Waterford Hills: Southeast Michigan’s Best-Kept Secret — And It Shouldn’t Be
About 20 minutes southeast of Fenton, one of the oldest and most beloved road racing tracks in America hosts a full weekend of wheel-to-wheel SCCA competition — and you can watch it all for $5. Find out how to drive YOUR car on the same track for another $5. Or even learn how to become a race car driver, all for less than you would be likely to spend taking a family of four to one of the Memorial Day Weekend races most race fans will watch on television Sunday. Here is everything you need to know.
Wheel to Wheel Racing at Waterford Hills / Photo Courtesy of WaterfordHills.com · Click to expand.
Waterford Hills Raceway, Clarkston, MI — May 20, 2026
This weekend, we celebrate Memorial Day and honor those who have paid the ultimate price to protect and serve our country. We attend parades, wave flags, celebrate traditions, and join in family gatherings. The holiday celebrates the freedoms we enjoy and those who have made them possible. Memorial Day traditions include the excitement of motorsports racing with the Indianapolis 500 and the Charlotte 600.
Did you know that this weekend, right here in Southeast Michigan, a local facility is hosting two days of highly competitive racing? There will be parade laps. Green, white, yellow, and checkered flags will wave. For 68 years, a tradition of grassroots road racing has roared through this remarkable track, and family gatherings dot the hillsides to celebrate average Americans doing spectacular things. After reading this, you might want to circle May 23-24 on your calendar and check out something that could add a new element of thrill to your life, if you love automobiles.
The Jerry Shiloff Memorial Race: A Weekend That Means Something
The race happening at Waterford Hills on May 23-24, 2026 is not just another weekend on the club racing calendar. It is the Jerry Shiloff Memorial Race — one of the most significant and well-attended events in the Detroit-area grassroots motorsport community, presented jointly by the Detroit Region SCCA and Waterford Hills Road Racing Inc.
Jerry Shiloff was a decades-long fixture in this racing community: a competitor, a volunteer, a leader, and the chief steward at both WHRRI and the Detroit Region SCCA. His name now anchors not only this Memorial Race but also the Shiloff Road Racing Championship Series — a multi-round regional championship that runs across tracks in and around Michigan each year, with this May event serving as one of its key rounds.
Featuring Seven Race Groups, 150+ Competitors, Every Type of Race Car You Can Imagine
| Group | Car Classes & Types | Schedule |
|---|---|---|
| Group 1 | ITA, ITS, EP, FP, HP, T4, GTL — Improved Touring & GT Cars | Both Days |
| Group 2 | SRF, SRF3, SR — Spec Racer Ford & Spec Renault | Both Days |
| Group 3 | ITB, ITC, B-Spec, STL, T3, IT7 — Compact Touring Cars | Both Days |
| Group 4 | GT1, GT2, ITR, ITE, SP, T1, T2, GTA, GTX, STU, SPU, AS — High-Performance GT & Super Touring | Both Days |
| Group 5 | SM, SMX — Spec Miata (North America’s most popular road racing class) | Both Days |
| Group 6 | FA, FC, FE, FV, FF, F6, FS, FST, ASR, P, P2 — Formula & Open-Wheel Cars | Both Days |
| Group 7 | Spec Racer / SRF3 Invitational (Saturday) & Spec Miata Invitational (Sunday) | Sat / Sun |
Group 7 on both days is the marquee event. Saturday’s Spec Racer / SRF3 / Spec Renault Invitational and Sunday’s Spec Miata Invitational bring together the deepest grids in each class for dedicated feature races — tightly matched cars, experienced drivers, and more passing per lap than almost any other form of motorsport. If you only have time to catch one race each day, make it the Group 7 Invitational.
Take a Lap around Waterford Hills with Jay Lasco in a Mustang GT4 Race Car
Here is what separates Waterford Hills from any professional motorsport venue: you are inside the experience, not behind a fence looking in. The paddock — where race cars live between sessions, where mechanics work in the open air, where drivers pace and plan — is accessible to anyone willing to pay a modest extra fee. No corporate hospitality suites. No velvet ropes. Genuine, open, real motorsport.
What Spectators Get
- Admission $5 per person · Max $10 per car
- Kids 15 & under always FREE all weekend
- Full race day bleacher access
- Full weekend of real wheel-to-wheel racing
- Walk the paddock, talk to actual racers, $5 Paddock Pass
- Drive YOUR car on the track for $5
- Nearly full-course viewing from multiple spots
- Concession and Souvenir Stands Open
- 150+ competitors across 7 race groups
Good to Know First
- Gravel access roads — totally part of the charm
- Bring your own chairs and a blanket for The Hill
- Racing runs in all weather — dress for Michigan May
- Arrive early for best paddock position and parking
The Parade Lap: Drive YOUR Car on the Race Track for $5
During announced breaks between race sessions, Waterford Hills opens the track for Parade Laps — any spectator can drive their personal street car on the actual race circuit for just $5 per car. No preparation. No license. No special equipment. Get in line and spend a few minutes on the same 1.5 miles that race cars have been hammering all day. The physical sensation of the track — the elevation changes, the off-camber corners, the blind crests — will completely reframe everything you watched from the bleachers.
Links to Follow
- Waterford Hills Web Page
- Sports Car Club of America (SCCA)
- Detroit Region SCCA
- Oakland County Sportsmen’s Club
- Run Groups (Classes of Cars Competing)
- Gallery (Types of Cars by Run Groups)
- Race Weekend Schedule
Where to Watch from the Best Spots
Three sets of bleachers sit at Turns 2, 4, and 6. “The Hill” — the open lawn between Turns 2 and 4 — is the social center of any race weekend, with concessions nearby and an atmosphere that invites lawn chairs and long afternoons. Inside the paddock, additional bleachers face the front stretch from both sides of the timing tower, plus an elevated platform on the tech building gives a view over the start-finish straight. The track runs hot from 10 AM to 6 PM on both Saturday and Sunday.
Is This Your Kind of Weekend?
✓ Great For…
- Car enthusiasts who have never seen a real road race in person
- Families with kids who light up around race cars
- HPDE and track day drivers curious about wheel-to-wheel
- Autocrossers wanting to see what full road racing looks like
- Anyone who wants to drive their own car on an actual race track
- Car clubs looking for a genuinely memorable group outing
- Photographers — elevated angles, close access, great light
✗ Think Twice If…
- You are expecting NASCAR-style oval racing — this is technical road racing
- You need full stadium amenities and covered seating
- Rain completely ruins an outdoor event — racing runs in all weather
- You plan to bring an oversized rig — paddock space is limited by design
Six Things You Will See on Track That Will Hook You for Life
Spec Classes — Where Driver Skill Beats Budget
Spec Miata and Spec Racer are the heart of grassroots road racing — identical cars prepared to strict common rules so the driver wins, not the checkbook. Saturday afternoon’s Spec Racer Invitational and Sunday’s Spec Miata Invitational are the marquee races of the entire weekend.
Formula Cars — Open Wheel at Speed
Formula Vee, Formula Ford, Formula Continental — lightweight, nimble, screaming through Waterford Hills’ tight elevation changes with nothing between driver and pavement. Some of the most photogenic racing anywhere.
Improved Touring — Cars You Know
ITA, ITB, ITC, ITS classes bring out production-based cars you actually recognize: Hondas, Mazdas, BMWs, Toyotas. The “budget” classes on paper and some of the most competitive, hard-fought racing at the entire event.
GT & Super Touring — Street Cars at Race Speed
GT1, GT2, and Super Touring classes bring out high-performance versions of cars you recognize — Corvettes, Mustangs, BMWs, and more — pushed to their absolute limits. Group 4 runs both days and delivers some of the fastest lap times of the weekend.
The Spec Racer Invitational (Saturday)
Saturday’s Group 7 brings together the biggest Spec Racer Ford, SRF3, and Spec Renault grids for one dedicated invitational race. Spec formula cars in a strict class — consistently some of the most intense racing of the entire weekend.
The Paddock — Your Backstage Pass
For an extra $5, walk among the cars, crouch beside engines, and talk to the people who built and race them. Race cars come apart and go back together between sessions right in front of you. At no professional circuit do you get this kind of access.
About Waterford Hills: The Track That Time Forgot to Change
Tucked into the wooded hills of Independence Township near Clarkston — about 20 minutes southeast of Fenton via I-75 — sits one of the oldest continuously operating road racing tracks in the United States. Waterford Hills Raceway has been hosting wheel-to-wheel competition since 1958 — and in nearly 70 years, the layout has not changed one inch. The same blind crests, the same cambered corners, the same 90-degree right-hander at the end of the back straight where the fastest cars scrub from 120-plus miles per hour down to 25 in the blink of an eye.
That is not a limitation. That is a legacy. And it is exactly what makes Waterford Hills a true driver’s track — a place where setup and talent still mean more than horsepower and budget.
“If you can go fast at Waterford, you can go fast anywhere.”
— Sir Stirling Moss, visiting Waterford Hills on October 1, 1961, one day after running the first Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport
The track stretches 1.5 miles and packs in 12 turns with multiple significant elevation changes — and that topography is what makes it uniquely spectacular for spectators. Bleachers sit at Turns 2, 4, and 6. “The Hill” — a grassy rise between Turns 2 and 4 — delivers a sweeping, almost amphitheater-style view of the most technical section of the circuit. When there are 20 to 30 cars on track at once, navigating tight corners and cresting blind rises inches apart, the action is relentless. It is the most accessible and affordable authentic motorsport experience in Southeast Michigan.
The start-finish straight and elevated back section — nearly the entire 1.5-mile circuit is visible to spectators from just a handful of spots. / Photo Courtesy of WaterfordHills.com · Click to expand.
Waterford Hills History: 68 Years of Racing in the Same Hills, on the Same Pavement
The story of Waterford Hills begins in 1943, when a group of outdoor enthusiasts founded the Oakland County Sportsmen’s Club (OCSC) as a private, not-for-profit organization. Set on over 200 acres of land in Independence Township, the club offered members a wide range of outdoor recreational activities. Racing came later, when a subset of those members built a dirt road course on the club’s grounds and started running time trials.
By 1958, the dirt had been paved, and Waterford Hills opened as an official road racing circuit. The club formed to operate it would eventually become Waterford Hills Road Racing Inc. (WHRRI), the organization that still manages and maintains the facility today.
By the fall of 1962, the club had paid off all of its original investors and life members. In 1963 came the first serious conversation about adopting SCCA rules so Waterford Hills drivers could compete at other tracks — and so the track could attract more outside competitors. That alignment with the SCCA, formalized in the early 1960s, remains in place today. A Waterford Hills racing license is accepted at Midwest SCCA Regional events, making it a genuine passport to road racing across a wide geographic region. SCCA and NASA license holders can also enter WHRRI events without a separate Waterford Hills license.
The track’s growth era came fast. By August 1964, SCCA race weekends were drawing a record 4,400 spectators over a single weekend. Bleachers went up. Concessions followed. A timing and scoring tower was built. And the reputation of the track — as a place where clever drivers outrun well-funded ones — was cemented for good.
Waterford Hills in its early days — the track has raced on the same 200-acre property since 1958, its layout unchanged ever since. / Photo Courtesy of WaterfordHills.com · Click to expand.
A Sportsmen’s Club That Happens to Have a Race Track: About the Oakland County Sportsmen’s Club
Waterford Hills is not a commercial motorsport venue built by developers. It is a member-owned club facility that opened its gates to racing because its members loved cars. The Oakland County Sportsmen’s Club is a private, not-for-profit organization, and the road racing circuit occupies a portion of its 200-plus acre property in Independence Township. When you drive in, you will pass a log cabin clubhouse — that is the heart of the OCSC. The whole vibe is less racing complex and more Michigan sporting heritage. The public is welcome on all race weekends and open track days, both entry roads are unpaved gravel, and that is entirely on purpose.
About The Detroit Region SCCA: The Club That Makes All of This Happen
Behind every flag drop, every timing result, and every safety measure at this event is the Detroit Region SCCA (DRSCCA) — the local chapter of the Sports Car Club of America, the largest amateur motorsports organization in the United States with more than 65,000 members nationwide.
The SCCA was founded in 1944, born from the same postwar enthusiasm for sports car racing that eventually produced legendary events like Watkins Glen and, closer to home, Waterford Hills itself. The Detroit Region chapter has been a formal partner with Waterford Hills for well over a decade, co-sanctioning regional events and jointly running the annual Competition Driving School that has been launching local racing careers since 1960.
Open-wheel formula cars through Waterford Hills’ tight, elevation-rich layout — Group 6 runs both Saturday and Sunday. / Photo Courtesy of WaterfordHills.com · Click to expand.
More Than a Race Club — It Is a Community
The DRSCCA runs motorsport programs for every level of enthusiast, and also serves as the volunteer backbone of the annual Detroit Grand Prix — a behind-the-scenes experience that is hard to match anywhere in professional motorsport.
- Road Racing at Waterford Hills, Grattan, Gingerman, Mid-Ohio & more
- Autocross at Schoolcraft PSTC — beginner-friendly cone course competition
- Road Rally & Rallycross programs for the adventurous
- Annual Sim Racing series on iRacing for the digital enthusiast
- Street Survival — a teen driver safety program
- Detroit Grand Prix volunteer opportunities — real pro racing, up close
- The Shiloff Road Racing Championship Series — regional title across multiple tracks
Think You Might Want to Race? Here Is How It Actually Works
The best-kept secret in Southeast Michigan motorsport is how genuinely accessible road racing is for a curious newcomer. Waterford Hills and the Detroit Region SCCA have built a welcoming on-ramp that starts with your street car and ends — if you want it to — at the starting grid of an SCCA Regional race.
Open Track Days — Bring Your Street Car and See What It Can Really Do
Open Track Days at Waterford Hills are open to all makes and models of street cars that can pass a basic safety inspection. No racing license needed. Instructors ride along at no extra cost. No speed limits. Over 30 loaner helmets on site so you can show up with nothing and still participate.
- Any street car welcome — convertibles need a roll bar or factory rollover protection
- Snell 2010 or newer helmet required — 30+ loaners available at the track
- Free instructor coaching for new participants — rides along at no charge
- Drivers grouped by experience level for appropriate open track time
- Bracket Racing also available — a structured step up from pure lapping
- Questions: otd@waterfordhills.com | waterfordhills.com/open-track-days.html
Competition Driving School — One Weekend, One Novice Permit, a Lifetime of Racing
Every spring, WHRRI and the Detroit Region SCCA hold a three-day Competition Driving School: one day in the classroom, two days on the actual race track. Pass and you earn an SCCA Novice Permit — the credential that lets you race wheel-to-wheel at Waterford Hills and at SCCA Regional events across the country. No race car? Several WHRRI members offer rental cars.
- $495 to complete ($445 if registered before Dec. 31 of prior year)
- One classroom day + two on-track days = Novice Permit on completion
- Novice Permit accepted at four tracks within 3 hours of metro Detroit
- Rental cars available through WHRRI member network
- Mentor Program pairs you with an experienced racer throughout
- Info: waterfordhills.com/howto.html
- Email: drschool@waterfordhills.com
“Road Racing is more affordable than you think. The school itself is only $495.”
— Detroit Region SCCA
The On-Ramp to Racing at a Glance
| Pathway | What It Is | Cost / Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Spectate & Parade Laps | Watch the races, drive your own car on track during breaks | $5 gate / $5 paddock / $5 parade lap per car |
| Open Track Day | Lap the circuit in your street car, no license needed | See waterfordhills.com for current OTD schedule & pricing |
| Bracket Racing | Structured timed competition — bridge between OTD and real racing | waterfordhills.com/bracket-racing.html |
| Competition Driving School | 1 classroom day + 2 on-track days = SCCA Novice Permit | $495 / held every spring at Waterford Hills |
| WHRRI Membership | Join the club, race the full Waterford Hills season and beyond | waterfordhills.com/become-whrri-member.html |
| Detroit Region SCCA | Full regional programs — racing, autocross, rally, sim racing & more | drscca.org — membership open to all |
Your Questions Answered
Do I need to know anything about motorsport to enjoy watching as a first-time spectator?
+
Not at all. Waterford Hills is one of the best possible first racing experiences because the action is so visible and accessible. You do not need to understand class rules to enjoy watching 20 cars chase each other through a blind crest at speed, inches apart, braking at the last possible moment. Paddock access makes it even better — you can walk up to any race car between sessions, ask teams questions, and see exactly what goes into grassroots motorsport. Most drivers and crews genuinely enjoy talking to curious newcomers. The sport grows when people find it.
Can I really drive my own car on the race track during the event?
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Yes — and this is one of the most extraordinary things about a Waterford Hills race weekend. During announced breaks between sessions, the track opens for Parade Laps. Pay $5 per car, get in line, and drive the same 1.5-mile circuit that race cars have been running all day. At virtually no other motorsport event in Michigan can a spectator get this close to the actual racing experience for this little money.
What are Spec Classes and why does everyone say they are the best races to watch?
+
Spec classes — Spec Miata (SM) and Spec Racer Ford (SRF/SRF3) — are built around the same idea: identical cars prepared to a strict common ruleset so that driver skill, not budget, determines the outcome. In Spec Miata that means Mazda Miatas; in Spec Racer it means purpose-built open-wheel formula cars. Both produce some of the closest, most door-to-door racing in amateur motorsport anywhere. This weekend features a Spec Racer Invitational Saturday afternoon and a Spec Miata Invitational on Sunday — the deepest grids of each class going head to head in dedicated feature races. If you can only catch two races all weekend, make it these two.
I do track days and HPDEs already. How do I take the next step into wheel-to-wheel racing?
+
The annual Competition Driving School at Waterford Hills is your entry point — held every spring, $495, three days: one classroom and two on-track. Pass and you earn an SCCA Novice Permit, qualifying you for wheel-to-wheel races at Waterford Hills and SCCA Regional events across the Midwest. Your existing track car may already qualify for an SCCA Improved Touring class — check the SCCA GCR for your make and model. The DRSCCA Mentor Program connects newcomers with experienced racers who walk through car prep, class selection, and first-weekend logistics. Start at waterfordhills.com/howto.html and drscca.org.
Is there food available at the track, and what should I bring?
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Waterford Hills has concession facilities on race weekends near The Hill between Turns 2 and 4. Bringing your own cooler, lawn chairs, a blanket, and sun protection is also completely welcome. The atmosphere is relaxed and informal — a proper Michigan sporting club with a log cabin clubhouse and 68 years of racing heritage. Dress in layers for Michigan May weather and plan to stay all day.
How do I get to Waterford Hills from Fenton or other Southeast Michigan locations?
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Waterford Hills is at 4770 Waterford Road, Village of Clarkston, MI 48346, in Independence Township — approximately 20 minutes southeast of Fenton. Take I-75 south and exit at Sashabaw Road (Exit 89, also the Pine Knob / DTE Music Theater exit). The track sits on the grounds of the Oakland County Sportsmen’s Club. When you turn onto Waterford Road and find yourself on a dirt gravel access road, you are headed exactly the right direction — both entry roads are unpaved. Navigate toward the back of the property and you will see the track entrance.
Can I volunteer to help with the event even without a racing background?
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Absolutely — and you would be doing the community a genuine favor. SCCA races are entirely volunteer-run, and the DRSCCA actively encourages anyone interested to get involved, even for a single session. Timing and scoring is a popular entry point for non-racers. If you are interested in flagging and communications, the Michigan Turn Marshals organization (michiganturnmarshals.org) is the right contact. Volunteers get track access and community connection that no spectator ticket can buy.
Get to the Track This Weekend
The Jerry Shiloff Memorial Race runs May 23-24, 2026 at Waterford Hills in Clarkston. $5 to get in. $5 more to walk the paddock. $5 to drive your own car on the circuit. Bring the family, bring a lawn chair, and discover why the people who find this place keep coming back every single season.
