Gainesville Is not a "roadcourse" it's a higher speed autocross without a lot of runoff. would however make an awesome kart track.
there is a lot of clubs that have entry level instruction. passing, flags, where and how to position a car on the track. these things are imperative to being safe and successful. now if you want to get GOOD at it a few autocrosses will make the transision much easier since it trains your driving brain to move much faster then it has to on the track.
I'll give you an example. in a lap of sebring there is 17 turns (2 of which are not really turns) a GOOD driver in a quick street car is in the mid to low 2 min range.
this sunday on a 52 second course there were I'm going to guess. 21 turns that's a turn every 2.5 seconds as opposed to the average of ~9 seconds on sebring. that's 3.6 times as often. so it is by far the best training you can get cheap.
NASA southeast has a work for run Program. you get credits toward events by working at other ones.
http://www.nasa-southeast.com/2007WorkerBrochure.pdf
Their events are less then $300 for 2 days on the track which is a bonus. or you get 1 day credit for each day you work! Workers get free beer, Free Hotel, and free food. and now free HDPE. if you can't afford your habit it's a nice subistute. that's about the only 2 ways people get started. as workers or work their way up the driving scale. either way it's time for a beer.