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:
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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.
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In addition to the aforementioned event insurance, VMC member
organization have access
to Directors and Officers insurance and General Liability insurance.
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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.
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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.
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The VMC makes available to Member Organizations
a list of
known “Mechanical Failures”
compiled from reports provided by Members over the years.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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