Thanks so much for all of the information @DarthShivious and @rbean01! I will send these on to my friend. (Sorry for the delay… I took a break from the computer over the holidays.) She DOES race track, so the information about getting to T-Town will be helpful.
If you have any info about finding teams, that would also be useful. NorCal has an “early birds” racing series with a “meet the teams” day, so most of the larger teams have a presence on that day. I don’t know if there’s anything like that in the NYC area? Or do most people just find teams by doing races and seeing what teams are there?