Motor racing is another popular sport in Japan. In fact, sports car racing, formula, bike racing and even drifting are widely followed by Japanese fans.

The Japan Le Mans Challenge was an endurance sports car series based in Japan built around the 24 Hours of Le Mans that began in 2006. It was run by the Sports Car Endurance Race Operation (SERO) sanctioning body and ran under the rules laid out by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). It is the first endurance sports car series in Japan since the demise of the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship in 1992, although the ACO had run a single endurance race since then, the 1999 Le Mans Fuji 1000km.

Meanwhile, Formula Nippon is a type of formula racing and the top level of single-seat racing in Japan.

Formula Nippon has a fairly long history, evolving from the Japanese Formula 2000 series begun in 1973 by way of the Japanese Formula Two and Japanese Formula 3000 championships. For the most part, the Japanese racing series have closely followed their European counterparts in terms of technical regulations, but there have been some important exceptions.

Formula One even holds a race in Japan known as the Japanese Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, The D1 Grand Prix, also known as D1GP and Professional Drift, is a production car drifting series from Japan. After several years of hosting amateur drifting contests, Option Magazine and Tokyo Auto Salon founder Daijiro Inada, and drifting legend Keiichi Tsuchiya hosted a professional level drifting contest in 1999 and 2000 to feed on the ever increasing skills of drifting drivers who were dominating drifting contests in various parts of Japan.

Betting on Auto Racing

Betting on auto racing is similar to betting on golf. The most basic wager involves picking the winner of a race. Typically a sports book will list 20 or more individual drivers along with a field (all others) option, at various odds.

If the bettor wagers $10 on Burton 15-1 and he wins the race, the bettor wins $150 plus his $10 stake, for a total payoff of $160.

Auto racing match-ups may also be available. Here two drivers are paired against each other in a head-to-head wager, with a betting line on each driver set by the odds maker. The driver with the better finish wins the match-up.

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