Good on them for doing this. 
Photograph courtesy Grass Paddock Motorsports
It’s never easy on the community when a race track closes. And it’s particularly impactful when that track is as beloved and active as Pitt Race, which announced recently that its final events would take place in November of this year, after it was sold to developers who have decidedly non-track aspirations for the western Pennsylvania plot of land.
[Pitt Race sold and will close at the end of 2025]
That announcement sent many track enthusiasts scrambling to find a final event to burn a little rubber as their farewell before Pitt Race joins Bridgehampton, Riverside and Palm Coast International Raceway in track heaven.
Some teams are even taking it one step further, making access even easier by offering some “last lap” deals on rentals.
Frank Schwartz’s Grass Paddock Motorsports is doing just that. Frank runs GPM as a nearly-nationwide arrive-and-drive team featuring multiple SCCA B-Spec Mini Coopers for every level of racing.
For their final Pitt Race send-off, GPM has announced that they’ll support as many cars as they can fill at the Lucky Dog Racing League event. GPM’s offer to racers for the October 25-26 event is that it will fill seats basically at its cost to put the cars on track.
Advertised rentals are a fraction of what it would normally be for the amount of track time you’ll get–prices start at around $1500 per hour–and Schwartz has said that while he’s built in a little bit of wiggle room for unforeseen variables, and any “profit” from the weekend will be donated to Lucky Dog’s charity.
“This is an effort to get as many people to experience Pitt Race as possible before it closes,” Schwartz said. While he did point out that the SCCA B-Spec cars will be toward the slower end of the Lucky Dog classing structure, he also points out their reliability and championship pedigree in SCCA competition.
Good on them for doing this.
Don't forget Heartland Park on the list of recently departed tracks. Seems like they're barely opening faster than they're closing these days.
The final Track Night event had a waitlist of over 100 cars, so they added a second event. Both events had big waitlists, so they are doing a double event on the second date. Everyone wants one last go, and this seems like a great opportunity for some wheel-to-wheel racing.
In reply to pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) :
Thank you for the heads up, I had no idea there was a second event. I think I may try and hit that one up.
As for the Lucky Dog event, that looks like a good deal to dip your toe into enduros.
Yeah this just seems like a cool deal all around. It's a great opportunity for reasonably priced seat time in a top notch event, and it's also a great way for Frank to introduce some new people to his team and service. He'll probably come away with some new regular customers from this, which is kind of a win all the way around.
Pour one out for Palm Coast International Raceway.
Weirdly, I was at a pet store last night. Right near the register was a Porsche shaped cat scratcher. It had "PittRace" down the side of it.
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