I’ve lived on the East Coast my entire life, and during that time, I’ve visited my fair share of race tracks. Lime Rock Park, Watkins Glen International, New Jersey Motorsport Park, New York Safety Track—the list goes on. While Watkins is still my favorite on this side of the country, Pittsburgh International Race Complex comes in a close second.
Pitt Race, as it’s known in racer circles, is a 2.78-mile road course nestled in the rolling hills about 40 miles north of the city with which it’s named. While it doesn’t have as vast a history as some of the tracks mentioned above—it opened in 2002 as BeaveRun Motorsports Complex—the 400-acre facility has quickly become a hub of motorsports activity in the area, hosting numerous club races, enduro events, karting leagues, and autocross programs throughout the year.
The track’s current owners, Jim and Kathy Stout, purchased Pitt Race out of bankruptcy in 2010. Jim is a big Viper guy, having started his closed-course driving career in 2000 with a ’96 Viper GTS. Back when he and his wife bought the track, it was just 1.6 miles long, and used a layout Jim considered boring, according to an interview he did with Speed News back in 2023. So the duo decided to add an entirely new track just south of the original asphalt, which, when combined with the old circuit, made the 2.78-mile road course many know and love today.
I never drove Pitt Race before the second track was added, nor did I ever get to drive either track separately. All of my seat time was on the combined circuit, and damn, it was excellent. Full of quick corners, blind turns, and lots of rhythm, you could really get into a groove with slow or fast cars alike. Stout took inspiration from other tracks to make it happen. From that Speed News interview:
I owned part of [Virginia International Raceway] for a while and VIR always has been and still is one of my favorite tracks to drive. But when we ran the Viper Racing League, we ran everything from Brainerd to Sebring and Daytona to the tracks in the West Coast, Willow Springs and Thunderhill and everything in between. We had a heck of a lot of track experience and I kind of knew what I liked and knew what I didn’t like. I do like elevation changes, I like blind turns. I like the track. It has, and I think you mentioned the term rhythm. The track has some rhythm and flows nice. So, when we got done with the track I was very, very pleased with what we have. Very pleased.
Pitt Race might not be as well-known as Watkins Glen or Lime Rock Park simply due to its location, but it’s hosted some well-known events, like the 24 Hours of Lemons, ChampCar, GridLife, Tire Rack’s One Lap of America, and, of course, the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. This place is important to a lot of people.
Source: Pitt Race on Facebook
And now, it’s seemingly going away for good. Kathy Stout published a statement to Pitt Race’s Facebook page yesterday announcing the sale of the facility:
The Final Season of Pitt Race:
A message from Jim and Kathy Stout –
When the checkered flag is thrown, the green flag is waved for the next race. Pitt Race has been out passion. Westrived to make Pitt Race a premier motorsports destination. With much thought, Jim and I decided to step away from ownership of the facility. We thank our loyal customers, our dedicated vendors and sponsors, the unwavering supporters, and mostly our dedicated and passionate employees.
It’s been a fun journey and ride.
The message is a bit cryptic and doesn’t actually say much, other than that ownership of the facility is changing hands. But Grassroots Motorsports, citing unnamed sources, claims the facility will be sold to a “developer,” though the article doesn’t go into any more detail. Hooked on Driving, an organization that hosts track days, said on its Facebook page it will host Pitt Race’s final public event on November 8-9, reiterating that the course has been sold to a developer.
Users on Reddit and X (formerly Twitter) seem to think the place will be turned into a data center, though I haven’t seen that confirmed anywhere officially. I reached out to the track via phone and email for more info, but have yet to receive a response. Wampum, the town where Pitt Race is located, isn’t currently on a list of planned data center locations for the Pittsburgh area (for now). Whatever the land is used for, it sure sounds like it won’t be for racing. And that’s a damn shame.
Rest in peace, Pitt Race. You’ll be sorely missed.
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OK, you’ve triggered a pet peeve, so I apologize in advance. But PIttsburgh is NOT ON THE EAST COAST. It’s nearly 400 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Las Vegas is about the same distance to the Pacific and no one would describe it as being on the coast of anything.
That said, this is a massive loss. A fantastic track that was just recently repaved and got recent very nice upgrades to its facilities, making it one of the best in the region. It truly boggles the mind that they would do this after spending all that dough. And seemingly without even an attempt to sell to someone that would continue to run it as a motorsports facility. My first wheel-to-wheel race was there with Chumpcar (as it was called then), and I’ve been for several other track days and a couple Lemons races. There’s a special place in my heart for that place.
My first track day was at Pitt Race, on the newly-opened combined circuit. The track is excellent. This makes me quite sad.
As a Pennsylvania resident it hurts to see the track go there are 5 tracks within a 40 miles circuit. Pennsylvania has a lot of damn race tracks. In fact if you are going to a race track within 50 miles you will probably pass two race tracks on the way there.
Race tracks are like golf courses, they need constant maintenance and upkeep and that means people and dollars. Given the location and weather, not sure if this one would lend itself to a Thermal Club / Chicago Autobahn type arrangement.
My same thought, the location makes it unusable for what, four or five months out of the year? The location may even get snow. Conversely, I compare it to something like Willow Springs, usable and bookable for the whole year, with summer being tortuous on cars (and people), with triple digit temperatures.
Every time a track closes, it feels like a gut punch to us (car enthusiasts). What a shame.
Why don’t owners add drive your car on the track $50. Have a few beaters $20 for 15 minutes. Buy a few salvage vehicles and sponsor buying track time on cars with a set top speed. Tracks are losing money because they don’t think past weekend races.
S
Pitt Race hosted lots of SCCA Track Nights.