Amateur racing is a large, structured part of motorsport rather than a small collection of informal track days. Official FIA and SCCA measurements cover millions of participants, tens of thousands of events, club memberships, karting entries and the volunteers who make race weekends possible. The figures below use the measurement periods reported by each organization and do not treat worldwide motorsport totals as an amateur-only census.
Contents
- The global scale of grassroots motorsport
- How U.S. club participation is measured
- Club-racing demand and event coverage
- Driver categories and amateur-focused competition
- Karting and entry-level participation
- Regional participation and inclusion
- The people behind race weekends
The global scale of grassroots motorsport
The FIA’s worldwide study, published in 2021, estimated €159.2 billion in annual gross output from motorsport, including direct and flow-on effects. It estimated €66.9 billion in annual value added and said motorsport directly supported 1.5 million paid full-time, part-time or casual jobs worldwide. These are broad motorsport figures, not a separate amateur-racing total. (FIA, “FIA presents a worldwide study on economic and social impact of motor sport”)
The same study counted 2.7 million worldwide participants. The FIA defined that measure as competitors plus officials, marshals and volunteers, so it includes the support network around events as well as drivers. It also recorded 302,000 formal unpaid officials, marshals and volunteers, 60,700 motorsport events, 7,200 facilities, tracks and venues, and 21,600 local motorsport clubs. (FIA, “FIA presents a worldwide study on economic and social impact of motor sport”)
Those counts help explain why amateur racing statistics need several measures. A driver total describes people entering competition; a club total describes the local organizations that create pathways; and an event total shows how often the ecosystem is activated. A facility count adds the physical constraint: participation needs somewhere to practice, inspect cars and hold races.
How U.S. club participation is measured
The Sports Car Club of America reported more than 50,000 annual members in 2023. It also said roughly 20,000 weekend memberships were purchased each year. Including those weekend memberships, SCCA said its total membership topped 70,000. The annual and weekend figures represent different participation commitments, so they should not be read as 70,000 annual members. (SCCA, “SCCA Annual Membership: 50,000 and Counting”)
SCCA’s figures also show how entry routes can be tracked. About 8% of new members had participated in Track Night in America before joining, according to the organization’s 2023 report. That is a measured connection between a lower-barrier driving activity and club membership, although it does not establish that every participant later entered a race.
Autocross supplied additional signs of demand in the comparison reported by SCCA. Tire Rack ProSolo entries averaged a 21% per-event increase in 2022 compared with 2021. SCCA regional autocross events increased 27% year over year in 2022, while annual autocross entry counts increased 22% over the same comparison. (SCCA, “SCCA Annual Membership: 50,000 and Counting”)
| SCCA measure | Reported result | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual members | More than 50,000 | 2023 |
| Total including weekend memberships | More than 70,000 | Reported 2023 |
| ProSolo entries per event | +21% | 2022 versus 2021 |
| Regional autocross events | +27% | 2022 versus 2021 |
| Annual autocross entries | +22% | 2022 versus 2021 |
Club-racing demand and event coverage
The 2024 Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour comprised 10 competition weekends. SCCA reported that Super Tour entries were up more than 10% in 2024 compared with 2023. The June Sprints at Road America drew 555 entries, which SCCA described as its largest non-Runoffs road-racing event reported in that update. (SCCA President’s August 2024 Update Recap)
The first 2024 Super Tour weekend, at Sebring from January 12–14, had nearly 380 entries. Spec MX-5 averaged 22 cars per Super Tour event in its first year as an eligible Runoffs class. Together, those numbers show both the scale of a major weekend and the sustained field size of a particular class, but they are not interchangeable measures of unique drivers. (SCCA President’s August 2024 Update Recap)
Demand extended beyond the paddock. SCCA reported more than 235,000 views for Hoosier Super Tour broadcasts in 2024, more than 75,000 hours watched and more than 2 million social-media impressions. These are audience measurements for the broadcasts and promotion, not attendance counts at the circuits.
SCCA’s in-house MAP registration system supported nearly 160 events during the 2024 update period and served about 9,230 SCCA members, including drivers and volunteers. The official 2024 SCCA Majors participation page covered 35 listed event venues and included a total column by class. That page is an event-and-class reporting structure, not a supplied total of all competitors. (2024 SCCA Majors Participation By Class By Event)
Driver categories and amateur-focused competition
The FIA driver-categorisation database contained exactly 5,993 drivers in January 2024 and added 829 driver entries during the preceding calendar year. Its categories provide a useful view of how a racing system separates experience and performance levels:
- Platinum: 222 drivers.
- Gold: 461 drivers.
- Silver: 2,556 drivers.
- Bronze: 2,754 drivers.
Bronze and Silver were the two largest listed groups in that January 2024 snapshot. The category counts describe the FIA database at that time; they are not a universal count of every amateur driver worldwide. (FIA Activity Report 2024, “Volunteers and Drivers”)
The 2024 Kumho FIA TCR World Tour offered a different view of a structured circuit series. It included 65 drivers, including 2 women, representing 21 nationalities. The series had 29 teams, 8 automotive brands and 12 TCR models. Those figures describe one international championship and should not be used as a proxy for local club-racing diversity. (FIA Activity Report 2024, “Circuit”)
Karting and entry-level participation
Karting data shows how participation can be recorded before drivers move into larger cars. The 2024 FIA Karting Championships recorded 927 entries across 8 events. Those entries came from 629 drivers representing the 6 FIA Sport Regions. Entries are starts or competition registrations; drivers are people, so the two counts answer different questions. (FIA Activity Report 2024, “Circuit”)
The 2024 FIA Karting Academy Trophy had 51 drivers representing 50 nations. The FIA National Karting Ranking reached 1,120 drivers in 2024 and grew 221% compared with 2023. Karting also contributed 225 drivers across Sprint, Endurance and Slalom variants at the 2024 FIA Motorsport Games. (FIA Activity Report 2024, “Circuit”)
Digital competition produced much larger participation numbers in the same report. More than 85,000 iRacing drivers raced across FIA F4-branded series during 2024, and those series accumulated more than 1.7 million race entries. These are online driver and entry figures, so they should be kept distinct from physical karting or circuit attendance.
The FIA Motorsport Games Drifting Cup drew a record 33 entries in 2024 and attracted more than 100,000 viewers. By the end of 2024, 793 users were enrolled in the FIA e-learning module for drifting judges. The three measurements cover competition, audience and official development rather than one combined participant pool. (FIA Activity Report 2024, “Circuit”)
Regional participation and inclusion
The 2024 FIA Motorsport Games had 646 drivers representing 82 countries and included a record 106 female competitors. It attracted approximately 43,997 spectators from October 23–27, 2024. The event expanded to 26 categories in 2024, compared with 16 in 2022. The category expansion is a change in event structure, not a measured increase in unique drivers. (FIA Activity Report 2024, “Circuit”)
Regional karting figures show different scales of opportunity. Central American Karting Championship events attracted 80 young drivers in 2024. The South American Karting Championship event at Velopark, held August 22–25, featured 64 drivers from 7 countries. The 2024 MENA Karting Nations Cup welcomed more than 150 drivers from 16 countries, while the inaugural Africa Karting Cup drew 61 competitors from 9 African countries. (FIA Activity Report 2024, “Regional Successes”)
The Asia Pacific Karting Championship in Singapore attracted 66 competitors in July 2024. The Asia Pacific FIA report placed female participation at 5–7% in its 2024 regional snapshot. Because that percentage is a regional snapshot and the other values are event counts, the figures should not be combined into a single global participation rate. (FIA Activity Report 2024, “Regional Successes”)
The people behind race weekends
The FIA’s 2021 global study counted 302,000 formal unpaid officials, marshals and volunteers. That total puts event support alongside drivers as a measurable part of motorsport participation. It also recorded 21,600 local motorsport clubs, the organizations through which many officials, marshals and competitors find events. (FIA, “FIA presents a worldwide study on economic and social impact of motor sport”)
The FIA’s activity reporting adds detail about training and club support. Its 2023 activity report, published in the 2024 edition, described 46 accepted club proposals: 33 for motorsport development, 11 for safety and 2 for equality, diversity and inclusion. The FIA Subsidy Programme offered €5,000 in accessible funds to 73 clubs in emerging and inactive markets. (FIA Activity Report 2024, “Sport Member Clubs Services”)
The FIA Sport Clubs Liaison Office supported 147 affiliated ASNs/ACNs in the 2023 activity year. The International Programme for Stewards and Race Directors delivered 8 webinars for more than 350 officials. These activities measure institutional support and training reach, not the number of race-day volunteers at a particular circuit. (FIA Activity Report 2024, “Sport Member Clubs Services”)
Individual experience can be long-running as well. An FIA lifetime-achievement award profile recorded Allan Dean-Lewis with more than 40 years in motorsport volunteering and standards work. The same FIA report described a Singapore Grand Prix recovery team of 50 officials using heavy machinery for in-race recoveries. Those examples put a human scale on the safety and operational work behind a timed result. (FIA Activity Report 2024, “Volunteers and Drivers”)