Virginia International Raceway first opened on 3 August 1957, created by a group of local businessmen using a bulldozer on a wooded site outside Milton, North Carolina. The track hosted SCCA National Sports Car Championship events from its opening until the series ended in 1964, and briefly appeared on the IMSA GT Championship calendar in 1971 and 1972. It then closed in 1974 and remained dormant for over two decades.
The track was reopened in March 2000 by Harvey Siegel and Connie Nyholm using an innovative "country club" membership model, in which members receive track time alongside ticket access to professional events. This model has since been adopted by other facilities in the United States. Following reopening, the AMA Superbike Championship raced at VIR's North Course from 2001 to 2010. The Rolex Sports Car Series used the Full Course from 2002 through 2011, and the American Le Mans Series made its inaugural visit to the circuit in September 2012 for the Oak Tree Grand Prix, setting a new track record.
VIR's Full Course is 3.270 miles long and features 130 feet of elevation change, producing a varied and technically demanding layout. The circuit offers six distinct configurations, two of which can be used simultaneously. The Full Course and the 1.100-mile Patriot Course — which runs entirely inside the Full Course — can operate at the same time, as can the 2.250-mile North Course and 1.650-mile South Course configurations. A longer Grand East Course measuring 4.200 miles combines most of the Full and Patriot courses.
Among the most celebrated sections of the Full Course are the "Climbing Esses," a sequence of ascending, cresting turns entered at high speed from a preceding straight, demanding precision in both line and commitment. "Oak Tree" at Turn 11 is considered the circuit's signature corner. The "Roller Coaster" at Turn 14 offers similarities to the Corkscrew at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, with a cresting blind entry into a rapid directional change. The front straight is approximately 3,000 feet in length and the back straight around 4,000 feet, with higher speeds reached on the shorter front straight due to the faster preceding corner.
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship has featured VIR as an annual event since 2014, initially as the Oak Tree Grand Prix and now under the Michelin GT Challenge branding. Uniquely among IMSA rounds, the VIR event is restricted to GT classes — GTD Pro and GTD — without the DPi or LMP prototype categories that headline most championship rounds. This format concentrates competition in the GT machinery and creates an event where manufacturer rivalries in the production-derived classes take centre stage.
The circuit's character — with elevation changes, blind crests, and a mix of fast and technical sections — suits GT cars well and rewards mechanical balance over raw power. VIR's remoteness and country-club atmosphere give the event a distinctive feel compared to the urban-adjacent venues on the IMSA schedule. Drivers with strong circuit knowledge and the ability to manage tyre degradation across the Climbing Esses and the technical middle sector have historically held an advantage at the circuit.
Carroll Shelby won the first feature race at VIR on its inaugural weekend in August 1957 driving a Maserati 450S, a result that set the tone for the circuit's long association with sports car racing. Among notable figures in the track's early history are Briggs Cunningham, Roger Penske, Mark Donohue, Dan Gurney, and Hurley Haywood.