Getting Started In Dirt Racing

Depending on age and budget, there are many paths to get your dirt racing career started. If you are looking for information for getting started with your child or if you are an adult interested in dirt racing, you have come to the right place. With that being said, let’s first look at all of the things you have to consider before you choose the option that works best for your goals.

Doing the proper research will ensure that you make the least amount of mistakes starting out. Here are some of the main things you need to consider:

• What types of dirt racing is available in your area?
• What is your maximum budget per year to support a dirt racing operation?
• How far are you willing to travel to race?
• What resources/tools do you already have to lessen costs (do you have a truck/trailer? Do you have a space to store the car and work on it? Do you have help from a crew or friends/family?)
• Are you planning on making this a full time hobby? Or is this just for fun? What is the end goal?
• Do you have experience working on cars or engines?

Once you knock that research out, you can begin to narrow some things down and focus on how you want to get started. If you are looking to get a young child started in some form of racing, then the obvious choice starting out is karting or quarter midgets. Karting can be a relatively cheap introduction to motorsports, as you can likely find a local track that offers weekly racing. This will likely be a pavement track, but it is a way to get your child used to being on a racetrack with other competitors. For a small operation, you can probably run a full season of karting for under $10,000. Check out this detailed cost analysis of a season of karting (this might be for adult karting but it gives you a general idea of costs and things that need to be considered). That breakdown is from 2018, so rising costs and inflation need to be taken into account.

If you want to skip the go kart and get right on to the dirt, then a quarter midget is likely going to be the best option. Some of the best drivers in motorsports got their careers started in quarter midgets.

What is a Quarter Midget?

A Quarter Midget car is a scaled-down version of an actual midget racer, approximately 1/4 scale. The cars are built around a tubular frame and are fully suspended with springs or torsion bars and shocks. The bodies are fibreglass, usually painted to the driver’s preference. Surrounding the driver is a chrome-moly roll cage and nerf bars. The engines are single cylinder and are manufactured by Honda, Continental, Briggs & Stratton, and Deco. In the motors stock configuration, they produce between 2.5 & 4 horsepower. Modifications in the upper classes allow these engines to reach several times the stock horsepower. These air-cooled 4-cycle engines are reliable and can produce as much as 10,000 rpm’s in their more highly modified forms.

– Quarter Midgets of America

Quarter Midgets can be raced on both pavement and dirt. If you want to start with a new car and engine, plan for around $15,000 – $20,000 right away. A used set up can be found for much cheaper, but you will need to be careful what you buy. A facility that offers quarter midget racing will likely have age groups that have different restrictions that limit the speed based off of experience. Take a track like Millbridge Speedway in North Carolina. They offer four different divisions based off of age groups and engine horsepower. The lowest and slowest division is for kids ages 5-8 and the fastest, open division is for ages 14 and older. Take a look at the tracks in your area to get an idea of the rules package and restrictions they might have before making a decision.

But I am old and can’t fit into a Quarter Midget or Go Kart

If you found this article because you are an adult and want to get started in dirt racing, then this section is for you. I come from a family that owned a small dirt modified team in the Northeast for over 20 years. We chose to skip over the smaller race cars and go right into the big stuff. If you have some racing experience, this could be a path, but if you are looking to turn your first laps on a dirt track, I don’t recommend dumping a bunch of money into a car that is out of your league.

Be realistic with yourself and see if your local dirt track offers some form of “street stocks.” Being around racing my entire life, street stocks have many names. Outlaw stocks, junkers, hobby stocks, and whatever else you can come up with to describe a street car that has been turned into a dirt race car. Depending on your local track, you will find a wide variety of rule packages that come with racing a street stock. Some will require your engine to be stock, others will allow a 602 crate engine. Some will allow station wagon style bodies, others will not. Again, this all needs to be researched before you go out and buy a wrecked car.

A 602 crate engine is designed to make racing more affordable and more competitive for local racers. However, if you have the budget where you consider putting one in a street stock, maybe look for an alternative form of racing. A quick Google search for the cost of a 602 crate shows that you will be spending $6,500 minimum. If you factor that in to the cost of stripping the car, adding a roll cage and modifying other parts, you are already well over $10,000 before you hit the track. Finding a street stock division that is for the true working man will be much more affordable. Some tracks offer 4-cylinder divisions, where you keep everything stock and add a roll cage to the car.

It all depends on what your goals are. Are you getting into racing because you are interested in advancing in motorsports? Or are you just doing this for fun? No matter the answer, a street stock could be the right choice for an adult starting out. When you ask an experienced racer what some of the most important things are when it comes to racing, many will include “track time” or “laps” in their explanation. The more laps you have under your belt, the better off you will be when you make the decision to move up in the dirt racing world. Getting track time in a street stock is no different, as you will get a better feel for the track and how things play out when you are racing side by side with a competitor.

I Don’t Want Fenders, I am Looking for Open Wheel Racing

Okay, so you are past the age of racing quarter midgets but you don’t want to go with a full size dirt car with fenders. No problem. Welcome to the world of Micro Sprint racing. The folks over at Hyper Racing do an incredible job of breaking down everything you need to know about Micro Sprints. Micro Sprints are exactly what the name says. A small version of a full sized sprint car. They can be run with a wing on top or wingless. You will find micro sprints with a 600cc engine, a 270cc engine and sometimes a 125cc engine.

Growing up, my local dirt track offered weekly micro racing. Many of those drivers advanced into full size sprint cars or modifieds. Micro Sprints run on smaller tracks, making the racing very close and exciting. Drivers gain valuable experience in these situations and usually become better racers as a result.

So there you have it. While those are not all of the ways you can get started out in dirt racing, they are some of the most popular and affordable. Whether you are looking to get your child started out, or if you are an adult looking to scratch an itch, be sure to consider some of these options. Happy racing.