The track opened in 1962 as a 16-turn clockwise road course. After one year the Oak Tree Bend series of turns in the northeast corner was removed for being too slow and replaced by the Thunder Valley downhill straight, establishing a 15-turn, 2.400-mile layout that forms the backbone of the circuit to the present day. The back portion allows speeds approaching 200 mph. A separate start line and flagstand on the backstretch enables safer and more competitive rolling starts for certain series, distinct from the regular start-finish line on the pit straight.
A 1990 refurbishment resurfaced and widened the track and paved concrete into the turn apexes. A straight was also paved through the chicane, producing a second 13-turn, 2.258-mile configuration that bypasses the chicane section. Major series including IndyCar and IMSA have generally used the shorter bypass layout, while motorcycles and club racing typically retain the full 2.4-mile circuit.
A second major renovation in 2006 fully repaved the circuit, removed the concrete apex patches, and added connectors near the Keyhole section to permit three distinct road course configurations and enable simultaneous use of multiple layouts. A rallycross course of 0.7 miles utilizing the Keyhole section hosted the Americas Rallycross Championship in 2019. The track was fully repaved again at the conclusion of the 2023 season, and Turn 4's banking was reduced from 4 to 2 degrees in 2024 with associated runoff and drainage improvements.
Les Griebling and several Mansfield-area businessmen opened the track in 1962 as a weekend sports car racing venue. In 1982 Jim Trueman, a road racer and founder of Red Roof Inns, purchased Mid-Ohio and oversaw substantial infrastructure investment: permanent grandstands, amphitheater-style seating, garages with spectator balconies, a five-story media and hospitality center, tunnels, an updated paddock, and a three-sided infield scoreboard tower visible from nearly all spectator areas. Trueman died from cancer in 1986; his wife and daughter assumed management. Michelle Trueman was named president in 1989. On March 2, 2011, it was announced that Green Savoree Racing Promotions had purchased the facility from Truesports, ending 29 years of Trueman-family ownership.
Mid-Ohio's first sanctioned sports car race took place in 1963 under the United States Road Racing Championship, a 168-mile event won by Ken Miles. USRRC continued until 1968, and sports car racing returned in 1972 as a six-hour enduro under IMSA GT Championship sanction. IMSA racing continued at the track through 1993. Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series visited from 2000, with the American Le Mans Series added in 2001; both ran concurrently until ALMS dropped the circuit in 2012 and Grand-Am followed in 2013. IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship returned in 2018.
Can-Am visited from 1969 to 1974 and again from 1977 to 1982. The US Formula 5000 series raced from 1970 to 1976. Mid-Ohio hosted its first CART race in 1980, won by Johnny Rutherford with Chaparral. CART returned in 1983 and ran annually through 2003, when declining attendance and the proximity of the Cleveland race led to the race's removal. IndyCar returned in 2007 under the Indy Racing League and has continued as the Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Scott Dixon holds the track record for most wins with seven. In 2015 Graham Rahal won at Mid-Ohio, thirty years after his father Bobby Rahal won his first career race at the same circuit.
The track hosted its first NASCAR event in 2013 as a 200-mile Xfinity Series race. The race was shortened to 170 miles in 2018 and transferred to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2022. Unlike most series at the venue, NASCAR events use the main pit straight start-finish line rather than the backstretch start line.
Founded in 1993, the Mid-Ohio School operates licensed defensive driving, high performance driving, and performance track riding programs from the facility's Vehicle Dynamics Center and on-track environments. The school is AAA Approved and holds the Ohio State Highway Patrol Partners for Safety recognition. More than 50,000 graduates have completed its programs, including 18,500 teenagers and 13,300 motorcycle riders.
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is reproduced in several sim racing titles and is recognized within the simulation community for its technical character: the blind crest at Turn 1, the Keyhole carousel, and the Thunder Valley section create a layout that rewards both precision and commitment at speed.