Experience a Race

Unlike going to a professional car race at a road-race course, super speedway oval track or dirt oval, you don’t have to be sequestered far from the action in a designated grandstand seat. At nearly all “vintage” car races that are put on by various organizers, as a spectator you can enter the paddock area and experience first-hand the colorful world of racecars, drivers, mechanics and motor sports competition atmosphere in all of its dimensions. And you are free to spectate from not just one, but any number of strategic spots around the track that the organizers deem safe and accessible.

 

Also, with careful decorum you can even approach drivers and other key racing personnel with questions and conversation, given that their time and situation permits, of course. As a spectator visiting a vintage car event, you are “in” the experience, vs “outside” the experience, observing from afar.

 

If you know or are related to a racer, racecar builder, preparer or mechanic, in some cases you can be afforded guest passes. These are essentially spectator tickets with the addition of either “guest” or “crew” status, and in fact can lead to participating in helpful crew assistant duties, such as car wipe-downs between races, on-site fuel procurement or other useful duties that all racers need at one level or another before or in between races at the track. A little training is required but being involved in the process can be as fun as it is helpful.

 

Attending a race as a spectator, visitor, photographer or journalist does not require membership, however in some cases a day pass must be purchased at the gate for a nominal fee.

A typical race weekend for competitors consists of two days, with annual special or “signature” events sometimes covering three-to-four days. Each class of cars usually has a half hour qualifying practice session on Saturday morning, followed by a half hour qualifying “heat race” in the afternoon.  In the case of the larger events, Thursday and/or Friday are often designated for practice and “timed practice” sessions, which determine drivers’ starting positions in their respective heat races. Sunday morning normally offers 15-20 minute “warm-up” track sessions, followed by an afternoon “flag races,” the main events for each of several “run groups.” Run groups are generally made-up of 2-4 classifications of cars. Main events commonly offer points in each race class that count toward a year-end championship for each designated class.

On a typical race weekend there can be 100-300 racecars in the paddock area, most of them beautifully prepared and cared-for cars with owners who love nothing more than to show, share and “talk shop.”

A dizzying kaleidoscope of racecars can be found at most events. These include (but are not limited to) Production cars (e.g. Corvettes, Mustangs, Camaros, BMWs, Porsches, Alfa Romeos, Ford Escorts, Cortinas and more, each of which falls into specific classes within designated “run groups”). Cars in the Production classes are sometimes called “tin tops.”

Open wheel racecars include Formula Fords, Club Fords, Formula Vees and more powerful sibling classes such as Formula A, Formula B and Formula Super Vee. Hyper-power racecars include Formula 5000, Indy Cars and in some cases even Formula 1 cars from past decades. Extraordinary would be an understated description of these fantastic cars.

Popular small bore sports cars include MGs, Triumphs, Austin Healey Sprites and their widely varying counterparts from the golden eras of “backyard” racing, where automobile road racing originated, across the USA, throughout North America and Abroad.

Purpose-built full-bodied sports racing cars, which were often developed for professional racing in their eras, generally race in the “Wings and Slicks” group, a class (or classes) of “superformance” that define the limits of engineering an driving skill. When standing still, these cars are works of art. In motion they are spectacle.

The cars described above and a wide range of others, comprising myriad marques, types and race class examples, are all alive and well, from layered historic eras.

Post-race-day afternoons and evenings offer rich social opportunities, including Saturday night get-togethers, dinners, barbeques and time to rehash the racing activities of the day. People of all kinds mix and trade stories; some old friends, others sporting competitors and still others new acquaintances.

Some race organizations are member owned, whereas others are privately held. Either way, as a member you become part of the organization and most clubs have a long history of looking after the member experience. Year-end awards banquets are common, for the purpose of celebrating the efforts, participations and contributions of all, and often for awarding class points winners.

Photo: Gil Murrieta

All racecars need experienced crew assistance. Very few racers prepare, maintain, troubleshoot and detail their cars before and during racetrack activities all by themselves, plus do the driving. Getting a racecar competition-ready for the track and then maintaining and refining it throughout a race weekend is an involved process, including engine tuning, hydraulics maintenance, suspension tuning, periodic fueling, tire pressure tuning and tech inspection preparation, to name a few key areas of car prep. Sometimes one mechanical whiz can do all of these tasks, but commonly two or more experienced car jockeys are necessary.

Photo: Gil Murrieta

Not just anyone can be a racecar crewmember; not even an experienced street car mechanic. Depending upon the racecar and its level of uniqueness and sophistication, sometimes the blend of expertises needed must be carefully searched out, and usually must be financially contracted — unless you’re a driver/car owner who is very lucky and has one or two willing racecar experts willing to volunteer their time and skills.