Grassroots Racing Is Thriving: ChampCar and SCCA Deliver Big in March 2026

While Formula 1 rewrites its rulebook and IndyCar chases television records, the real soul of American motorsport is alive and busy at tracks most people have never heard of — and some they have.

ChampCar Endurance Series: The Most Ambitious Schedule in the Series' History

The TireRack.com ChampCar Endurance Series — the budget-capped grassroots endurance racing organization that puts street-tired, beater-budget race cars on track for 7-, 8-, 12-, and 14-hour stints — entered 2026 with a 21-event calendar and five brand-new venues that no ChampCar team had ever competed at before.

ChampCar CEO Michael Chisek put it plainly before the season started: "2026 is shaping up to be a great year with exciting racing at new tracks, some of which none of you have ever set a wheel on."

Two months in, the series has already made good on that promise.

Event 1: The Lone Star Showdown — G2 Motorsports Park (Feb. 28–Mar. 1)

ChampCar debuted at G2 Motorsports Park in Anna, Texas — a Dallas-area circuit making its first-ever appearance on the ChampCar calendar — in the signature double-header format: an 8-hour race on Saturday followed by a 7-hour on Sunday. Entry was capped at 60 cars with a $1,950 entry fee.

The event also featured a notable technology integration: RaceRX Live Telemetry, a platform that delivers real-time high-speed data and programmable crew chief alerts via CAN bus connection to onboard ECUs. It's the kind of professional-grade tool that grassroots teams typically don't have access to — and ChampCar building it into an event weekend is a meaningful step toward modernizing how endurance teams manage race strategy at the lower budget levels.

Event 2: The Old Dominion Enduro — Dominion Raceway (Mar. 14–15)

The series then traveled east to Dominion Raceway in Woodford, Virginia — another brand-new ChampCar venue — for the Old Dominion Enduro. The 2.0-mile, 14-turn road course ran the same 8+7-hour format, with a 9:00 a.m. Saturday start and entry priced at $2,250.

Teams were forewarned: paddock electrical hookups are minimal at Dominion, so generators were required. The pit lane 20 mph speed limit was strictly enforced. And the 2026 BCCR-compliant helmet requirement — with current-year decals — was mandatory before any track activity. The operational details matter in ChampCar, because half the field is running secondhand gear on compressed budgets, and these are exactly the events where pre-race homework pays off.

Five New Venues in 2026 — Including COTA

The expansion to new venues is the headline story of ChampCar's 2026 season. The five tracks making their series debut this year are:

The COTA appearance deserves special attention. The Circuit of The Americas is an FIA Grade 1 facility that hosts Formula 1, MotoGP, and World Superbike Championship events. The idea of a fleet of budget-built endurance cars — Miatas, BMWs, beat-up Mustangs with team names like "Never Start Racing" and "Glazed and Confused" — sharing that asphalt for a ChampCar double-header to close out the 2026 season is one of the better stories in grassroots racing right now.

The Full 2026 Season at a Glance

Key Rule Changes for 2026

The 2026 BCCR (Basics, Conditions, and Competition Rules — the ChampCar rulebook) went through meaningful updates that every team should know going into the season.

Tire Inclusion List — The Biggest Change. ChampCar moved away from an open tire structure (any street tire rated UTQG 200+ treadwear) to a curated inclusion list. The primary driver: high-performance 200tw tires were forcing teams to choose between qualifying pace and race durability. The new rule allows only six approved tires, plus any tire rated 250tw or higher:

• Hankook Ventus R-S4
• Continental ExtremeContact Force
• BFGoodrich g-Force Rival+
• Vitour Tempesta Enzo V-01R
• Kumho Ecsta V730
• Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02

Transmission Rules Simplified. Same engine, same design (manual-to-manual), same number of gears, from a VPI-listed vehicle, with no adapter: free. Any adapter or cross-brand configuration: 25 points.

Restricted Event Requirements. Four premium venues — Daytona, Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio, and COTA — now carry entry restrictions: no new car builds, no first-time drivers, and each entrant must have completed at least one prior CCES or equivalent event. The intent is to keep the highest-profile events running cleanly.

Championship Format

The 2026 National Championship retains ChampCar's "win the race, win the title" format. Season points — earned at 1 point for 1st, 2 for 2nd, and so on — determine only grid seeding for the championship final at VIR on December 5–6. The title itself goes to whoever wins that race outright. To qualify, teams must finish in the top 75 season points from the prior year and compete in at least three event weekends during 2026.

The Daytona 14-Hour entry list (April 11) already shows 98 teams registered across Classes A, B, C, D, and EC — a strong early indicator of the series' health heading into spring.

Team Stories from the Paddock

Rad Air Racing (Northeast Ohio) campaigns three cars and offers a fully-supported arrive-and-drive program across their 2026 ChampCar calendar: Gingerman (April 17–19), Lime Rock (July 23–25), Mid-Ohio (September 4–6), and Pocono (October 9–11). Their sponsor roster — Hoppin' Frog Brewery, Heritage Coffee, LMS-EFI, Track First, Lyden Oil — reads like a racing team built by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. They also run a Fill The Race Car food drive benefiting local food banks at every event. That's the ChampCar culture in a single paragraph.

AOA Racing still has open arrive-and-drive seats available for the Daytona 14-Hour (April 11) and the Watkins Glen 7+7 (May 22–24) — two of the marquee events on the calendar.

SCCA: Road Atlanta in the Rain, Emotional Comebacks, and a World Record Holder

The Sports Car Club of America's March centerpiece was the Hoosier SCCA Super Tour at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia — nearly 270 competitors across 8 run groups, supported by approximately 190 volunteers across a weather-battered weekend.

Friday qualifying was cut short by severe thunderstorms. Saturday morning fog delayed and compressed qualifying for half the run groups. Sunday brought overcast skies and drizzle all day, leaving competitors second-guessing wet tires vs. slicks all morning. The open-wheel group was halted early Sunday when rain intensified; the final GT/Touring group was cancelled after a mechanical incident created hazardous track conditions near dusk.

Despite all of it, the racing delivered exactly what SCCA weekends are supposed to deliver.

Danny Steyn's Comeback

The weekend's most meaningful story didn't come from a race winner's podium speech — it came from the fact that Danny Steyn was there at all.

Steyn (Florida Region) returned to Super Tour competition after more than a year away following a serious incident at the 2024 Runoffs. He swept both Super Touring Lite races from pole — dominant on Saturday and Sunday — while also competing in Spec Miata. His words after the weekend said everything that needs to be said about why SCCA road racing matters to the people who do it:

John McAleer — Race Winner and World Record Holder

Formula Atlantic competitor John McAleer (Atlanta Region, 57 years old) swept both races at Road Atlanta — a dominant weekend performance in a highly competitive open-wheel class. What makes McAleer's story remarkable beyond the cockpit: he holds a Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme land speed world record. In August 2024, he piloted a custom-built motorcycle with an ex-MotoGP engine to 142.863 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Then he went out and swept a national race weekend in the Georgia rain.

Other Stories Worth Knowing

Franklin Futrelle, the reigning FE2 Runoffs Champion, made his FWD debut in B-Spec — qualified on pole, won Saturday by 1.2 seconds. A Sunday incident ended his day early, but his multi-class championship strategy is clearly in motion.

Emy Kissick (Northwest Region) is spending her gap year between high school and college competing in Spec MX-5, backed by a $50,000 Mazda Motorsports scholarship. She finished 8th on Sunday at Road Atlanta — improving across every session.

Tristan Smith ran his No. 58 Nissan 350Z in the classic red, white, and blue livery of the recently deceased SCCA Hall of Famer Bob Sharp — a quiet, fitting tribute at one of SCCA's flagship events.

And nearly 45 competitors purchased lunch for SCCA volunteers at registration — some buying 5–10 meals each. One driver who couldn't make the weekend still donated. That community impulse doesn't get written up anywhere, but it's part of what keeps the organization functioning.

Saturday Race Winners — Road Atlanta Super Tour (Mar. 7)

Sunday Race Winners — Road Atlanta Super Tour (Mar. 8)

★ denotes Saturday–Sunday sweep

ProSolo Season Opener — Beeville, TX (Mar. 6–8)

The Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo season opened at Naval Air Station Chase Field in Beeville, Texas, hosted by the Lone Star Region. More than double-digit first-time ProSolo participants entered — a strong sign of growth at the grassroots autocross entry level.

Saturday ran all eight runs cleanly in clear conditions. Sunday brought a lightning storm that shut down competition after Heat 1. JCJ and Fletcher Cup points were awarded based on qualifying order. Early season championship leads: Daniel McCelvey (JCJ) and Laura Marcus (Fletcher Cup).

The weekend's breakout moment: Samuel Otis finished third in Solo Spec Coupe — on a learner's permit. That's the kind of story grassroots motorsport runs on.

Solo National Tour — Red Hills, Moultrie GA (Mar. 14–15)

177 competitors turned out for the season-opening Red Hills Solo National Tour at Spence Field in Moultrie, Georgia. Course designer Mark Canekeratne built what competitors described as "wide open, visually stunning" courses. An unofficial bonus fourth run was offered — not counting for official results but qualifying participants for SCCA Prize Closet drawings later in the year. The SCCA Women on Track program supported Amber Calloway, coached by Ashley Weaver, through the weekend.

RallyCross — San Diego Region (Mar. 14–15)

The San Diego Region SCCA added dirt to March's menu with a RallyCross weekend at Ramona Fairgrounds — a reminder that SCCA's competitive footprint runs well beyond road courses and parking lots.

2026 SCCA Structural Changes

Time Attack Challenge — East/West Split. The SCCA Time Attack Challenge has been restructured for 2026 into separate East and West points championships. The change gives regional competitors more locally relevant competition and dramatically reduces the travel burden for participants who previously had to chase a single national points table across the country.

Two new Super Tour venues for 2026:

• Buttonwillow Raceway Park — hosted the first-ever HST event in February 2026
• Barber Motorsports Park — first-ever HST event scheduled for August 29–30, 2026

Classes returning to HST competition after a hiatus: Formula F, Formula Vee, and Formula 600.

2026 Runoffs class and qualification criteria have been announced. The National Championship heads to Road America in Wisconsin.

The Bigger Picture: Why This Matters

It's easy to get swept up in the spectacle of Formula 1's new active aerodynamics debate, or IndyCar's television ratings rebound, or NASCAR's Las Vegas storylines. Those are legitimate stories. But the expansion of ChampCar to COTA and Pocono, the SCCA's first-ever appearances at Barber Motorsports Park and Buttonwillow, and the consistently strong entry counts across both organizations this March are telling a different and arguably more durable story: American grassroots motorsport is not shrinking. It is growing.

New drivers are showing up — Samuel Otis on a learner's permit. Scholarship recipients like Emy Kissick are building careers lap by lap. Veteran drivers are returning after injury, like Danny Steyn, and sweeping the weekend. Communities are showing up for each other — 45 competitors buying lunch for volunteers doesn't get broadcast on Fox Sports, but it's exactly what keeps a sanctioning body functional for another decade.

Whether it's a four-car team named "Never Start Racing" grinding through 15 hours at a new Texas circuit, or a 57-year-old land speed record holder sweeping Formula Atlantic in the Georgia rain — this is where the real soul of motorsport lives.

You don't need a factory budget to go racing. March 2026 is proof.