Gentle Readers, Start Your Engines

In its beginnings, in the late 1940s and early ‘50s with Southern California its cradle, amateur car racing was an inexpensive, informal, primal form.

Circuits were abandoned airfields and a few crudely paved private road courses for weekend hire, typically in the desert and usually three miles from the ends of the Earth. Cars were production Triumph TRs, MG-TCs, Jaguar 120s, bathtub Porsches and then the Corvettes. You would “run what you brung,” pausing only to strap on a helmet and cover headlight lenses with masking tape. Easy as shooting pool. Then, if you didn’t break it, you drove the race car home.

Oddly, thankfully, not very much has changed for amateur racers. Licensing requirements, safety regulations, equipment and procedures have tightened. Training is mandated and now commercially available. Cars are quicker and more refined and heavily from Japan.

Yet just about any weekend, around dozens of California cities and towns, thousands of amateur racers continue to run what they brung at club meets, at parking-lot gymkhanas, at regional rallies and at street races for vintage cars. Including some of those early Triumphs and MGs. And they still tape up headlights and drive their race cars home.

Come on, admit it. You have always wanted to try your hand at auto racing.

Well, here’s what’s in it for you.

There is nothing quite like the adrenaline rush of auto racing--the exhilaration that comes with speed and the G-forces of acceleration, cornering and braking. Above all, finding precision, smoothness and improvement at the wheel. Whether you are racing side by side to the finish line at a drag strip, or going wheel to wheel for the same corner on a road course, the thrill is undeniable.

At first you may think auto racing is all about the machinery, the speed, the victories and defeats, the dueling. But in the end you will find that what takes you back to the track time and again is the people. The driver who wouldn’t give you an inch in the 100-mph corner on the track just a few minutes earlier will spend hours helping you fix your car before the next race. That’s auto racing.

OK, so you’ve decided that it’s finally time to get off the sofa and away from ESPN and Speedvision and onto the track.

For the most part, there are several classes of motor sports that are affordable and do not require an extensive time commitment either. What follows is a beginner’s guide to the Southern California scene, working our way up from racing schools and karting to amateur road racing.

So buckle up. Let’s go racing:

Racing Schools

Before you make the commitment to racing, it’s a good idea to find out whether you’ll actually like it--and whether you have any talent for it. This may seem self-evident, but there are too many stories about people who have bought a car and all the necessary equipment only to discover they didn’t like racing after all.

Four notable schools catering to different classes and styles of racing are the Jim Russell Racing School at Sears Point Raceway north of San Francisco; Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School at Fairplex in Pomona; the Jim Hall II Kart Racing School in Ventura; and Danny McKeever’s Fast Lane Racing School at Willow Springs International Raceway at Rosamond. (The accompanying box offers a more complete list of reputable schools.)

“We recommend that anyone who wants to get involved in racing should do a school, and even run a couple of races before they buy a race car,” says Kjell Kallman, director of sales and marketing for the Russell school. Courses range from a half-day test drive for $395 to a $2,795 advanced racing course.

If you really take to racing and want to indulge that passion for an entire season, you can run eight races in the school’s Formula Russell series for $17,000. Before you let sticker shock prevent you from reading further, take note: When you factor in the cost of owning and maintaining a car (as well as a trailer and vehicle to tow it), $17,000 is a relative bargain. Your car and a mechanic are waiting for you at the track. You show up and drive--just like the pros.

If you’d prefer to keep the tab to a more manageable two to four figures, and do your fast driving in a straight line, then head for the Hawley school at Fairplex in Pomona. Hawley, a two-time former National Hot Rod Assn. driving champion, and his staff will teach you how to handle everything from a stock car to an alcohol-burning funny car or dragster.

“A quarter-mile may be a short distance, but there is a lot to learn about getting to the finish line first,” Hawley says. Course selections range from a $99 “Dragster Adventure” lesson to a $4,950 course offering a choice of alcohol-burning dragster or funny car.

Another good choice for would-be racers is the Hall school on the beach in Ventura. Hall is a second-generation racer--his father built and drove the famous winged Chaparral road-racing cars--who is dedicated to teaching the intricacies of karts, which are fast and must be driven smoothly. Any jerky movements will send kart (and you) spinning.

If you get good enough in the basic karts, you can move up to shifter karts (the clutch and gear levers are hand-operated from the steering wheel), which bring new meaning to the word “busy.” Getting a lap right in a shifter kart is no small accomplishment, and Hall and his staff are supportive. That means they try not to laugh too hard at student miscues.

When it comes to schooling in the high-performance driving arts, McKeever is a Southern California fixture. He has spent 14 years training the movie, music and sports stars and athletes who compete in the annual Pro-Celebrity Race preceding the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

He is a former professional racer and stunt driver for television commercials. And whether it is a half-day session on a skid pad, or a three-day course in a race-prepared Toyota Celica for your over-aggressive teenager, McKeever will tailor a course within the comfort zone of your needs and bank account.

Karting

Make no mistake, the “k” in “kart” does not refer to kids, although preteen drivers are still a big part of the scene at Saugus Speedway and other karting venues. Indeed, most of the top open-wheel racers in the world started their careers in karts, which have evolved from the old, crude models fitted with lawn-mower engines to swift, sophisticated racing machines.

This form of racing is relatively inexpensive. The racing kart itself is much cheaper to buy (when compared to the cost of bigger racing machines), and it can be carried in the trunk of a car or in a minivan (which eliminates the expense of a trailer and tow vehicle). The operating costs are also lower, as the racing tires are smaller and therefore less expensive and the engine usually doesn’t require a rebuild after every race.

Locally, a good place to start is the Los Angeles Kart Club, which conducts races at Saugus and classes that cater to drivers ranging from 4 years old to adults who weigh more than 200 pounds.

Drag Racing

Drag racing is a uniquely American form--and one created and developed in Southern California. It evolved from acceleration runs on the dry lakes at El Mirage and Muroc to airport runways and finally to specially designed drag strips where two vehicles line up side by side to find out which one can get to the finish line first.

This form started out as a low-cost competition, and it remains a great entry-level motor sport. You can still participate in amateur drags with anything from a bone-stock grocery-getter to a specially prepared and modified race car.

The National Hot Rod Assn.’s Street Legal and Sears Craftsman E.T. Series drags at Fairplex in Pomona are open to anyone with a street-legal car or motorcycle with a muffler. The entry fee is only $15, and you get to race side by side in a safe environment.

There are Sportsman classes for cars than run the quarter-mile in 13.99 seconds or quicker and a Street category for cars that run 14 seconds or more. Here’s a bonus if you want to impress someone: In the Street category, you are allowed to bring a passenger along.

NHRA also offers the Jr. Drag Racing League for ages 8 to 17. A junior dragster looks like a top-fuel dragster that was shrunk in the dryer and uses a five-horsepower Briggs & Stratton engine to move down the quarter-mile.

Vintage Racing

If you can remember when it was the racing tires that were skinny and the drivers that were fat, then you can appreciate vintage racing. (“Vintage” can apply to the cars or the drivers in some cases.) This form brings back the spirit and glory days of Torrey Pines, the Santa Barbara Road Races and even Dodger Stadium. Yes, road races were held in the huge parking lot at Chavez Ravine when the stadium first opened.

“It’s fun and it doesn’t have to be expensive,” says Ernie Nagamatsu, 58, a Los Angeles dentist and vintage enthusiast who owns and races two historic cars, each with a notable Southern California pedigree.

One is the Buick-powered Old Yeller II, built by Max Balchowsky and driven by the likes of Dan Gurney, Carroll Shelby and Bob Bondurant.

“At a recent vintage event, I was driving Old Yeller II and running nose to tail with a Scarab [another Southern California sports car, built by Lance Reventlow] driven by August Busch, who had been behind the wheel of that same car in competition 40 years ago. It was wonderful,” says Nagamatsu, who also races a classic 1964 Cobra 289 fitted with the long aluminum top used at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Of course, not everyone can invest in such valuable cars, which can be worth half a million dollars or more. Other vintage racers compete in more affordable vehicles--such as Austin-Healey Bugeye/Frogeye Sprites, MGs, Mini-Coopers and Triumphs--and, Nagamatsu notes, “have just as much fun.”

Local venues for vintage racing include Willow Springs, Buttonwillow and North Island in San Diego. Vintage racing may be better suited to former drivers getting back into the sport than for drivers new to auto racing.

Solo II Racing

Solo II--also known as auto-cross, slalom or gymkhana--is a terrific motor sport that teaches the basics of road racing without the risks inherent in side-by-side competition. In Solo II, you compete against the clock, one car at a time, over a twisting, challenging course made up of orange traffic cones set up in a large parking lot.

For an entry fee of $20 to $25, you get three runs. The person with the fastest time around the course is the winner. Simple enough, but the skills necessary to succeed at Solo II are the same ones you need for big-time racing. Here, you’ll learn how to find the fastest line through a corner, how to steer using the throttle and how to tune and adjust your car for optimal performance. Chassis tuning concepts such as understeer, oversteer, roll stiffness and trail braking come to life in Solo II.

“Solo II is novice-friendly,” says Rob Puertas of Irvine, a member of the Pacific Otto Kros Club. Puertas, 29, has been involved with Solo II racing for 13 years, ever since his father put him behind the wheel of his Fiat roadster. Last year he competed in a shifter kart.

“We have classes for everything from karts to sports cars to economy sedans and even pickup trucks,” Puertas says. “At most events, we offer guided course walks and novice classes.”

All it takes to compete is a valid driver’s license and a car that will pass a simple safety inspection; loaner helmets are available too. There are usually about 14 events a year in Southern California, at venues including the parking lot at Hollywood Park, Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino and the Emergency Vehicle Operations Center, also in San Bernardino. In addition, the Sports Car Club of America’s San Diego Region holds high-speed Solo II events at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

Solo I Racing

Solo I--or time trials--is your chance to run on a real road-racing track. It’s just you and your car running against the track and time. This is where you learn the theoretical “fast line” around the track. Because you are out there all alone, there can be no excuses for a slow, sloppy lap; you can’t blame a faster or slower car for “messing up my line.”

The California Sports Car Club, the regional arm of the SCCA, runs Solo I events, as do many other car clubs in Southern California. Active clubs with time trial or Solo I events include the Alfa Owners Club of Southern California, Ferrari Owners Club, Pantera Owners Club and Porsche Owners Club. As with Solo II, the clubs typically welcome novices and their events are usually open to owners of other brands of cars, as long as they are equipped to race.

And we do mean equipped, for it is at this level that the glamorous and not-so-glamorous machinery associated with auto racing becomes a key part of the plan. Simply put, both you and your car will need safety equipment.

For you, this means a fire-retardant driving suit and underwear, approved driving shoes, an approved safety helmet and, if you are driving an open car, arm restraints.

For the car, safety equipment includes a roll bar or roll cage, a fire extinguisher system, an external ignition shut-off switch, approved racing seat belts and harness.

SCCA Regional Racing

This is the top rung in moderate-cost (notice we do not say “low-cost”) amateur road racing. This is wheel-to-wheel racing on some of the finest road courses in the U.S. Around here, that means Buttonwillow Raceway Park near Bakersfield and Willow Springs International Raceway.

For you to race at this level, things get more complicated. First you need to go to driver’s school. The California Sports Car Club puts on excellent programs of its own; in addition, many of the top driving schools are accredited by the club, so they can help you obtain your novice and in some cases regional license.

The best advice here is to rent a race car--check with the sports car club of your choosing on where to locate individuals or companies that provide rentals--and attend the school before you decide to buy. That way, you can test cars in several different classes to find the one you like.

This is the form that has evolved from the pure sports-car racing that developed with MGs and Triumphs in the 1950s and ‘60s. Today the entry-level classes are called Showroom Stock and Improved Touring. The SCCA even has a Spec Racer class in which the single-seat racing cars are identical and designed to provide low-cost racing.

Whether you’re running at 100 mph or 150 mph, racing side by side while downshifting and braking for a corner takes all the skill and concentration you can muster.

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Auto racing is so much a part of Southern California culture that we have just scratched the surface here. In addition to the activities described, stock-car race training is available at the new California Speedway in Fontana and at EVOC in San Bernardino. Local sports car clubs put on TSD (time-speed-distance) road rallies designed to test your mathematical and navigation skills in addition to your driving. There are even rallies designed for vintage sports cars such as the California Mille, which honors the original Mille Miglia in Italy.

But be forewarned: Once you are hooked, “mad car disease” takes over. First you buy the race car; then you modify it with all the latest speed secrets. Then, of course, you need a trailer for the car and then a truck or motor home to tow it. Pretty soon your weeknights are filled with working on the car and your weekends are filled with racing.

What could be better?

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Mike Anson, a freelance writer based in Torrance, was editor of Motor Trend from 1986 to 1989. He has competed in most of the forms of racing profiled in this story. He owns a Datsun 510 Solo II car, a Lola Sports 2000 single-seat road-racing car for SCCA regional racing, a highly modified Nissan 300ZX for Improved Touring competition and the various vans and trailers to move them around.