Well, consider that an SCCA race school will grant a novice license after one two-day race school, which usually includes one or two practice races... and that turns into a full license after, what, one or two weekends/2 races?

Though they're all called "Race" schools - they do have rather different foci. The professional schools mentioned here are focused on teaching driving technique etc... OTOH the "real" race school, with participant-owned racecars etc, is primarily focused on just getting you to be able to play safely on track with others. If you suck and are off-pace... doesn't really matter, as long as you're safe and can follow directions.

It's great when I get students who already have DE experience or similar - even ChumpCar/Lemons, believe it or not. Then we can just focus on racing: sharing corners with others, passing/getting passed safely, flags, operations, etc. When I'm struggling to teach a driver how to shift... really cuts down on the ability to make a safe racer!!

Just a little perspective, from the SCCA side of the house... "Race school" means a lot of different things - though I think you've gotten the answers that relate more directly to your interest...

Agree - I spent 4 days with Andy Lee at Bondurant and it was eye opening. Bondurant has a method and you'll get out of it what you put in - meaning if you trust the method, really push yourself and learn from people like Andy you'll leave a much better, safer driver. They do a good job of catering to their clientele - some are there to experience "racing" in a "big ole Dodge", others are there to really learn skills that are transferrable on any track and in any car. The instructors will pick out and cater to whatever the paying customer desires.

I thought I was consistent, used all of the track, could trail brake with the best of em - had good pedal feel and brake release technique before Andy ripped me apart and showed me just how basic my skill level was (and still is compared to his). So much of good driving is doing the basics perfectly on every lap in every car at every track. If you want to, you can learn this at Bondurant. You won't master it in 4 days - but you'll gain some awareness that you can take to the track in both DE and competition settings. Now that I've moved to endurance racing the consistency and focus of hitting your marks every single time - in traffic, in the rain, off line, etc... really stands up. It was money well spent for me.

Andy is awesome and you hit the nail on the head about good driving.

My first on track experience was a 1 day racing school at NOLA with Skip Barber in spring of 2015 (before they filed bankruptcy). That made me hungry for more so I did a 3 day school with them at Streets of Willow in June of 2015. Both the 1 day and 3 day were in their open wheel formula cars. I could see serious signs of financial trouble at the 3-day school. They offered me the opportunity to obtain a "competition license" at the end of the 3 day school. I never followed up on the license because at the time I knew there was no way I was ready to go racing fender-to-fender with anyone at any level except possibly 24 hours of LeMons.

Fast forward to June of 2017 and I started doing HPDEs at MSR Cresson, 4 days total last year, and capped the year off with a 3 day Schnellfest at COTA with the Texas PCA clubs. I did another 2 day DE with the Maverick PCA club at MSR Cresson 2 weekends ago and will do several more this year and another visit to COTA as well. Also just signed up for a 2 day HPDE at Barber with Chin in early July.

The more time I spend on track the more I realize I have left to learn, and the more ridiculous it seems that Barber racing school qualified me for a competition license. After only 4 days on track.

Not to say I didn't learn anything at the 4 days of Barber racing schools, quite the contrary, the learning curve was steep and fast and fun. I learned a LOT in those open wheel, lightweight, sequential shift cars that required heel-toe rev matched downshifts. I would do another school similar to it in a heartbeat, but the dollars they cost make more sense to me to spend on my Boxster doing HPDEs.

Recently completed a 3 day program at Bonderant and was lucky enough to have Caanan O'Connell as our lead instructor. Amazing staff there.