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 About The VMC

It's Purpose, Benefits, & Membership Requirements


The Purpose of the Vintage Motorsports Council (VMC)

The Vintage Motorsport Council (the VMC), is a coordinating body for vintage motorsports groups.  Now over 30 years old, the first organizational meetings were held in Denver in November of 1987, and then finalized in Chicago in January of 1988.  VMC Member Organizations now include thirty vintage motorsports groups, including both for-profit and non-profit vintage groups throughout the United States and Canada.

The VMC provides its Members with a forum to address matters impacting the growth and health of vintage motor sports, as well as an opportunity to gain insights about how others address mutual problems and opportunities.  One should be clear: the VMC is not a governing body.  Each Member Organization is free to make its own rules governing its events, car eligibility, car logbooks, competition licensing policies, etc.  While the VMC may recommend rules or procedures, Member Organizations are free to adopt them or not.  One example: a flag sheet (available on the VMC website) explains the meaning of the various flags used at vintage races.  While there may be deviations at specific tracks for unique situations (usually explained at driver meetings), the VMC provides the generally accepted meaning of the flags helping to promote uniformity.

The primary objective and mission of the VMC is to promote the preservation of these great old cars in a racing format and in the environment for which many were intended, all the while emphasizing driver safety and etiquette.  The VMC seeks to ensure friendly wheel-to-wheel competition with vehicles faithfully prepared to their era. 

To these ends, the VMC generally meets each spring and fall at geographically varied locations.  In addition to the discussions and matters addressed at these meetings, other benefits of participating as a member organization are:

  • One of the driving forces for the formation of the VMC was a pressing need for consistent and affordable automobile racing liability insurance which sanctioning bodies could rely upon.  By banding together under the VMC banner, and working with the insurance broker and insurance carrier, Member Organizations have obtained a high standard of insurance coverage at a reasonable cost. Over the years they have experienced a good (low) loss ratio thus were able to capture continued reasonable insurance rates for its members’ events. Over 30 years later, the majority of the Member Organizations continue to take advantage of this program.  

  • In addition to the aforementioned event insurance, VMC member organization have access to Directors and Officers insurance and General Liability insurance.

  • Another need was to create a National Competition License that could be recognized when club members desired to enter an event sanctioned by an organization other than their “home club” where they would normally race.  

  • Over the years the VMC has sponsored the publication of thousands of copies of The Ace Factor. It is a primer on the art of racing, terminology, and theory, done within the spirit of vintage racing. Member Organizations often utilize it as a textbook for their racing schools or to provide to new participants.  The Ace Factor” is also a useful resource on race craft for the experienced racer.  Further information about and purchase of the “The Ace Factor” (also available for retail purchase) can be found here

  • The VMC makes available to Member Organizations a list of known Mechanical Failures compiled from reports provided by Members over the years.

  • The VMC Incident Report is often misunderstood.  This service compiles serious incident reports or driver sanctions which are reported to VMC by its Members.  Due to the broad cross-participation of racers around the country, it has become a valuable resource to evaluate entries of visiting racers.  Because cross-participation extends to SCCA racers in vintage events, and vice-versa, we have a reciprocal agreement with the SCCA to share each other’s data on driver sanctions.  The information  is updated and made available to to all Member Organizations.  It is intended as advisory information only, to be used solely at the discretion of race officials.  

  • And most importantly, the ability to participate in the biannual VMC meetings where mutual industry problems, opportunities, ideas, and industry standards are discussed and shared.


VMC Membership Requirements

As noted, the purpose and mission of VMC is to provide support for organizations which are involved with vintage racing.  Consequently membership is limited to organizations (non-profit or for-profit) that have a bone fide business structure, are primarily devoted to the sport of vintage racing, have successfully conducted at least one event, and  satisfy some other requirements.  The policy for membership and the details for application can be read in their entirety via this link.