Race Tracks


[[Road Courses][Ovals][Drag Strips][Kart Tracks]]

Race Tracks

The race track directory is currently undergoing a major update; it has barely started. Currently I am working through Texas tracks, although I am always willing to take care of individual listings that are brought to my attention. Drop an email message to webmaster@na-motorsports.com to bring something to my attention.

The Race Track pages are here to provide information about tracks in the United States and Canada. The State-and-Province index appears below. The buttons that appear at the top of each page select broad groupings of Road Courses, Oval Tracks, Drag Strips, or Kart Tracks.

Ghost Tracks is an evolution of existing work on historic venues. The YouTube Channel in particular is at a very early stage, but subscribers, views and comments are always welcome.

RSS Feeds are available Here.



Notes

* State-and-Province Index
* Hints on using the Track Pages
* Tracking Changes
* New Pages
* Helping with New Pages
* For Geeks
* Copyrights

State-and-Province Index

Hints on using the Track Pages

Getting There Map Links

Most US map links are to Yahoo! Maps. Note that there are two ways that Yahoo! maps appear, and the difference is significant. If there is a red Yahoo! Maps logo, then read the accompanying text carefully, as I couldn't get a decent physical street address or a nearby corner. In this case, the directions buttons will get you nearby, but not really there. I'm gradually improving the directions links, so this should eventually go away.

If the map button is a ordinary submit button saying "get map" (a grey button in most browsers), then I got a good location (generally within a few hundred yards) and the directions features will be quite useful. Regardless of the type of map link, please check to see if there are any comments above or below the link button.

It can be useful to crossreference terraserver imagery with with the maps, in order to get a clear idea of where the track really is.

All new pages for Canadian tracks use Google Maps links for directions and location, and over time all Canadian pages will migrate to using Google Maps. The Canadian version of Yahoo! Maps is flaky by comparison with the Google product. Be aware, though, that for many parts of Canada the online mapping services (all of them) may have the road grid but not have any names attached to the roads, which is very frustrating.

Hotel/Motel/Restaurant Lookups

For most Yahoo!, the listing will be sorted by distance from the track. If the "getting there" map button is for Yahoo! maps (most of the time it is), and the location of the track is clearly marked with a red star (most of the time I accomplished this), then once you are looking at the Yahoo! map, you can navigate through Yahoo! to get listings ordered by distance from the track. The only problem with this is that you will first have to look at a list of hotels who have paid Yahoo! money to be listed first, then find the "all businesses" text link and click on it to get the list you really want.

Older Canadian pages may use the Area Guide or Yahoo! Maps for directories.

Google broke the hotel & dining links code so I am gradually moving to MapQuest and Yahoo!.

Track Maps & Imagery

Many tracks have links to various bits and pieces of Aerial Photography. These may come from TerraServer, Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps.

I am gradually adding data on race tracks to OpenStreetMap and OpenHistoricalMap. When this has been done, an OSM/OHM view will be embedded in the track page. This is still somewhat experimental, but look for a layer control in the upper right hand corner. It will always allow you to switch between OpenStreetMap and aerial imagery (courtesy of Mapbox). There should be instructions to the right of the embed if anything extra is available. This is still somewhat experimental. Some examples of where it's going may be found Here.

Weather Lookups

The weather links are mostly from RacetrackWeather.com. US tracks are all referenced to the Track zip code. Occasionally, we may fall back on weather.com for some cases where RacetrackWeather can't provide a forecast. Canadian cities and towns are not handled by RacetrackWeather.com and are poorly represented by the Weather channel, and in some cases I may choose not to provide a weather link rather than provide an obviously silly one.

Tracking changes

All major content changes are tracked on the New page and in the rss feed RSS feed.

New Pages

Sometimes new pages are added when someone asks (which could be a track owner or perhaps an enthusiastic fan. If you are in this category, read the section Page Help below.) Most new pages are being added as I go through on a state by state basis. I am now working on the Midwest and will then move on to the Rocky Mountains. Please be patient, there are somewhere between 1700 and 1900 race tracks in the US and Canada, and it will take a while to get to all of them.

Helping with New Pages

Basic Info

The basic info I look for to provide a complete page is as follows. First, I like to have a physical street address, preferably a postal address or a E911 address, something that Yahoo! Maps or MapsOnUs recognizes. Second, I like to have a stable phone number (fax if available) for either the track or the office (if different from the track). Third, if there is an official website, it's important to have the URL for it.

Optional Extras

If you want to go find the track with TerraServer, Here is the link. Should you find a decent aerial view, clip the URL from the Location line of your browser and send it along.

If there are any historical notes of interest, those are good too. This includes things like year the track opened, physical configuration changes (e.g., started as 1/4 mile dirt oval, expanded to 1/3 mile paved oval), etc. I generally don't list details of ownership changes unless they correspond to major changes in the track configuration or operation.

Copyrights

This collection is Copyright 1994-2005 by Richard Welty. Individual contributions remain the property of the contributors. Many individual pages are published under a Creative Commons License; see the foot of each page to find out what license any particular page has been published under.

For all other pages, permission is granted for personal, not-for-profit use of the material, provided credit and links are given to the North American Motorsports Pages. For any other use, contact me at rwelty@krusty-motorsports.com.


North American Motorsports Pages / NA Websites / webmaster@na-motorsports.com