How does one start getting involved in racing?

Klayfish said:

Actually, the better question is:

"How does one stop being involved in racing once you get addicted?" 

Easy!  Just add three kids and/or subtract free time and income.

All the good suggestions have been made -- autocross has the lowest barriers to entry.  The easiest way to get into W2W racing is Lemons or Champcar.  

The "traditional" approach is to start with HPDE and work your way up that ladder and then progress to a comp school weekend and get a provisional license, then do a couple of races and get signed off for a comp license. 

If you race a couple of seasons in Lemons or Champ with a good safety record, you will to meet and compete with a lot of seasoned racers and you can probably petition to get a provisional comp license if you want to transition to another mainstream sanctioning org.

Racing is something I'm looking forward to returning to with more regularity once I get a little older.  3-4 weekends a year is about all I can swing with kids and a job.  Time and money are constant consumables in this hobby.   The cheapest way to get involved and learn the ropes is to volunteer -- either to work or crew for a team.

Well, depends what you wanna do...

I am going to give you a few headings, choose what fits best...

I gotta get wheel to wheel competition ASAP! - KARTING. Way cheaper gateway than cars. Way more seat time than autocross.  Go search for Karting stuff near you or ping loosecannon, I would bet hes a great resource for anyone looking to go karting in the land of maple syrup. 

Its gotta be a car and I wanna drive now! - Autocross.  Start there, do a few, go to some HPDE as your skills amass. I am sure plenty of people know better resources in canada than I do.

I wanna be AT THE TRACK. - Link up with a few groups that run at the track and say you would like to volunteer to do flagging and communication. Sometimes you even get paid to be there! (I made $100/day flagging Lemons back when I did, PCA was $50 a day with good swag and great catering, SCCA had a work 3 drive an HPDE free here) This is you AT THE TRACK getting to know all the people and finding your best way in.  (you might do this at the same time as autocross/HPDE or even Karting)

You don't say where in Ontario. I am out London way myself.

There are two cheap and easy ways to dip your toe into the performance driving game: Autocross and Track days. Neither requires a competition license and both will show you were your driving skills need work. Other than being fundamentally safe, I advocate NOT doing a lot of mods to the car. All the early development will go into the driver learning what car control entails.

Pete

Time for a kart - 2.5g lateral for $1500!

Just had to post this one, it really gets up your adrenaline, and nobody gets hurt. :)