Jason, once you get your PAL number for Roo from AKC, you should be sitting pretty good. For the lure coursing events, you will just need to hand in a copy of his registration when you enter your first event. You won't have to do anything ahead of time regarding paperwork. For the racing organizations, they have their own system with numbers they assign you. But you don't necessarily have to do anything ahead of time. If you want to you can send them a copy of his registration, and I believe it is $2 to "register". Then they will mail you back with Roo's racing number. Or you can just wait until you enter your first race meet. Again you can just turn in your registration then and give them an extra $2 with the entry fees and they will forward it to the appropriate association when they turn in meet results. Then you can just use "pending" on your entry forms until you hear back what Roo's number is.
My suggestion is go to each organization's website and download the rule book. Read through it (yes I know, kinda boring reading…lol) and you will learn a lot about how the events are run, how the dogs are scored, and what types of things they earn. Also you will learn about things you are/are not supposed to do. Then the only other thing you can really do is go to the events and watch and learn. There are some things that are "unwritten rules" that you will learn as you go, and from talking to people. But it's one of those sports that you just gotta go see to learn. And going to the events will give you an opportunity to practice with Roo. There's not much you can do at home. Swinging a bag around on a fishing pole is about it if you want to do that. Or you could also feed them their dinner on top of a plastic bag or anything else that would make the bag very "exciting". lol But otherwise this is just something their brain is hardwired to do, and once they see it a bit they're either going to do it or not. There are things you can do with the lure operator to adjust behaviors or performances and help coach them along, but basically they're either gonna do it or they're not. 
The thing you CAN do at home is just general stuff to get them in shape for running. Lots of walks like you're already doing is helpful. Biking them so they can jog for long distances is excellent. Jogging up hills is also nice. If you've got one of those rare Basenjis that like to play fetch, there's an excellent game to play in the yard to build up their muscles.
As far as equipment goes you won't need anything for practicing. You can just take his leash off, and hold onto him until you release him, or you can let him run with a collar on for easy catching. In lure coursing they're not allowed to wear anything but in racing you can use collars if you want to for easy loading/catching. They just can't have any danglies on them. I just keep a cheap plain set of nylon leashes/collars in my gear bag that I can throw on everyone at the meets. In racing it won't matter what you use, but in lure coursing you will need a special lead/collar combo called a slip lead that allows you to keep control of your dog, but release them quickly so they are nekkid when they're on the course. You can get this later. They also have colored/numbered jackets that they wear in competition but again you won't need those for practicing. There's usually a vendor selling these items at most of the trials/meets and also places online you can buy them if/when you're ready. The only other thing you would need is a basket type muzzle for racing. They are optional for coursing, but required for racing because there are 4 dogs and only 1 lure, and everyone is usually so bunched together. Sometimes muzzles are used to keep dogs focused who like to play, others use them for easy catching since it distracts the dog at the end, and others use it as a safety feature so they don't hurt their jaw on the pulley if they lunge for the lure at the wrong moment.
Your best bet for practicing would be to attend the race meets. Often at lure coursing there's only practice on Saturdays after the event, and that's if the equipment is still holding up and the people too. lol But at race meets they often find more time to squeeze people in, and can do practices throughout the day during down times and on Sundays too. They don't have as much stress on the equipment, and not as much to do for clean up afterwards. But it would be good to attend both to learn the ropes and get in some good practices.
If you have any other questions, fire away!
