Getting started
How to get a racing license
Join SCCA, go to a school, race three weekends. Here is the path to an SCCA competition license, what each step costs, and the schools closest to us.
The path
Five steps to a Full Competition License
Start
Join SCCA
$85 membership plus $10–40 region dues, a driver's license, and two online modules.
School
A racing school
SCCA-accredited, or an SCCA region drivers' school.
Permit
Novice Permit
$150. You can race SCCA regionals with it.
Race
Three race weekends
Within two years. One can be an SCCA Track Day or Time Trial.
License
Full Competition License
$125.
Shortcut: some schools go straight to the Full license. Others count as one or two of the three weekends.
Claim the permit or license within 365 days of finishing a school. Fees from SCCA's online store, read 11 Oct 2026; rules from the 2026 GCR, read 19 Oct 2026.
Picking a school
Three schools that suit a driver near Huntsville
PTC Driving Academy, Fayetteville, TN
About 1 hour 10 minutes from our shop. Two days, $3,625 with a Formula Dodge included. You leave with a Novice Permit and credit for one of the three weekends.
MSR Houston
Three days, $4,450 in a rented Spec Racer Ford Gen2 (fuel and damage are yours), or $2,350 in your own car. You leave with a Full Competition License.
Buccaneer Region school, Roebling Road
19–20 February 2027, with a regional race on Sunday 21 February that takes new Novice Permits. School, permit and first race weekend in one trip, in the car you will keep racing. Registration opens in late December.
PTC and MSR Houston prices from the schools' own sites, read 13 Oct 2026. Buccaneer dates from the region's MotorsportReg listing, read 23 Oct 2026.
Looking at another school? Check its course against SCCA's accreditation table before you pay. It shows what each course earns you.
No license yet?
Where you can drive today
The license is only for wheel-to-wheel racing. All of this needs nothing more than a driver's license.
Track days
Track Night in America runs about $160, and organizers like Chin Track Days take you with a driver's license. Laps, no clock, no passing pressure.
Time Trials
A real clock, still no wheel-to-wheel. In a race car like the SRF3 you wear the full kit; the gear post has the details.
The school itself
You no longer need a permit to attend a school. Book one first and decide about the license after.
Where we come in
Getting a license is the easy part. Getting good is the hard part. We do not run a racing school; we do what comes after it: the car, the crew and the hours that turn a license into pace.
See the weekends we run on the calendar, or run your own numbers on the rental pricing calculator.