Nags Head Raceway

Fun, but pricey. Bring back the carnival! Not much to do without the carnival games and rides.

Racing was great; however, owner closed the establishment 1 hour early. He stated «it gets a little rough after 10.»

First, the picture of «Full Throttle» and the oval race track is a completely different place that’s close to this place. This racetrack is next to the Tanger Outlets.
I came here because of the reviews and when we got to the place, I was a bit let down by how small this place is. We went up to get our tickets and it is about $ 10 per person per track ride. There was a bit of a line going on since there was a few big groups in front of us. The place also alternates between the junior cars taking on the track and letting the big kids ride around.
Boyfriend and I ended up racing against a bunch of kids since their parents wanted to race against each other in a separate race. Yay us! I ended up zipping around these kiddos and mostly avoiding their crashes around the track. For a small track, I love all the windy turns on here.
Well I did have fun leaving the kids in the dust, but this track was small and pricey for what it was. Still had fun kicking my boyfriend’s butt on the track.

Watch for the «Full Throttle» sign to find this place!
We’re here in early June and had gone here last year. We had also just come from the Paradise Putt-​putt/​racetrack which I’ve reviewed as well.
I liked this one a little better.
Firstly, the solo rid height restriction here is 50″ (it’s 56″ at Paradise) so my youngest could drive his own cart.
It was $ 8.50 per ride (instead of $ 10.00 at Paradise). I didn’t compare the time of the rides but this one felt longer — maybe because of the track.
The carts are older gas carts, but in good shape. They’re the type with a metal «ring» around the car to keep the car itself from hitting guardrails and some of those were a bit dented. Mine was pretty fast and I was able to lap both my sons.
It wasn’t busy and we were the first people there but another group showed up behind us and I have to say it was more fun racing on a full track, especially having to maneuver around the little kids.
The track is a Figure-​8 which has an overpass and underpass at the intersection so after a couple of laps it gets kind of repetitive and once you figure out how to get on the inside before the people who haven’t figured it out (or are just having fun driving not caring about passing!) you can pass more people.
No brake is necessary the entire course.
One thing that was nice was they put the kids in the first row and let them get onto the track first. I thought that was a nice way to do it.
We didn’t do the oval track because there is a higher height restriction and honestly didn’t look as interesting. When we arrived no one was there and that other large group just did the Fig8 with us. I think the Oval was only $ 5.00 though. If you can drift, that’s great (it says «slick oval») but honestly the Fig8 seemed more interesting.
I liked the electric carts at Paradise, and the twisty turny track with a striaghaway better, but since it was $ 10.00 and under 56″ had to ride with an adult, I gave Nags Head Raceway one more star since my 50″ child could ride solo and it was a bit less expensive.
YMMV.

Place was awesome. The best one I’ve been to by far here. My daughter and I had a blast. I will come back without question. No line and I swear we raced for 30 mins. It’s hard to see from the road but def a place worth stopping.

Fun times– a bit pricey. Two tracks– cost is just under 10 per person for less than 10 min on the track. You pay for each track, so it was about $ 19 per person since we tried both. A circular track allows you to drift around the bend– in case you want to drive like fast and furious, but the figure 8 track was more fun. This park also has games at $ 3 per person. For 6 people, it was quite costly. It was fun and what the kids wanted to do, but we would not do it again on this trip due to the cost vs benefit.

Kids rode the Junior Karts, which were perfect for them. Small track though, and a bit pricey.

My kids couldn’t get enough of driving themselves in the junior go carts! Nicely done.

I took my daughter. We had a blast. It wasn’t particularly busy, so there was really no line, and really no wait. After a group of about three we had the track to ourselves and went back for more. When we got to the track, we waited for another group of three to finish their race and had the track to ourselves again. She had a blast, and the attendants there were very forgiving of her nearly killing them as she finished the race.
Nice way to break up a week at the beach.

This place is awesome! The kart races are the best things here, but the arcade games and bumper cars definitely come close. Kids will want to spend all day here (I know I always did). Occasionally you get some maniac kart racers who drive like they’re trying to escape from a chimaera or something, but you can just avoid them, or engage in epic kart-​bumping duels. Whatever works for you. I’d recommend it.

This is a very well-​run go kart track with a figure-​8 track and three different kart sizes (junior, single and double). My 7-​year-​old loved the junior kart races which have smaller karts and slower speeds. It was the first time he had ever been able to drive that fast by himself. After the race you can enjoy the arcade or bumper cars. We could have stayed all day!