Grassroots racing connects local tracks, race shops, parts suppliers, teams, clubs, and drivers. The available figures show a large U.S. economic footprint, continuing demand for racing equipment, and substantial organized participation in Japan. The periods differ by source: PRI reports cover 2023 and 2024 activity, the SEMA reports use several historical measurement years, and JAF’s figures cover 2025.
Contents
- The economic footprint of motorsports
- What racing businesses and tracks reported
- Where specialty-equipment spending goes
- Racing parts and grassroots disciplines
- DIY apparel and suspension-market figures
- The PRI Show as a racing-industry gathering
- Licenses, clubs, and events in Japan
The economic footprint of motorsports
PRI’s 2025 motorsports economic impact study puts annual U.S. motorsports economic impact at more than $69.2 billion. The study says the industry supports more than 318,000 American jobs, while motorsports workers earn more than $22.1 billion in wages and benefits. Together, those figures describe an industry whose effect extends well beyond race-day ticket sales or professional series sponsorships.
The same PRI study reports more than $8.2 billion in tax revenue tied to motorsports. Federal tax revenue exceeds $5 billion, while state and local tax revenue exceeds $3.2 billion. These are U.S. figures, and the study covers automobile, truck, motorcycle, and UTV/side-by-side racing activity.
PRI says its assessment evaluates tracks, promoters, parts manufacturers, distributors, retailers, service providers, and incorporated race teams. It describes the report as the most comprehensive assessment of motorsports’ economic footprint ever undertaken. The breadth matters for grassroots readers because local racing depends on many of these connected businesses, not only the teams that appear on a starting grid.
Track-use-only parts are another measure of participation. PRI’s 2024 Racing Market Report says consumers spent $8 billion on those parts in 2023. That amount is specifically associated with parts intended for track use, rather than the entire specialty-equipment market.
What racing businesses and tracks reported
PRI’s 2024 Racing Market Report captures business sentiment and recent sales experience. In that report, 76% of racing businesses viewed the market as stable or rising. Among racing-parts resellers, 47% saw sales growth over the prior year and 51% expected sales to grow over the next year. Racing-parts manufacturers were more cautious about their recent results: 32% experienced sales growth over the prior year, while 50% expected growth over the next year.
Direct relationships with competitors are common. PRI reported that 59% of racing businesses sell directly to teams. This provides a useful indicator of how much of the market is connected to active racing organizations rather than being sold only through general automotive retail channels.
Track activity also showed resilience. PRI reported that 68% of tracks expected to run as many or more races in 2024 than in a typical year. A separate SEMA racing-parts report gave the same broad result for teams, tracks, and organizations: 68% planned to run at least as many races in 2024 as in a typical year.
The recovery was not uniform. PRI reported that 54% of tracks still had a way to go to reach their pre-pandemic 2019 occupancy levels. That figure is about occupancy, not the number of races, so it should not be treated as a contradiction of the planning outlook.
| Indicator | Reported figure | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| Racing businesses viewing the market as stable or rising | 76% | PRI 2024 Racing Market Report |
| Racing-parts resellers reporting prior-year sales growth | 47% | PRI 2024 Racing Market Report |
| Racing-parts resellers expecting next-year sales growth | 51% | PRI 2024 Racing Market Report |
| Tracks expecting as many or more races | 68% | 2024 outlook |
| Tracks still below pre-pandemic occupancy | 54% | 2024 report |
The 2024 Indianapolis 500 averaged 5.34 million television viewers, according to the PRI report, which says that average was up 8% from 2023. This is a major-event audience measure rather than a direct count of local racers, but it provides context for the wider visibility of motorsports.
Where specialty-equipment spending goes
The 2024 SEMA Market Report says specialty-equipment sales grew to $52.35 billion in 2023, an increase of $550 million year over year. Light trucks accounted for 59% of accessory and performance-parts sales. The product mix was led by appearance and accessory products, which accounted for $27.41 billion, followed by engine and performance products at $12.56 billion and wheels, tires, and handling products at $12.38 billion.
Consumers also spent $2.5 billion accessorizing alternative-power vehicles, including electric vehicles and hybrids. SEMA reported that 58% of accessorized vehicles were used for commuting, showing that specialty-equipment demand includes daily transportation as well as weekend racing and garage projects. Half of accessorizers were under age 40.
Those figures do not isolate grassroots racing, and the SEMA total is broader than competition equipment. They are useful alongside PRI’s $8 billion track-use-only-parts figure because they show the surrounding parts economy in which many racers buy tools, handling components, performance products, and vehicle accessories.
Racing parts and grassroots disciplines
SEMA’s 2024 racing-parts outlook found that 84% of racing-parts companies expected sales to remain steady or grow. Half expected sales to increase. In the same outlook, 49% of specialty-equipment manufacturers saw opportunities in the racing-parts sector.
Companies also identified several disciplines as rising. Street/strip racing was named by 34% of companies, while drag racing and drift racing were each named by 24%. Off-road racing and UTV racing were each named by 26%. EV racing was named by 32%, and sim racing by 23%.
These percentages represent companies reporting perceived opportunities or rising activity; they are not participant counts and do not rank the disciplines by event entries. They nevertheless show how broad the market is, spanning traditional quarter-mile and street/strip formats, drifting, off-road and UTV competition, electric vehicles, and simulation.
DIY apparel and suspension-market figures
The 2022 SEMA Market Report measured racing and protection apparel at a $0.14 billion market size in each year from 2018 through 2021. The same report gave the category a 61% DIY installation share. For ordered-online purchases, 38% were shipped to the buyer’s home and 24% used in-store pickup or installation.
The earlier 2020 SEMA Market Report recorded a 67% DIY installation share for racing and protection apparel. It reported a market size of $0.13 billion in 2016 and $0.14 billion in 2017. For ordered-online purchases in that report, 43% were shipped to home and 24% used in-store pickup or installation.
The repeated $0.14 billion figures are reported category sizes for the named years, not a newly calculated trend. The two reports also measure online fulfillment differently across their respective periods, so the shipment shares should be kept tied to their source report.
Suspension products were another large category in the 2022 report. SEMA recorded an 85% manufacturer sales-growth share and a suspension-products market size of $2.96 billion in 2021. The sales-growth share describes manufacturers reporting growth; it is not the percentage increase in the total market.
The PRI Show as a racing-industry gathering
PRI’s 2025 show fact sheet says the PRI Show uses more than 1.1 million square feet of space in Indianapolis and has a local economic impact of $70 million-plus. All 50 U.S. states are represented, along with 39 countries. More than 350 racetrack operators and sanctioning bodies attend.
The show fact sheet reports more than 80 educational classes and more than 420 media representatives in attendance. Machinery Row features more than 100 race-shop machining manufacturers. PRI also reports more than 1 million followers across social media platforms.
Participation is not limited to older industry professionals: 25% of PRI Show attendees are under 35 years old. PRI was established in 1986 and was purchased by SEMA in 2012. These are organizational and event-history facts, not measures of annual race entries, but they help describe the infrastructure around grassroots competition.
Licenses, clubs, and events in Japan
JAF’s 2025 motorsports statistics show 69,653 total licenses issued across four-wheel and kart categories. The same statistics list 843 registered clubs and organizations and 742 total official competition events in 2025, including closed events.
Within the four-wheel and kart totals, JAF issued 48,178 driver licenses, 20,366 official licenses, 1,104 entrant licenses, and 5 expert licenses in 2025. These categories are reported separately by JAF and should not be combined into an invented participation total.
JAF’s 2025 kart statistics identify 3,182 total kart licenses. The breakdown includes 1,470 senior-B licenses, 1,031 senior-A licenses, 172 junior-B licenses, 46 junior-A licenses, 438 senior licenses, and 25 junior licenses.
| JAF 2025 measure | Count |
|---|---|
| Total licenses across four-wheel and kart categories | 69,653 |
| Registered clubs and organizations | 843 |
| Official competition events, including closed events | 742 |
| Driver licenses | 48,178 |
| Total kart licenses | 3,182 |
The JAF numbers describe Japan in 2025, while the PRI and SEMA figures primarily describe U.S. markets and earlier reporting periods. Read together, they show different layers of grassroots racing: economic activity and supplier confidence in the United States, plus an explicitly counted network of licenses, clubs, and official events in Japan.