The governing bodies of car racing.

No single organisation runs all of car racing. At world level the FIA writes the rules for its own championships and sets safety and fair-play standards. Each country then has a national authority connected to the FIA, and below that, clubs and companies sanction series and organise individual events. Knowing which body runs an event tells you whose rulebook applies and where a driver's licence comes from.

The FIA

The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile traces its roots to 1904. The FIA says the Automobile Club de France and 12 other clubs formed the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR) that year, and its 120th-anniversary history names the founding clubs as coming from seven countries: Germany, Austria, the United States, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Italy. The AIACR took the FIA name in 1946, according to both the FIA and Britannica.

The FIA describes itself as the governing body of world motor sport, regulating and adjudicating hundreds of events a year, and also as a federation of motoring organisations. It reports 246 member organisations in 149 countries and lists offices in Paris, Geneva, Valleiry and London. Its own list of world championships is:

• the Formula One World Championship
• the World Rally Championship and the World Rally-Raid Championship
• the World Endurance Championship, which the official WEC site says the FIA and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) established in 2012 and run jointly
• the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship
• the FIA Karting world championships

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, an Emirati former rally driver, has been FIA president since December 2021, when he succeeded Jean Todt. Sky Sports reports he was re-elected unopposed for a second four-year term, to 2029, at the FIA General Assembly in Tashkent on 12 December 2025. Two would-be challengers, Tim Mayer and Laura Villars, did not reach the ballot because they could not meet a rule requiring a vice-president candidate from each of the FIA's six world regions. Villars challenged the rules in a Paris court, which allowed the vote to go ahead.

FIA Karting

International kart racing is governed by FIA Karting, also known as the CIK-FIA. Wikipedia (secondary) says the FIA created the commission in 1962, that it is based in Geneva, and that its international categories are OK (senior direct-drive), OK-Junior, KZ (the top gearbox class) and KZ2. Akbar Ebrahim of India became its president in February 2022, per Wikipedia, and the FIA's own 2025 karting awards page and a September 2026 Kartcom report both still describe him in that role. Results are on our karting championships page.

The United States: ACCUS and its member clubs

Britannica notes that no single body governs racing in the US. Instead, American sanctioning bodies connect to the FIA through the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States, known as ACCUS.

The gap ACCUS fills goes back to 1955. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway's encyclopedia says the American Automobile Association announced on 3 August that year that it would dissolve its Contest Board, which had sanctioned US racing since 1902, with members citing the Le Mans disaster and the death of Indy 500 driver Bill Vukovich. The United States Auto Club (USAC) was formed on 16 September 1955 at Tony Hulman's suggestion and sanctioned the Indianapolis 500 from 1956. Wikipedia (secondary) says ACCUS was formed in 1957 to take over FIA representation in the US.

Inside Indiana Business describes ACCUS as the umbrella group and FIA liaison for US sanctioning bodies, with six member clubs. It opened an office in Speedway, Indiana, in May 2019, when George Silbermann was its president, and it also follows national legislation that could affect US motorsport. Wikipedia (secondary) adds that ACCUS processes FIA international competition licences for US drivers, handles homologation and record keeping, and issues FIA Historic Technical Passports.

The clubs in brief

• INDYCAR. Wikipedia (secondary) says Hulman and Company, then owner of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, formed the Indy Racing League in 1994, that racing began in 1996 and that the INDYCAR name was adopted in 2011. Penske Entertainment bought the series and the Speedway in November 2019. INDYCAR announced on 31 July 2025 that Fox Corporation had acquired a one-third interest in Penske Entertainment. See IndyCar.
• IMSA. Speed Sport says John and Peggy Bishop founded IMSA in 1969 with NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., who financed most of it, and that its first race, on 19 October 1969 at Pocono, was for formula cars rather than sports cars. Wikipedia (secondary) describes IMSA today as a NASCAR subsidiary based in Daytona Beach. See IMSA.
• NASCAR. Wikipedia (secondary) says Bill France Sr. founded it in Daytona Beach, where it is still based, and that it is privately held and controlled by the France family, with Jim France as chairman and Steve O'Donnell as CEO. See NASCAR.
• NHRA. The NHRA says Wally Parks, then editor of Hot Rod magazine, founded it in 1951 and was its first president, that its first official race was held in April 1953 at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona, and that 2026 is its 75th anniversary season. See drag racing series.
• SCCA. The Sports Car Club of America was founded in 1944 by amateur enthusiasts. Its own page gives two membership figures, more than 70,000 in the text and more than 65,000 in the page summary, across 115 regions in the US, Guam and Puerto Rico. Its programs include Club Racing, Solo (autocross), RallyCross, Time Trials, HillClimb, Road Rally and Track Days, and its subsidiary SCCA Pro Racing runs professional events.

NASA

The National Auto Sport Association is not one of the six ACCUS clubs, but it also runs amateur track events. NASA says it was founded in 1991, has its national office in Las Vegas, and runs High Performance Driving Events (HPDE) for learning track driving, Time Trial competition against the clock, wheel-to-wheel Road Racing and autocross. Our track days page covers HPDE.

The United Kingdom: Motorsport UK

Motorsport UK is the national governing body for four-wheeled motorsport in the UK. It issues competition licences and event permits and trains clubs, organisers and officials. It reports more than 3,500 events a year in 14 disciplines, over 64,000 competitors, about 11,000 trained volunteers and more than 600 clubs. Wikipedia (secondary) says it began as the RAC Motor Sports Association, legally formed in December 1977, took the Motorsport UK name in 2018, and is based in Bicester, Oxfordshire, with David Richards as chair and Hugh Chambers as CEO.

Race organisers

Some of the most famous races are run by clubs that predate the series they now belong to. The Automobile Club de l'Ouest was founded in 1906, marks its 120th anniversary in 2026, and organises the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Wikipedia (secondary) says the Monaco Grand Prix, now a round of Formula 1, is organised by the Automobile Club de Monaco, and the club's own history says the first race was held on 14 April 1929 and organised by Antony Noghes.

What this means for amateur drivers

For most people, the body that matters is the one that issues their licence. In the UK, Motorsport UK issues competition licences. In the US, the clubs above run their own amateur programs, and Wikipedia (secondary) says ACCUS handles FIA international licences for American drivers. Our licences and schools page covers the steps, and the rules of the event you enter always take precedence.