The greatest Motorsports location in America?

My wife and I plan on moving to the USA some day and I was thinking of locations that have a lot of motorsports to watch and participate in within a 2 hour drive. What city or town in the USA has the greatest variety of motorsports events within 120 miles? The ideal location might even be a small town that is between two large cities that each have a lot of events. Rock Crawling, autocrossing, karting, desert racing, hillclimbs, Formula 1, road racing, drag racing, NASCAR, swamp buggy racing or any other form of motorsports count.

In reply to loosecannon:

As a southerner I'm biased but I'd have to say somewhere around Atlanta, although I wouldn't recommend Atlanta proper. Maybe even north Alabama or south carolina.

Nascar tracks within 150 mile radius... Atlanta Motor Speedway, Talladega, Charlotte

Road racing venues in reasonable driving distance... Road Atlanta, Barber Motorsports Park, Roebling Road, little Talladega Gran Prix, Charlotte road course, Memphis Motorsports Park,NOLA...AD NAUSEUM

Tons of local asphalt and dirt track Bull rings

Plenty of offroad activity but not so much rally that I'm aware of

Climate essentially allows year round motorsports activity

Cost of living is cheap in the south. But you do have to deal with humidity and mosquitoes in the summer

Where are you moving from? Just my 2 cents

Not southwestern Pennsylvania.

Georgia has mud bogs, NASCAR, drags, Karting and more I'm probably forgetting.

Northern/central California is a good one. Like SF Bay area. Rally, off-road, Sonoma, Laguna Seca, formula racing, and more, all within 3 hours drive.

Some of your wishes are geographically separated.

F1 and rock crawling for instance.

Florida has a lot of your list except for hill climbing and desert racing and F1. There are a couple tracks that have international races.

In the southeast, you can get out in the country within ~45min of Atlanta and have access to Road Atlanta and Atlanta Motorsports Park. No rust. Low cost of living. Dirt track, paved ovals, rock crawling / mudding, drag strips galore. NASCAR Country.

Swamps buggy racing and desert racing are out. This is the wrong continent for F1, unless you count Texas, but that's like a whole nuther country.

I would go with Cali for variation. A lot of courses plus it is the heart of this country when it comes to all things mechanical.

I would think that California has the biggest concentration of motorsports culture and events. The weather aint bad either.

The south for cheap living and motorsports.

Cali for nice living and motorsports

The east, in general, seems to have a greater concentration of motorsports than the west. But it may not be as active per track.

US motorcycle race tracks map

Mostly Road Courses and karting map

It really depends on what kind of racing you want too.

If you want F1, you are moving to Texas.

Road racing seems to be Norther Florida/Southern Georgia because of the tracks available.

nderwater wrote: I would think that California has the biggest concentration of motorsports culture and events. The weather aint bad either.

Agreed California is a great place to settle down in....if you're a retired hedge fund manager

I'm in southeast Pennsylvania and it's OK here. Obviously no desert, no swamps and no F1. Several road racing tracks within a reasonable distance (Pocono, NJ Motorsports Park, Summit Point) but probably more than 120 miles. The Pennsylvania Hill Climb Association does 6 or 7 hillclimbs each year and a couple of track time trials - mostly in the eastern half of PA. Autocrosses are all over the place around here. NASCAR is at Pocono and Dover, Delaware (not too far south of Philadelphia). There are drag strips in eastern PA and NJ.

I'm in southwest FL (Sarasota/Bradenton). There are circle track races, boat races, International endurance races, nascar races, drag races, autocrosses, rallycrosses, track days, mud bogs, dirt drag races, swamp buggy races, motorcycle races all within 2-3 hours of me. You could be doing something motorsports related every single weekend if you chose.

If you have to get all those things listed your only choice is Texas. The problem with Texas is it's freaking huge and you will have to be willing to drive more.

Totally biased opinion: Indianapolis

The Good Stuff

Indianapolis Motor Speedway: Currently hosts Indycar road and oval races, Nascar, RedBull Air Race, a pretty decent Vintage Race and has hosted F1, Moto GP, and whatever the Tudor/ALMS series is called these days. There have been talks of adding lights to the track in order to host endurance races, but for now those are just talks (sigh).

Lucas Oil Raceway: Most famous for hosting The US Nationals every year (the Daytona 500 or Indy 500 of the 1/4 mile world) they also have a short oval track and have lower level drags and test/tunes all the time.

Putnam Park Raceway is very close for track days

It's also just a couple of hours from Mid-Ohio, Kentucky Speedway, Chicagoland, and dozens of dirt and pavement circle tracks if you like sprint cars, midgets, modifieds, Demolition Derbys, Montster Trucks, etc. The Corvette plant in Bowling Green is a nice day trip too. Or Churchill Downs if you prefer your Horsepower in more literal terms.

There are a couple of decent places to go offroading in vehicles, or ATVs/Dirtbikes.

Home to most of the NHRA and IndyCar teams if you'd be looking for a job, or you just like going on shop tours.

Has the usual autocross, rallycross, Cars and Coffee types of events

The Bad Stuff

We have this thing called winter where it tends to get cold and sometimes snowy. Thherefore, racing takes place between March (at the earliest) and October (at the latest), but we have the PRI show in Dec to break the winter monotony. Plenty of professional and semi professional sports teams too if you're into that.

In reply to STM317:

I think you missed more than a few of the Bad Stuff. Remember, this guy is from not-Murica.

And that is gonna be a huge problem for a majority of the high-density racing areas all of us have listed.

In reply to FlightService:

Your bias is showing. How do you know that would be a bad thing for the OP? I'd prefer to let him make up his own mind.

When's the last time you were in Indianapolis? Indiana in the broad sense is still the sterotypical "Red State", but it has vibrant and welcoming urban areas with tons of culture. I promise, only a few of us are named Cletus.

In reply to STM317:

Indy has been a while, well at least for anything more than a stop through. Sounds much like Texas, Austin is one thing but the rest of the state is something else.

Just a warning instead of a don't go there. Just needs to be aware.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/JREkqCvLzSo

Massachusetts.

Closest IndyCar races are 4 1/2 hours from Worcester, NASCAR races at New Hampshire (2 hours from Worcester) and the Glen, the Modifieds and Supermodifieds race all over but particularly in Connecticut, World of Outlaws comes up as close as Fulton NY, and you have a broad variety of kart tracks ranging from F1 Boston/F1 Outdoors to NHIS to OVRP.

FlightService wrote: In reply to STM317: , Austin is one thing but the rest of the state is something else. Just a warning instead of a don't go there. Just needs to be aware. https://www.youtube.com/embed/JREkqCvLzSo

This is correct austin is a cesspool of misplaced kommiefornia idiots that is the sole blemish on this great state

loosecannon, do you mind if I ask where you are from? I echo the above (positive) sentiments about Georgia. I myself am a "transplant" to GA, but have lived in most parts of the state. What forms of motorsport are you most interested in? We sadly do not have rally or hillclimbs like the northeast does. I haven't done much actual participation to date but intend to change that soon. There are active SCCA (autocross/rallycross) events in Atlanta and Middle Georgia.

In reply to icaneat50eggs:

Having spent a significant amount of time in Texas, Austin is one of the few places I wouldn't give back to Mexico. Apparently more than a few agree.

In reply to FlightService:

Well if you have a hankering for the occasional international motorsports fix, loosecannon, realize that flights are cheap from Atlanta to Dallas are cheap. So twice a year you can jet out to see F1 and FIM motorcycle race at circuit America.

Biased as I am I'd stick to somewhere in southeast

In reply to FlightService:

The OP asked about motorsports. No mention of political climate was given or requested. If you ever make it to central Indiana, and need some advice on things to do let me know. Maybe I can help to dispel some stereotypes.

Lof8 wrote: I'm in southwest FL (Sarasota/Bradenton). There are circle track races, boat races, International endurance races, nascar races, drag races, autocrosses, rallycrosses, track days, mud bogs, dirt drag races, swamp buggy races, motorcycle races all within 2-3 hours of me. You could be doing something motorsports related every single weekend if you chose.

You forgot the figure-8 camper & school bus races too!

In reply to STM317:

True, but I have made the single reason move without taking in many factors are regretted it. You don't want to go to the track if you can't talk about anything but that race. Life hardly stays on just one track. Conversations always drift.

The next time I am passing through your state, I will drop you a line. We can grab a beer.

California's high cost of admittance is largely The San Francisco Bay Area and the Southern Coastal regions. If you are willing to live an hour or so out of the hotspots, the cost of living is relatively reasonable, and in most cases, you're closer to the motorsports venues anyway. Sacramento gets you everything, (although a bit hot for my tastes, but still a lot better climate than most of the country)

I'm seriously considering retiring near Monterey/Laguna Seca. Phenomenal weather and natural beauty. Killer racetrack in my front yard. What's not to like?