RedCelica, I see your profile says you live in Raleigh so I would suggest you travel to VIR two times (once for a NASA Mid Atlantic event and once for a SCCA Regional Event) to watch, learn, observe, talk to racers etc..... I cannot think of a better way to get the answers you're looking for. I am biased towards NASA because the people, atmosphere and available race classes.

 

Great advice. I will definitely keep an eye out of either event on motorsportsreg

 

Novice license, yes, but allows you to compete. It isn't two days of HPDE (which does little to prepare one for racing, at all). It's an intensive school, with a simulated competition environment throughout the weekend, along with many classroom
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Just to clarify. You're saying that someone with no experience, can obtain a license in 2 days, and immediately go racing?

 

That may depend on the region. "Intensive" is not what I would call it in my region....

Yes.

 

That isn't necessarily true. I appreciate the NASA HPDE process and find that it does properly teach students how to have situational awareness and learn being comfortable being passed anywhere on the track while maintaining control of their car. The key to getting approval to attend a NASA competition school is to show the regional director and head instructors that you are ready. You can easily transition to comp school after three weekends if that is what you want, but I would encourage people to not rush into wheel to wheel racing. I mean if you just want to go wheel to wheel racing, then find a crap can racing team and go racing. When I am racing on track with NASA I want to know that the people I am racing with know what the hell they are doing.

 

To be fair, I think it's different depending on the region. I know there are pockets in NASA where it's unusually hard to get into the competition groups. Similarly, I know there are regions for the SCCA that don't make it too easy to get into a competition group. I don't necessarily think one is a better or worse problem to have but I'm for any organization which is trying to get people on a race track.

 

I agree. There are definitely variations region to region within NASA. I have raced with four different NASA regions, and each has it's own methods. I think the key is to get involved and contact the people that matter in your local region and declare your goal of going wheel to wheel racing. They can help guide you towards that goal.

 

This.

Also, SCCA will do the entire comp school in four days at Roebling, or two and two at Sebring and Daytona, iirc.

 

Respectfully, I don't honestly think the length of the comp school is necessarily relevant. Due to my progression through hpde/TT, my NASA comp school was one day at Mid Ohio. What should be relevant to the OP is: how am I, and those I race with, being prepared to succeed. And by succeed, I mean be safe, situationally aware, and fast.

I think anyone who is turned loose to race, with no more experience than a 2 or 4 day school, has been shown a great disservice. I have seen people with little to no experience during my chumpcar racing. While it's true there's nothing like 90+ cars at once on Watkins Glen to gain some experience, there are some really scary moments mixed in. And it's not always the inexperienced causing problems, but they can often be caught off guard by what's going on, and react in unpredictable ways.

This is not a rant against SCCA or for NASA. I would simply tell the OP to take everything into consideration. Achieving a hard earned comp license is a journey you should enjoy and appreciate.

 

I don't think its been said yet but consider the schedules for each group in your region. Hopefully you have more options than we deal with down here. NASA Florida just announced a whopping three dates for 2016 and they're all at the same track. I wouldnt want to run only 3 events a year even if i was going to the national event or venturing out of region. To answer the OP question Im a NASA member but not a racer. I spectate the SCCA events a few times a year since Palm Beach International is right down the street from me.