Todd - I'm in the OCR PCA and about all I do are Autox's and Krispy Kreme runs. I had my first three this year, not intimidating at all and lots of instructors to go around. The events are usually at Irwindale so it's not a long drive for you. PM me for the contact email, and you can check out their calendar
here.
I hear great things about the SD region as well and plan to make it down to one of theirs also. [FWIW, when we hosted the Zone 8 Autox they were very complementary to our crew and how well it was organized to max track time.]
I agree with Jack that the track is probably more fun, and lots more seat time for the cost. My plan was to get half a dozen or so autox's under my belt before I headed out to the track.
See you out there!