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The snow has melted, and the northeast States can finally start thinking about autocross while we watch the results of our friends out west and down south enjoy their more favorable racing weather.

For this side of the country, Pittsburgh Match Tour will be the first national event, and for many drivers perhaps their first of any event of the season. The major difference this year is drivers won’t have to worry about making enough entrants for the event to take place, as there’s already more drivers pre-registered a month in advance than the event drew in total for 2016.

Located about 45 miles northwest of the city of Pittsburgh, Wampum PA is the home of the recently renovated Pittsburgh International Raceway. The mostly smooth multi-surface asphalt features some areas that will vary in grip and plenty of elevation changes. Course designers are now cognizant of certain lot characteristics such as the storm drain, and we expect the Steel Cities region to setup a terrific course that will satisfy two days of tight competition. Competitors will enjoy newly constructed in-door bathrooms, as well as an onsite banquet room to hold Saturday’s award ceremony.

Friday will feature an EVO Advantage Driving School running from nine to noon, and a Test N Tune will follow thereafter (ticket sales from 11am-2pm). Saturday and Sunday’s competition course will be setup and open for walking by 5:30 PM Friday, with registration open from 3-7pm.

Those traveling south to venture back into the city for entertainment will want to avoid the construction of I-279. If you’re looking for a shorter drive, make sure to check out the city of Cranberry located just 20 minutes south of the site with plenty of places to eat, a movie theater and more. Heading north instead? Don’t miss the original location of Quaker Steak in lube in Sharon PA, or grab a drink at Beaver Brewing Company, or Petrucci Brothers Brewing. If chicken wings and beer isn’t your thing, check out the beautiful nearby parks of Buttermilk Falls, McConnells Mills, or Moraine State Parks, or travel about 20 miles northeast of the site and check out Living Treasure Animal Park.

However, the greatest source of entertainment could be found just 200 feet or less from your actual paddock spot. The Pittsburgh International Raceway features a dedicated kart track on-site. ¾ of a mile long, with plenty of elevation changes, curbed and off camber corners, and karts capable of over 40 MPH, with 9.5HP engines. Soloists have an opportunity to settle the score running wheel-to-wheel, side-by-side if they didn’t meet their adrenaline quota between the timing lights of autocross competition. This may be the best rental karting experience in the country, so don’t miss this incredible opportunity to race your fellow auto-crosser. 

This event is less than a month away, so sign up now as the entry list already 2/3rds full. This could be one of the season’s most exciting Match Tour’s, and at this rate reaching the full capacity of 200 entrants is very possible. Don’t miss the Pittsburgh Match Tour!

This article first appeared in the March, 2017 edition of SportsCar Magazine. SCCA members can read the current and past editions of SportCar digitally here after logging into their account; To become an SCCA member and get SportsCar mailed to your home address monthly in addition to the digital editions, click here.

Tamra Hunt
New England Region
Member since 2015

“I didn’t grow up around car racing. In fact, I learned to drive stick on a Ford Festiva. With that car, I had to think ahead if I wanted to make it up a hill without slowing to a crawl! To say the least, my racing career didn’t start until later in life.

In 2014, I signed up for a rookie autocross school. My first year of autocross was spent at my local club running a Miata. Later that year, I took an Evolution Performance Driving School, where Billy Davis was my instructor. Little did I know that less than a year later, Billy would become a great friend and mentor, and that I would have the opportunity to drive the Davis car at National events.

In 2015, I dove head first into National events, driving many different cars — 18 in total! Of those, I drove four different cars at National events across L2, L3, and CSPL, never finishing off the podium. Driving a variety of cars forced me to adapt every time and it was a great learning experience. The end result was placing second overall in L3 in a Honda S2000 named ‘Elsa’ owned by Tim Kong (at that point, a three-week-old STR build), winning CSPL in the Mazda Miata ‘Jack’ owned by the Davis family, and receiving Solo Rookie of the Year honors. In 2016, I managed a repeat CSPL win, but in Mike Kline’s and Danny Kao’s car ‘Oscar,’ having never driven it before (the Davis car had electrical gremlins, causing a last-minute car swap).

The SCCA has an amazing sense of family. During the Wilmington Tire Rack ProSolo event in 2016, issues plagued us. We broke the differential carrier, exhaust, an axle, and even floated a valve. Thanks to our perseverance as well as parts and assistance from the autocross community, we were able to patch it up repeatedly. Despite missing many runs, I still managed a 0.050sec victory in L1, and the car owner Billy won open CSP, too.

Although my SCCA life is just beginning, what an awesome, whirlwind of an experience it has been so far.”