Five Ways to Get Your NASA Competition License

Desire to go road racing? Based on your current experience, there are five paths to earn your competition license with the National Auto Sport Association (NASA), the sanctioning body Mazda chose to place its two club racing factory drivers selected from the karting ranks, and where Chris Nunes, pictured above, competed prior to winning an MX-5 Cup Shootout scholarship.

Before you apply for a competition license, you need to be a NASA member, have undergone a physical examination required for racing, and have passed the open-book written test on NASA’s Club Codes and Regulations.


Your potential paths to earn your NASA competition license:

New on track? Complete NASA’s High-performance Driving Experience (HPDE) system, from HPDE1 through HPDE4; then apply for your competition license. It’s easy and fun, and you can learn at the pace you set for yourself.

Interested in earning your competition license while competing in endurance races? NASA’s Team Racing Endurance Challenge (TREC) lets you race in TREC enduros while earning a competition license in the process. Complete six TREC enduros and then apply for your NASA competition license.

Experienced in competition road racing such as an outdoor karter? You may apply for a competition license. You will be asked to upload a driving resume that the Regional Director or NASA National office can review and proceed from there.

  • You may be asked to attend a NASA school for one weekend for the opportunity to earn your provisional or full competition license. Review the schedule here for competition events that also have a competition school integrated (example: Oct 23-24: Arizona Motorsports Park here; schedule is subject to change), or
  • You may be considered for the following option that follows:

Have lots of on-track driving experience (e.g., track days, outdoor karting, etc.)? Contact your NASA region to schedule a “checkout ride” in one of NASA’s HPDE sessions. NASA officials will observe your driving and on-track behavior; if you demonstrate the necessary control and awareness, you can apply for a competition license.

Already attended NASA’s competition school or a competition school outside NASA (e.g., Skip Barber, Bondurant, Bertil Roos, etc.)? You may apply for a NASA competition license.