All good things come to an end, and that’s the case for the Pittsburgh International Race Complex. According to several sources, it will be sold to a developer. The track will honor its remaining 2025 dates before its closing.
Located in Wampum, Pennsylvania, less than 40 miles away from its namesake city, Pitt Race has served racers since the …
Soooooooooooo.....where will SCCA TTN be in 2026?
Glad I got to drive there last summer with AutoInterests.
This really sucks. Pitt Race has turned into a terrific facility over the years and to see it get bulldozed is shocking.
There's so much empty space in Beaver and Lawrence counties that I cannot believe that a developer made an offer on a fully funtional racetrack over a wooded piece of land.
This year's schedule included American Endurance Racing, ChampCar, Gridlife, Lucky Dog Racing League, Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, Tire Rack One Lap of America, Tire Rack SCCA Time Trials Nationals and the Tire Rack Ultimate Track Car Challenge. In the past, it has also had the Trans Am Series and MotoAmerica.
All that and they still couldn't make a go of it? That's discouraging.
Well crap, guess who has booked the TNIA for 10/15 to explore another local race track.
I was hoping that this would potentially become another great option.
This is really another blow as I was there racing this weekend when a unfortunate death occurred. I started racing at Pittrace/Beaverun year 2 when it opened. It was my first track event, regular kart place and the first time I did champcar. I indirectly put all parties in contact at Chumpcar advocating for a event and it happened. If the rumor is true at this will become some AI warehouse it seems there are so many other places. It was a world class facility I am thankful that I got the opportunity.
No way around it, this came down to the owners being offered an insane pile of money to walk away and let private equity turn it into a soul sucking data center.
This just plain sucks for the region, with so many clubs, organizations, and businesses that thrived on having a nearby track with some of the best facilities in the country. Access to this track with affordable events like Track Night in America is personally the reason I fell down the motorsport rabbit hole. I've been at pittrace at least a couple days a month either driving, spectating, volunteering, or finally this year getting paid to help out at events (not an employee of the track). Gutted for the employees of the track, some of whom are good friends and apparently only got notice this morning.
I think there's an applicable quote from the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation that goes something along the lines of "gee mister, that's pretty low. If I had a rubber hose... " I think the spirit of the quote fits, if not the action prescribed. Today I think many of us in the Steel City felt like Clark Griswold opening a jelly of the month club membership with this news today.
To the Stouts, I hope your pile of money was worth it and you understand the magnitude of this decision to close one of the finest facilities in the country. That this closure is another win for corporate greed, and the grassroots motorsport enthusiast community has lost a second home and lost who we thought was an ally in keeping motorsport alive.
trigun7469 said:This is really another blow as I was there racing this weekend when a unfortunate death occurred. I started racing at Pittrace/Beaverun year 2 when it opened. It was my first track event, regular kart place and the first time I did champcar. I indirectly put all parties in contact at Chumpcar advocating for a event and it happened. If the rumor is true at this will become some AI warehouse it seems there are so many other places. It was a world class facility I am thankful that I got the opportunity.
All of this. I even raced there during the dark days of beaverrun when it was hard to get on track due to all the military and security training.
An Alan Wilson circuit just gone.
If you haven't been there, it is in the middle of nowhere. No idea why other land couldn't be used for whatever purpose it was bought for.
Well E36 M3. That leaves ummm Keystone Drag strip and the Jennerstown oval, to my knowledge. And an on again off again dirt track in Latrobe.
That's also the Pittsburgh SCCA regions autocross lot. North hills car club, not SCCA, still has a lot, Allegheny Highlands SCCA region is having issues with the old Wyotech lot again.
Race Protocol is the shop at the entrance of Pitt Race. Doug who works there is great, he helped multiple people at the SCCA time trials a few weeks ago. I hope that Doug is able to keep his business going without Pitt Race being there. I know that a neighbor isn't a reason not to make a business decision, but these changes have reprocussions past just the track closing.
Absolutely gutting news. The fact that they just took a huge payday to sell it out for data center use is such a slap in the face. No matter how much you have, apparently it's never enough.
There have been 2 deaths at the track recently, a shifter kart and a sidecar motorcycle racer.
Those incidents may have weighed heavily on the owners' minds.
It's all fun & games, until suddenly it isn't.
mhaskins said:To the Stouts, I hope your pile of money was worth it and you understand the magnitude of this decision to close one of the finest facilities in the country. That this closure is another win for corporate greed, and the grassroots motorsport enthusiast community has lost a second home and lost who we thought was an ally in keeping motorsport alive.
Apparently, they also recently sold their stake in VIR.
Glad all my time with Auto interests was so great, you really never know when it's your last time. Nofx said it best - Total Bummer.
This is unfortunate and disgusting. As an autocrosser, I know ax is always at the mercy of the land owners. I thought that a dedicated racetrack would have been our last hope, and Pitt has a nice pad. Or you graduate to track days, and a dedicated track would always be there for you. I guess no more. I can not believe that the owners took a buyout versus trying to shop it around to a new track owner who could make it work better, financially. Someone with amazingly deep pockets needs to find a way to keep tracks alive.
I was there on day 0 before the facility was even finished.
FJ40Jim said:There have been 2 deaths at the track recently, a shifter kart and a sidecar motorcycle racer.
Those incidents may have weighed heavily on the owners' minds.
It's all fun & games, until suddenly it isn't.
This, along with the exit from VIR, sounds like saving what they had from the lawyers. One accidental death, bad news. A second in the same year, disheartening at the least, and I'd see the legal vermin starting to circle the raft in my sleep...
TheDailyDownshift said:Absolutely gutting news. The fact that they just took a huge payday to sell it out for data center use is such a slap in the face. No matter how much you have, apparently it's never enough.
When the story said it was being sold to developers I initially assumed that meant a large housing development. Without knowing the layout of the facility it would seem that something like a data center could be built so it could coexist with the track activities, those places typically don't have a large amount of personnel working at them.
Makes me wish I wasn't skipping ChampCar there this weekend. One of my very favorite tracks to drive.
This is pretty gutting news. PittRace was my home track, and I was proud to have it as my home track. And now one of my favorite things is being taken away by one of my least favorite things.
I think I need to start doing more drag racing to make sure the local drag strips don't close down, too.
Wow, not a good week for motorsports in the area: the big autocross site at the IX Center in CLE just had it's final event last week after being bought by the jungle site.
I did a bunch of trackdays at Pitt back when only the north track existed, as well as some rallycross and kart races. Always liked that they ran such a variety of events there, sometimes simultaneously so you could go watch something else during breaks.
red_stapler said:I was there on day 0 before the facility was even finished.
Kart track! I have also driven a car on that track. Fun stuff!
XLR99 (Forum Supporter) said:Wow, not a good week for motorsports in the area: the big autocross site at the IX Center in CLE just had it's final event last week after being bought by the jungle site.
I did a bunch of trackdays at Pitt back when only the north track existed, as well as some rallycross and kart races. Always liked that they ran such a variety of events there, sometimes simultaneously so you could go watch something else during breaks.
Yea, my wife and I loved doing autocross, track days, and Karting all in one day.
mhaskins said:No way around it, this came down to the owners being offered an insane pile of money to walk away and let private equity turn it into a soul sucking data center.
If the data center is true, it's possible the zoning classification made the property valuable for a data center. The one characteristic the two facilities would have in common is noise. The HVAC requirements for a data center can be quite loud.
Definitely a bummer. Isn't the vintage race/festival held here as well? My Spitfire club friends have gone a couple of times, but unfortunately I have not been able to get there.
This sucks for the racing community but I don't understand the animosity towards the owners. Race tracks have a terrible ROI and are hard to sell. I don't know them personally but I do know a handful of other track owners and they all are in it for the love of racing. If the Stouts managed to break even or even make some money after providing, what I understand to be, a world class racing facility to the community for 14 years good for them.
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