ParkingLotRacing.org is a passion project created by Ricardo de Leon. Ricardo, like many others, discovered Autocross, a.k.a. AutoX, one day driving pass his local Minor League Baseball Stadium and witnessing various types of street vehicles racing around cones… in the parking lot! He stopped what he was doing and parked outside the venue and watched the cars for a moment – he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to enter the venue, he didn’t know who was putting on this event, he had never seen such a thing in his life.
Being the millennial that he is, he went straight to Google when he got home later day. “Blue Crabs Stadium parking lot racing” was what he searched and with a little bit of detective work, discovered the event was hosted by the National Capital Chapter – BMW Club of America. Coincidentally, he had already owned a 1997 BMW M3 and as luck would have it, there was one more event that year. He signed up without any referrals; he didn’t know anyone from the club – he just knew he had to try it… and from that event forward, he was hooked.
Like any sport, he understood seat time was key to getting faster. Learning the ins and outs of car control and familiarizing yourself with the handling characteristics of the car. After completing his first few couple of events with the BMW Club, he began to slowly discover more local clubs through word of mouth. Even after a year in to the sport, he would catch whim of additional clubs and events. To alleviate this gap in knowledge for others, he created a local Facebook group and began to track and share events in one centralized place. Several years later in January of 2022, that idea evolved in to this website, ParkingLotRacing.org… and it covers the entire United States!
Why “Parking Lot Racing?”
From Ricardo’s story above, it only made sense. For someone entirely new to the sport, what might they search for after witnessing cars racing around cones in a parking lot? “Parking lot racing.” It’s not a stab at the low speeds or necessary skill level for the sport. In fact, we believe Autocross requires a high level of skill. New courses each time you attend an event. Having a limited number of runs to set your best lap. Given the nature of the sport, it’s not as hard on the car as a track day and you go through consumables at a lower rate. It is simply highly competitive, cheaper, and just as fun. Sure the amount of drive time doesn’t amount to that of a track day, we don’t deny that. There are pros and cons to everything and we respect those aspects for the different types of motorsports.
Our Mission
Our mission at ParkingLotRacing.org is to make Autocross accessible to everyone’s fingertips using the latest technology. To surpass the antiquated means of sharing the Motorsport by word-of-mouth and bringing its presence “online” like everything else nowadays. No matter where you are, who you are, or what you drive – to be able to find an Autocross event as simply as we can find anything else with the power of the Internet today.
We’ve essentially created a database of nearly every known Autocross organization and event that includes Autocross as a part of it. From independent clubs to major auto events, we have established a central place to find these events. We’ve taken out the leg work out of finding event so you can focus more time on maintaining your vehicle and racing it!
We understand that with each new generation, things change. We hope that this site lends to the preservation of the motorsport for generations to come. To make it discoverable for those looking for an entryway into motorsports. To help bring new blood into the sport as most clubs around the country are not-for-profit and entirely ran by volunteers. We are here to serve you and help people find events so, that we can all continue our outlet from everyday life in the pursuit of speed and joy.