Relive the golden era of auto racing, when steel cars with chrome bumpers battled side by side every Saturday night.  ‘Back in the day’, when the fastest cars started at the back and had to work their way to the front, you could feel the excitement in the air with as many as 40 or 50 cars starting the feature.  Chicago’s Soldier Field attracted 50,000 fans for a regular Saturday night race, and occasionally had over 80,000 fans for a special event.  Auto racing was America’s darling, and the Midwest was home to some of the best in America.

Tiger Tom Pistone and Andy Granatelli were household names, and NASCAR was a fledgling group from down south.  Sure, the drivers were characters back then, but the cars were unique and played their part in attracting and entertaining crowds.  Bold designs, big fins, tri-power and more gave each car an individual look, feel and sound.  Nobody so much as considered having every car look identical like they do today.  Individuality was King, and fans were devout followers.

Today, across the country, racers are restoring those golden age cars and constructing replicas to once again go door handle to door handle on traditional short track battlefields.  In typical ‘back in the day’ fashion, some localities are organized with regulated clubs and defined rules, while in other parts of the country they’re simply loosely formed groups of friends that gather at the track to race.

Off the track, racers help each other locate rare parts, offer advice on ‘setups’ and do whatever they can to help fellow competitors.  On the track, the competition is so fierce it’s not at all unusual for fans to be on their feet once again, cheering loudly for their favorite driver. 

And those drivers are about as diverse a group as you’re ever going to find.  Ranging in age from ‘kids’ not old enough to get a driver’s license to veteran racers in their 70’s, they all share a love for these old cars and the fun of racing them.

While Vintage Racing is still very much in its infancy, there’s no question that the popularity of these vintage beauties is raising exponentially.  Three years ago it was a challenge to get a track owner to allow us to race along with their regularly scheduled late models. Contrast that to 2009 when the Illinois Vintage group held their first event where they were the featured attraction.   Moving from “and tonight we also have . . “ to the main attraction, the “Dirt Nationals” attracted a crowd over 6,000; an incredible achievement at a track that normally entertains between 2,500 and 3,500 fans per event.  And they did it on a night when the weather took an unseasonable drop in temperature to the mid 30º’s. That is fan loyalty reminiscent of those ‘Back in the Day’ days!

Further evidence of Vintage Racing’s ever increasing popularity was seen in 2008 when NASCAR’s Darlington Raceway, the track “too tough to tame”, hosted their first “Historic Racing Festival”.  Then, in 2009, with rain in the forecast and very little pre-event marketing, the pits eventually housed over 100 Vintage Race Cars from all across the country.  With the success of that event, NASCAR is now firmly onboard with a Vintage program and has already announced plans for the fourth annual Historic Racing Festival in 2011.

After every Vintage event, when the pits are opened to the public, fans stream down to get a closer look at these unique race cars.  Amongst the myriad of questions we get every night, there’s one question that invariably pops up every time.  “When and where is your next race?”, typically followed by “I don’t want to miss it!

The purpose of this site is to help both fans, and Vintage Racers, find an event that they can attend.  If you know of a Vintage event that is not currently on the schedule, please let us know.

So, check the schedule and find an event near you and “come on out”.  If you like racing, you’re going to love this!