Motorsports and Racing in the Pittsburgh Area (Erie, Greensburg: for sale, 2015)

[lprmesia]

Just because there's not another thread about this, figured I'd start one.

In case anyone new to the area is into pretending to be (or actually wanting to be a racecar driver), here's the venues local to the area:

Pittsburgh International Race Complex
201 Penndale Rd, Wampum, PA 16157
pittrace.com
Features a full 2.8mi long road course (expanded in 2015), a .82mi long go-kart course, and a large VDA area for drift events, autocross events, police training courses, Uber test courses, etc.

Keystone Raceway Park
538 Stone Jug Rd, New Alexandria, PA 15670
keystoneracewaypark.com
Full 1/4 mile drag strip that's generally open to the public for Test & Tune events.

Pittsburgh PA Motor Speedway (PPMS)
180 Kelso Rd, Imperial, PA 15126
ppms.com
Dirt oval - sprint cars, monster truck shows, etc.

Lernerville Speedway
313 N Pike Rd, Sarver, PA 16055
lernerville.com
Another Dirt oval - spring cars, etc.

Other sites of interest:
Steel City Indoor Karting
360 Mall Cir Dr, Monroeville, PA 15146
steelcityindoorkarting.com
Indoor karting for adults (13+), these karts pull over 1G and do over 35MPH.

North Park Pool
S Ridge Dr, Allison Park, PA 15101
North Hills Sports Car Club
Spring and Fall Autocross events held at the North Park Pool Parking Lot since 1957.

There's also:
STCsolo.com | Autocross in the Pittsburgh, PA area from the Steel Cities Region of the SCCA - Steel Cities SCCA - they do Road Course Events and Autocross events at Pittsburgh International Race Complex
Allegheny Highlands Region Sports Car Club of America - Allegheny Highlands SCCA - they do smallers Autocross events at Wyotech in Blairsville
ARPCA.com | Allegheny Region Porsche Club of America - Allegheny Region Porsche Club of America. You don't need a Porsche to become a member or participate in their events. They do Road Course and Autocross events at Pittsburgh International Race Complex and the Greensburg Jeannette Airport.

Also Mid-Ohio, Nelsons Ledges, and Summit Point aren't too far away. There's also Rallycross and Hillclimb events in the Cumberland area as well.

Am I missing anything?

[guy2073]

There is a big drag race track by Youngstown, I have never been but it is not a far ride.

[lprmesia]

Ahhh... that's right.

Quaker City Motorsports Park
10225 W South Range Rd, Salem, OH 44460

I guess for someone living to the west or north of the city that it might be closer than Keystone out in New Alexandria.

I believe they also do flashlight drags down at the airport in Waynesburg too.

Also forgot to mention:

Jennerstown Speedway
206 Somerset Street, Jennerstown, PA 15547
jennerstown.org
It's (as far as I know) the only paved oval in the area (unless you drive to Erie).

[gg]

In case someone wants to buy one.

Motordrome Speedway - For Sale or Lease

[lprmesia]

Originally Posted by gg

In case someone wants to buy one.

Motordrome Speedway - For Sale or Lease

Wow, hadn't heard of this one and it's closer than Jennerstown for an actual paved oval. I'd be scared to ask how much they want for it.

[2nd trick op]

It's no longer around, but some of us can remember Heidelberg Raceway, a half-mile dirt oval to the south and west of Pittsburgh, which hosted motorcycles (the old "iron shoe" variety), modifieds, and what were termed "semi-late model" stock cars. NASCAR sponsored a couple of events there in the late Sixties, but for some reason, the events never caught on in Western Pennsylvania.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidelberg_Raceway

[jea6321]

smithton hole used to do Rallyx events. Not sure they are doing those any longer though.

then within a not too far drive you have summit point motorsports park, which holds all kinds of events. Road course, autox, rallyx etc.

Does anyone know if Pittrace ( used to be beaverRun) still does thursday late afternoon/evening autox events? those were great.

[norcider]

There used to be a dirt oval off of Mt Nebo on I279 about where the deck hockey place is as well. I have vague memories of it.

[lprmesia]

Originally Posted by jea6321

smithton hole used to do Rallyx events. Not sure they are doing those any longer though.

Sadly, no. Sadly neither of the local SCCA groups seem to want to touch RallyX. Cumberland is pretty close though (about 2 hours from PGH) and the Ohio Valley Region does events about 3 hours away.

Originally Posted by jea6321

then within a not too far drive you have summit point motorsports park, which holds all kinds of events. Road course, autox, rallyx etc.

Summit Point is fantastic! They do "hill climb" events there too, but it's really just running the course backwards, haha.

If you haven't been to PittRace in a while, I highly recommend seeing what the new owners have done up there. They expanded the VDA, added over another mile to the road course (it's now longer than Mid-Ohio, Summit Point, or even Laguna Seca), and built a lot of new facilities on-site. I believe some of the clubs are still racing up there this year, but I know the Track Night in America events hosted by the SCCA where anyone can come race their car for $125 during a weekday afternoon/evening just wrapped up 2 weeks ago.

Originally Posted by jea6321

Does anyone know if Pittrace ( used to be beaverRun) still does thursday late afternoon/evening autox events? those were great.

Sadly they don't. I've seen the occasional Friday afternoon event up there being hosted by one of the clubs, but not during the week. Jennerstown Speedway used to have Friday night AutoX "Under the Lights" which was pretty awesome, but they haven't done that since 2014. The Speedway was sold and I guess new ownership wasn't into it.

PittRace themselves actually runs some of their own AutoX events called "LowKey", but they're strictly on Sundays.

How long ago were the Thursday evening autocross events?

[lprmesia]

I hate to disappoint you, but unfortunately this was never built. This was discussed in the late 90's and early 00's, but nothing ever came of it.

The Heidelberg Raceway used to host NASCAR events from the 1940s to the 1960s, but this has long been demolished and has been replaced by a shopping plaza.

They recently expanded the road course at Pittsburgh International Race Complex to a 2.8mi Circuit (longer than even Laguna Seca), but there's never been anything NASCAR related to it.

Sorry!