Are there any competitive autosports events for vintage cars in the U.S. that don’t require equipment that would adversely affect the ‘historical value’ of the car?
This does not take into account the actual ‘historical value’ of the car. There were more than half a million MGBs built, and large numbers of Triumphs and ‘Spridgets’ and Porsches and so on. The ‘historical value’ of most of these cars would be nil. Still, some people who own classic cars might not want to install a roll bar because the car would no longer look like a ‘street example’ of the marque.
I know there are ‘historical drives’, but I can’t think of an actual race event where the cars could be campaigned without roll protection. But what about races ‘against the clock’ such as autocross or hill climbs? Are there any such events that will allow a person to compete in a completely stock car?
There is still racing of vintage race cars (formula fords for example) and motorcycles as well.
The rules are a little stricter, as many of the cars are irreplaceable. “Rubbin’s just racing.” wouldn’t fly for example.
Many enthusiast clubs conduct “track days” which are “run what ya brung” events. Any racing at such events is usually on the basis of time, rather than head to head. Cars are either on the track one-at-a-time or started far enough apart that they shouldn’t catch each other, with passing prohibited.
Some vintage cars might have trouble with such basic requirements as not being allowed on the track with an oil leak though.
Not in the US, but I recently was at a short-oval meeting which included ‘vintage stock car’ races, which operate nationally as a legitimate competition. A lot of the entrants are mongrels, cobbled together from various old cars, but one was a genuine 1950s stock car, essentially unmodified.
I happen to know about this group because I was at the track on Friday, and a few of them were practicing for the weekend’s races. But I’m afraid I don’t know much more about them than you can read on their site. I know some guys who race with them, but I’ve never been to one or their races.
I would imagine there are other similar organizations that could be found by searching for “vintage auto racing” or similar keywords.
A vintage car could compete in autocross, as long as it passed a simple safety inspection. However, to my knowledge there aren’t usually “vintage” classes so you’d run in whatever class would be appropriate for the car/preparation - and it could be quite unfavorable, since, for the SCCA at least, if the car is not listed it gets bumped up to catch-all classes like Super Stock, etc. depending on level of prep. Do you have a car in mind, or is this just a general “what-if” question?
