Are autox tires decent for road racing?

[Roen]

When I read this title, I thought you were looking at the A6.

If you're looking at time attack, or short races, an autocross compound, like the Hoosier A6 is perfectly fine. I lost to a car on A6's at a time attack a few years back.

If you're doing lapping days, then you might want to look at an R6 or something similar.

But if you haven't done racing before, there are plenty of high grip street tires out there that will teach you more than the R-Compounds. Bridgestone, Dunlop, Hankook, Yokohama, Kumho, Falken, Toyo, Nitto all make good tires of that class.