I have to confess that it almost slipped by me! After the Monterey Historics and a slug of summer events, I nearly lost sight of the fact that this issue marks the 75th edition of Vintage Racecar Journal. Seems hard to believe that six years has gone by, but it was in August 1998 that we launched our first issue of Vintage Racecar, at that year’s Monterey Historics. For those of you who have been loyal readers since the beginning, you know how far we’ve come in those 75 issues. The first issue was just 32 pages and printed only in black & white. I look back at those first issues now and cringe, but everything has to start somewhere and, all things considered, it was a good start.
Editor
As the years moved on, we fortunately added more and more talented staff members and the magazine steadily grew in both size and quality. I’d be remiss (and likely pummeled!), if I didn’t take this opportunity to both congratulate and thank the many wonderful individuals who have helped Vintage Racecar grow and prosper over the past six years. In particular, I’d like to point out the significant contributions made by Ed McDonough, Pete Lyons, Peter Collins and Robert Newman, all of whom have been with us virtually since Day 1. Thank you, gentlemen, and all the 40+ VRJ staff members scattered across the globe.
Those of you who are subscribers may recall that several months ago you received a survey asking for both your opinions of the magazine and some information about yourself. I was pleasantly surprised that so many readers (more than 20%) took the time to respond to our questionnaire. Thank you. Your answers will help guide the editorial direction of the magazine as we push ahead towards our 100th issue.
Additionally, we learned a lot about who our readers are, and as such, who the typical historic racer is today. The results were interesting and so I thought I’d share some of the highlights here with you, because so often you complete these things and then never hear anything about them again!
Personal Information
Age: 18–34=1%; 35–45=7%; 46–55=31%; 56–65=43%; 65+=19%
84% of VRJ readers are married
37% of VRJ readers have undergraduate degrees 49% of VRJ readers have postgraduate or professional degrees
80% of VRJ readers are business owners or professionals
87% of VRJ readers are decision makers for the purchasing of goods and services at their place of business
96% of readers have one or more people reading their copy of VRJ, 35% have two or more, 10% have three or more
35% of VRJ readers own two or more homes
91% of VRJ readers maintain investment accounts
81% of VRJ readers are active Internet users
62% of VRJ readers have used a VRJ advertiser’s Web site to learn more about their products
84% of readers save their back issues of VRJ for future reference
Income
60% of readers have a combined household income of $100,000–$500,000/yr
10% of readers have a combined household income in excess of $500,000/yr
60% of VRJ readers have a total net worth over $1 million, 45% $1 million–$4 million, 15% $4 million–$10 million+
Travel
30% of VRJ readers travel more than 21 days per year on business
45% of VRJ readers travel more than 21 days per year for pleasure
45% of VRJ readers purchase more than 21 days per year of hotel accommodations.
12% of VRJ readers rent cars for more than 31 days/yr
Automotive
66% of VRJ readers own three or more street/family cars
15% own five or more street/family cars
57% of VRJ readers own two or more historic racecars
58% of VRJ readers own two or more collector/classic cars
24% own four or more collector or classic cars
40% of VRJ readers plan to buy a new race or collector car in the coming year
26% of VRJ readers would be interested in considering financing options for their next race or classic car purchase
51% of VRJ readers maintain one or more collector car insurance policies
54% of VRJ readers plan to attend a specialty and/or collector car auction in the coming year
23% of VRJ readers plan to attend, or have an interest in, a non-automotive auction in the coming year
89% of VRJ readers are active historic racing participants
26% of VRJ readers participate in six or more historic race events/year
61% of VRJ readers have an interest in racing abroad
