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks was told he was too short to paly basketball. he wouldnt make it in the NBA, and the 5'6" kid won a dunking compitition, and is one of the key players to an NBA franchise.

Look I have no intention of going to le mans, but it is never to late to accomplish a dream. Maybe I am not the most talented individual, the most lucky individual, but I promise you I am one of the hardest working and most dedicated people you will ever meet.

Ok, if you think you are going to be the next Mika Hakkinen continue thinking it, I dont mind. Obviously we both know you didnt think youd get that far in motorsport and thats what I was talking about. Itll be clearer on the next paragraph.

If I want to do something then who the hell are you to say I can't do it?

Let me clear something. If it looked like I was telling you not to do anything, that was not my intention. Everything I post here is my opinion, I think that is quite simple and that I dont have to post it every time. That was my opinion, we may not share it and thats ok.
I wrote that you will not be (or at least quite probably) the next motorsport star (again my opinion, you can believe whatever you want), that seems quite obvious to me (cause it takes much more than just deciding one day you are going to be someone important in this sport) but I guess we just think in different ways.
Please go ahead, do whatever you want (obviously, who am I to tell you the opposite). Id be very happy for you if you accomplish your dreams.

Yea I might be an underdog but I've played that roll all my life and its fine with me. Skill talent and desire are not something you get with age.

Maybe in Spain your dreams die young [its quite obvious to me that you are just trying to make me angry by saying that in Spain... but I really cant mind less, I dont even consider myself Spanish] , but then I am in America, the so called land of opportunity. Mean if your content to just settle for **** in life and give up just cause its hard or your too old thats fine max [when did I ever say that? I think that in life you can accomplish many objectives but try to keep them realistic] , but you will not see that from me [glad you said that]

Seriously, was there a point in reacting in such way? Cant you accept someone elses opinion?

EDIT: Actually after reading over my post again it looks a little bit harsh. Sorry for any misunderstanding. Of course you can start racing but I dont think its that easy to get to the top. That was what I was trying to say.



No, you didn't post your reason for 'thinking it's too late'... you straight up told him, and I quote "Im sorry to tell you this but its way to late if you want to get anywhere."

That's not posting your reason for something. That's telling him to forget it, he won't make it...

Ok. Next time Ill add at the end of my post "this is my opinion". Didnt want to offend anyone, just trying to keep things realistic.

Ok. Next time Ill add at the end of tis post "this is my opinion". Didnt want to offend anyone, just trying to keep things realistic.
But it's not realistic. I know a guy who became a Top Fuel champion and was almost 40 the first time he went down a drag strip.

Don't start with the "drag racing is different" crap because in this case it's not. Determination and skill will take you a long way. I feel sorry for people like you who can't see the positive in everything.

Hell, I should be dead right now but I'm not. It's called willpower. He doesn't want to be a racing star but if he did I fully believe that he has the drive and will to make it happen.

If your kids never step foot in a car and then, at say 25 years old, want to became race car drivers for a living, are you going to tell them the same thing? God damn I hope not...

But it's not realistic. I know a guy who became a Top Fuel champion and was almost 40 the first time he went down a drag strip.

Don't start with the "drag racing is different" crap because in this case it's not. Determination and skill will take you a long way. I feel sorry for people like you who can't see the positive in everything.

But there are many, many people that have put a lot of will into this and ontop of this have been into whatever sport since they were born and they still wont make it to the top. Many start but very little suceed. Obviously it takes a lot of hard work but also luck and dont tell me that getting into drag racing at twenty something is the same that starting when eight.

And drag racing is a different world. How many guys out of all the champions have not been dedicating for their whole lives to that on which they eventually suceeded. Very little and thats my point.

Hell, I should be dead right now but I'm not. It's called willpower. He doesn't want to be a racing star but if he did I fully believe that he has the drive and will to make it happen.

If your kids never step foot in a car and then, at say 25 years old, want to became race car drivers for a living, are you going to tell them the same thing? God damn I hope not...
Talking about your own kids is different. I might prefer not to harm them and help them all I can but I know the probabilities and I hope they were intelligent enough to know them too. I think that in life you have to enjoy everything you do, as long as you do it its fine but that doesnt change the fact that its very unprobable that hell make it to the top.

..................

Everyone I race with has been dedicated to drag racing for years. There's a hell of a lot more people drag racing than any other form of motorsports in the US...

Whatever, I'm tired of arguing this crap with you...

To be one of the best at any think takes hard work, dedication and talent. i know lots of people who are talented and didnt put in the work and failed, I know lots of people who put in the work, they had limited success but they didnt have the talent to carry themselves.

I hate to say it but no matter how hard I work I will not be a great swimmer. i hate swimming, I suck at it, I dont have the talent or the drive.

basketball, phh im 6' and white. seriously in the USA thats two things going against you and I had a nice career till I got injured. I know lots of people who worked hard and failed, because they didnt work hard enough. its not enough to just work hard when you got so many other ppl working hard, you have to work harder. I want you to go ask those people if they could of worked harder to achieve their dream. If any of them say no they are a damn liar.

I never said I was going to be a pro racer I said I wanted to race. I don't know I will like it. I never knew I was going to love basketball till after I picked up the ball. Michael Jordan never played serious basketball till he was a junior in high school and looked what happened to him compared to kids playing since they could crawl.

Maybe in your life experience things failed for you, but I dont settle. if I want it you better believe I will freaking take it.

You see I have a secret to why I succeed at the things I want to succeed at. IM JUST BETTER THAN ALL THOSE OTHER LOSERS!!!! jk

well no im not really jk'ing i am pretty awesome . . . . . . . . . Lets see some one question that as they are sucking my exhaust . . . . .

Everyone I race with has been dedicated to drag racing for years. There's a hell of a lot more people drag racing than any other form of motorsports in the US...

Whatever, I'm tired of arguing this crap with you...

Well drag racing is probably the single greatest adrenaline rush on the planet with wheels.

Now saying someone is too old to get into racing is complete B.S. there plenty of guys 40+ coming into racing and taking names. Possibly the only form of racing that would require anybody to get in the game early would be Formula 1 and there is only one problem with that is costs a hell of a lot of money to make the move up the ladder. Other that Formula 1 any type of racing is virtually up for grabs by anyone who can reach the pedals and work a manual transmission.

If you can successfully prove to a team boss or whoever that you can do the job required (i.e. win races) then age shouldn't matter.

The only time it will matter is if a team decides to go for young blood to get more money from sponsors (like in Formula 1 with pay drivers as an example).

Hardwork and Dedication, that's all. ;)

I'm like you sMi.Rnoff, I have the dream of going pro. in racing, though I've never raced at 5 years old.

Parents couldn't afford that, plus I wasn't really exposed to racing (Motorsports) 'till way later. :o

And other reasons, personal reasons, but that will be my story if I ever do become a pro. in racing. :)

Hardwork and Dedication will help me get close...plus, I live in the USA. :D

Anyhow, from what I know, just go to a racing school.

The one I am planning to go to, someday, is the "Skip Barber Racing School".

And you get your competition license, for Regionals (I think), then you start doing well...then go Internationals...do well in that...then maybe get into Pro's.

Or I think that's it, ask "firebird400", he's been racing.

I asked him, he gave me the info, and made sense. :p

But yeah, dont let anyone say "You CANT"...YOU CAN. ;)

Hardwork and Dedication, will get you there.

...ahh, I sound cheesy, hehe. :p

umm, I was asking this same question to my auto teacher the other day, and he was confused to death

so, yeah, lets say III want to get into racing, I've only gone karting twice for a lap at this place

do I really have to do something like that to get into racing?

So, basically I heard Michigan is a good place to 'begin' a career for racing. That true?

another thing I'd like to know is how is the 'salary' in racing, or in other words, how are you paid?

I've been researching on this for quite long, but forgot I could ask the question here on SCF.

Rally!:D
This is like deja vu or a coincidence... I was just thinking on how to become a rally driver then i saw your post:P

Rally racing is actually relatively easy to get into. Just find some rally-autocross (wrongly called "rallycross" in North America, which is a rally in a circuit. rally-autocross is basically autocross but on/off pavement), train and practice with a Subaru, then get into an ameteur rally series. If you're REALLY SERIOUS, work your way up could master driving skills and get closer to the almighty WRC.....

Monkeys right..

this world, and every opportunity in it..is based on WHO you know..

Race schools will have faces that will make it, faces that have made it, and faces that know faces that have made it...Get in good and show some talent and there's opportunity #1..

#2..Don't be a douche, whether your good or not..no one likes a cocky SOB...Except for me for some reason..everyone loves my arrogance because i'm me and i make it into a joke and everyone can appreciate comedy!!!!!

#3....It's true, some people are naturally talented at driving.....I personally am an on off kind of guy...

I say 20 days out of the month i could tear the track up no problems asked Apex every time, downshift and upshift exactly when i need to...and take that car to the absolute max of grip in every corner...

Other days..Lol "where's 2nd gear"! "oh crap that's the brake not the clutch"(i'm guilty of that....i drove my 5 speed for a good year, hopped in my mothers auotmatic...within 2 blocks i slammed the brake to the floor forgetting it wasn't the clutch and hit my face on the wheel...comeeedddy)

#4..Be open, you'll never know what your cup of tea is until you taste it..

Be willing to try a FWD car..or an AWD car..or a RWD car..don't be scared or turned off by any of the layouts/makes models ETC ETC..cause they all have potential, and somewhere there is a group of people racing that car..be it a POS camaro like Monkey...or a sweet ass buick le sabre...haha

Im sorry to tell you this but its way to late if you want to get anywhere.
Even if you "just" wanted to do formula 3000 (if its still going on) or something like that its way too late to start. You really cannot imagine the quantity of guys who have been into motorsport since they were 5 years old, every single week in every single karting category. All really good drivers and among those the talented rise to the top. But its not like thats it, youve also got to be lucky, find sponsors, perform well at special occasions and have regularity, a good car...

Its really complicated.

There is another way to go and that is if you are filthy rich. Then you could just buy a GT3 RSR, get one of your employees to organise a team, find two more drivers and pay the fees to enter Le Mans Series... If Im not mistaken an owner of a CD label company does that.

If I were you Id buy a kart (which are cheap for how fast they are) and enter the category you fit in. And sorry to bring you down to Earth again but rental karts mean absolutely nothing. On most you dont even have to brake on the whole track. I can overlap most of my mates 3 times in 15mins and that doesnt mean absolutely anything about me.

Anyway good luck and I hope you accomplish your objectives.
I Hate to do this but..... IF you really believe that your age will STOP you from racing, then you don't know much about motorsports! I come from Denmark (small country in scandinavia) and i have several examples of people who made it pretty far, from starting at an "old age"... 1. Lars Erik "wheelspin" Nielsen, is 40-55'ish, and is racing at Le Mans, he never really did anything seriously whit his career until now, where he 2 years ago, was winning the GT2 class in Le Mans (but his gear shifter broke and became 2nd.)......2. example. You might not know him, but Michelle Nykjær (it's a male) is 2 times DTC champion (Danish Touring car Championship), and also started at an "old age", he was close to a deal whit Seat to drive in the WTCC (he also won the ETCC championship race)!.... And lastly the one you defiantly won't know is......Michael Carlsen, the man to win DTC the most times, he raced Karts for fun in a lot of years!, but then he bought a Peugeot 306 GTI (Great race car), and simply started to kick ass!, he beat Jan Magnussen (Corvette driver at Le Mans, you should know him in USA) and the 3 official sponsored teams (he him self was Private racer)....

So DON'T come saying that age will STOP you!, you might not get into F1!, but who cares!, Eddie Irvine said it so well before he started to race there himself! "F1 is the graveyard for racing-drives!" (not saying that you litterly die in F1, but simply, that if you fail, you'll be forgotten at once!)

^ About the F1 part, I doubt it. I mean comon, Mika Hakkinen dropped off F1 and went on towards DTM and viola, he's still popular in many of our books. Remember that time he tested out that MP4-21? All the press were onto that story.

MClaren, do you know the name of the guy who got 8th the first time Schu-***ker won?....


Does anyone?

I hate to say it, but first, and this is before you've even decided what sort of racing you want to do, and if you want to aim at being a professional or just a simple amateur, you need money.

I am friends or have "contact" with some pretty serious racers.
Nico Rosberg used to be in a friend's class. He was loaded.
Heinz Harald Frentzen. Loaded.
One mate of mine races go-karts pretty serious, he drives for a team and goes around quite a bit (Silverstone, Barcelona...). Again though, he's very rich.

The sad truth is you can't get very far in motorsport without money; unless you're extremely talented.

However, once you have that money, you can work your way up. Karts are probably the best way to gather experience.

^ Or you could do it the Hamilton way!, go grease for some Team director, convince him/her that YOU are the future, and hope he/she takes you under his/hers wing! (of course Hamilton had the talent needed to do this!)

Rally racing is actually relatively easy to get into. Just find some rally-autocross (wrongly called "rallycross" in North America, which is a rally in a circuit. rally-autocross is basically autocross but on/off pavement), train and practice with a Subaru, then get into an ameteur rally series. If you're REALLY SERIOUS, work your way up could master driving skills and get closer to the almighty WRC.....Why a Subaru? Why not a Tiburon, an Evo, or a Porsche???

Monkeys right..
That's just typical! lol


.i drove my 5 speed for a good year, hopped in my mothers auotmatic...within 2 blocks i slammed the brake to the floor forgetting it wasn't the clutch and hit my face on the wheel...comeeedddy)I've done that shiit! lol... Very embarassing when you're slowing down for a light and all of a sudden you come to a screaching halt... lol

I hate to say it, but first, and this is before you've even decided what sort of racing you want to do, and if you want to aim at being a professional or just a simple amateur, you need money.
It's that way no matter what you're getting into...

Here's aquestion: is there such thing as a rally driving school?
You know, one that focuses on rally racing?

Yes, there are Rally schools...

http://www.nasaproracing.com/

I'm an aspiring rally driver and hope to attend the team O'neil school soon in New England, here is the link and be warned....it's really expensive.

http://www.team-oneil.com/

Nasa Pro Racing is the best place to start and they are really good with programs for beginners who want to drive like Travis Postrana and Petr Solberg.

Thanks for the links. I really hope I can join such schools, since I'm neither in America nor UK. I don't think there is such racing school in my country. But when I have the chance, I'd definitely try it out.

You can check out http://www.specialstage.com/ for some good information. I have a whole list of sites on my home pc. I'll post some at a later time.

both my mom and dad ran the 1/4 mile, but I think the strongest influence was my uncle. He ran sand drags. He held the state record in Nevada for 4 years, with a speed of 123mph through the traps......Now for those of you who don't know sand drags is 100 yards, NOT 1/4 mile. Just imagine going from 1-123mph, on dirt, and in a 4x4 jeep.And this was with a home built small block chevy 327 engine.......I was hooked

Just imagine going from 1-123mph, on dirt, and in a 4x4 jeep.And this was with a home built small block chevy 327 engine.......I was hooked

I'd be hooked to if I saw that. Just reading it sounds amazing.

Sounds great, but doesn't sound as good as taking a pair of pumas down the 1/4 mile on ny sexy black feet!!