Ozarks International Raceway — Local services in Lakeside

THE BAD The poor communication and spending over a month to get something lined up was frustrating to say the least.

THE GOOD My wife and I had a great time at the track with James. The facility is amazing and clean. It’s a very technical track with many turns and elevation changes. Thank you James for your time and patience.

THE NOTES 4/11/23 I send an email to get info for a track day for my wife’s birthday. 4/14/23 No response to email. Called. Left message. 4/21/23 I send a second email. No response to phone or email. 4/25/23 Still no response. Called again. Finally got someone to answer. JR (owner) that apologized for the nonexistent communication. Got some info and he said to email him directly when I nailed down the dates we were able to come out. 4/26/23 I email JR the dates we could come out. 5/1/23 I email the owner, JR, again asking if the dates we sent were ok for a private lesson with a race instructor (James). 5/5/23 No response from the email I sent to the owner, so I called and left another message. 5/9/23 Still no response. I send another email to the owner JR. 5/9/23 Finally get an email back with no apology for the poor communication, with the instructors contact info (email and phone #). 5/9/23 James emails me with his cell phone # and asks for me to call him. 5/9/23 Called James. We set up a date for 5/25/23 @ 1pm. James will email me an info packet to go over before track day. 5/22/23 Had to contact James as I have not received any info on what to go over before track day. 5/25/23 James was informative and patient being our 2nd time on a track. We went over the TRACK LAYOUT that was on one of the walls of the many garages. Then PACE LAPS with him in front and us in our 2019 Corvette Grand Sport. Started at 60mph and worked our way up to 80mph. I asked James at the end if he would show me "how its done". He obliged by doing 110-120mph. That was something to...

Incredible track, facility, and owners. Within the first year of opening, NASA Central has already driven here a few times. I see so many people come out with big smiles saying they're happy to finally have a track that's not too far for them. You can tell the facility was built with big things in mind. The garages are incredibly nice, they keep adding on everytime we go. Can't wait to see live IMSA races here.

Okay, so you're a driver. How's the track? To be totally honest, I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner driver. It's an advanced course. There's no way around it. I do in car instruction and the biggest issue is the track is almost 4 miles and has 19 turns. A lot of drivers simply get disoriented and lost. They forget what turn is coming up, you can't see it because of the elevation, so you don't remember where to brake or turn. THAT SAID, a good instructor will still get you around here SAFELY. For advanced drivers, we live a good challenge. This is it. The layout flows in a way that's easy on the brakes and tires, while still being very fast. It's fun. The elevation is so different than anything else in the Midwest. It's very technical. There's parts of the track where you don't need to go all the way wide, because of the trajectory, but that extra pavement exists for racing/passing. They thought of everything. Also, a car with great aero is favored here - especially T1 where the elevation and camber will push you wide.

So... Definitely go. Even if you have to dial it way back, it's fun. In the rain, the line isn't much different, just watch for puddles. There's no significant amount of rubber bedded into the pavement yet, so it's sort of like NCM in that sense. The curbs use a dyed concrete - not paint - so your can still use them, but the ones in the eases have mild corrosion so don't get too crazy. Hope to...

I have been waiting for three years for this track to be ready for motorcycles. As other car enthusiasts have said this is a very challenging track, but that being said Evolve Gt sponsored this event and did a excellent job of putting out marking cones and if you used them you only had to make minor adjustments coming up the multiple blind rises and finding your line. Im not a very fast rider so if you use the markers and take a little time to learn the coarse you will be looking forward to charging the multitude of blind corners. I started the morning on my 1290 Superduke Gt and had bad cold tear I couldn't overcome with tire pressure ( i.e. my rear shock electronics had issues i couldn't deal with at the track) but the track was still amazing. So my wonderful wife loaded up my 300cc 2 strock supermoto and drove 2 hrs. to bring it to the track. The 300 did much better at this track only being under powered being limited to 100mph top end. The smaller bike was the key on this track feeling more willing to deal with the off camber turns. If you ride this track on a 600cc or smaller bike you will go home with a smile on your face that you may need to get surgically removed.

I'm hoping O.I.R will be holding multiple track days a year in the near future. Because I would set up a 450 supermoto I could ring 120 mph out of or just buy a super sport 600. Please..... Please.... Please.... Have motorcyle track days multiple times a year in the...