Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non-racing disciplines.
Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most commonly 1⁄4 mi, with a shorter, 1,000 ft distance becoming increasingly popular, as it has become the standard for Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars, where some major bracket races and other sanctioning bodies have adopted it as the standard. The 1⁄8 mi is also popular in some circles. Electronic timing and speed sensing systems have been used to record race results since the 1960s.
Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately 0.25 to 2.66 miles. It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It originated in the southern United States; its largest governing body is NASCAR. Its NASCAR Cup Series is the premier top-level series of professional stock car racing. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil and the United Kingdom also have forms of stock car racing. Top-level races typically range between 200 and 600 miles in length.
Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Sports car racing is one of the main types of circuit auto racing, alongside open-wheel racing, touring car racing and stock car racing. Sports car races are often, though not always, endurance races that are run over particularly long distances or large amounts of time, resulting in a larger emphasis on the reliability and efficiency of the car and its drivers as opposed to outright car performance or driver skills. The FIA World Endurance Championship is an example of one of the best known sports car racing series.
The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a governing body which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorsports sanctioning body in the world.
Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles were limited in terms of power, weight, allowed technology and overall cost. Group A was aimed at ensuring numerous entries in races of privately owned vehicles.
The Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types including road courses and street circuits. Trans-Am is split into the TA and TA2 classes for silhouette racing cars, while its production classes are the GT, SGT, and XGT.
The Mitsubishi Starion is a two-door, turbocharged four-cylinder rear-wheel drive four-seat hatchback sports car manufactured and marketed by Mitsubishi from 1982 until 1989 — with badge engineered variants marketed in North America as the Conquest, under the Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth brands.
The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive director of SCCA, and his wife Peggy in 1969 with help from Bill France Sr. of NASCAR. Beginning in 2014, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier series resulting from the merger of Grand-Am Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series. IMSA is owned by NASCAR, as a division of the company.
The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the Stephane Ratel Organisation since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club since 2017.
Formula Atlantic is a specification of open-wheel racing car developed in the 1970s. It was used in professional racing through the IMSA Atlantic Championship until 2009 and is currently primarily used in amateur racing through Sports Car Club of America Formula Atlantic.
In relation to international motorsport governed by the FIA, Group N refers to regulations providing "standard" large-scale series production vehicles for competition. They are limited in terms of modifications permitted to the standard specification by the manufacturer making them a cost effective method of production vehicle motorsport. Often referred to as the "showroom class", Group N contrasts with Group A which has greater freedom to modify and tune the cars to be more suitable to racing. Both groups may have the same or similar models homologated by a manufacturer.
The Longest Day of Nelson was conceived in 1980, when a group of racing enthusiasts, led by John McGill, Grover Griggs and Ann McHugh, came up with the idea to hold an amateur 24-hour endurance race for purely showroom stock vehicles at the Nelson Ledges Road Course in Ohio, which would take place on or near the summer solstice each year. Sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), the host of the event was the Northeast Ohio Region of the SCCA.
Rodney Kenneth Millen is a New Zealand racing driver, vehicle designer, and business owner. He has competed in numerous genres of motorsports, including rallying, off-road racing, hillclimbing, drifting, and super touring.
A late model car is a term used to describe an automobile which has been recently designed or manufactured, often the latest model.
Canadian Touring Car Championship (CTCC) presented by Pirelli is a Canadian professional touring car road racing series. In 2006, it was created based on the growth of amateur touring car racing in Canada and the pent-up demand for a professional product.
Procar Australia was a motorsport category management company which operated in Australia from 1994 to 2004.
Peter "P.D." Cunningham is an American race car driver and owner of RealTime R&L, Inc., based in Saukville, Wisconsin and currently competing in the Pirelli World Challenge GT Championship. His name and his team, RealTime Racing, have become synonymous with the Honda and Acura brands. Through 2013, he has claimed 91 professional race wins across 12 different North American road racing series and holds numerous World Challenge records.
Group GT3, known technically as Cup Grand Touring Cars and commonly referred to as simply GT3, is a set of regulations maintained by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for grand tourer racing cars designed for use in various auto racing series throughout the world. The GT3 category was initially created in 2005 by the SRO Group as a third rung in the ladder of grand touring motorsport, below the Group GT1 and Group GT2 categories which were utilized in the SRO's FIA GT Championship, and launched its own series in 2006 called the FIA GT3 European Championship. Since then, Group GT3 has expanded to become the de facto category for many national and international grand touring series, although some series modify the ruleset from the FIA standard. By 2013, nearly 20 automobile manufacturers have built or been represented with GT3 machines.
Altered is a former National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racing class and a current drag racing chassis configuration that forms the basis of many classes of NHRA Competition Eliminator.
