How to Write Car Show Classes and Categories That Actually Work

Your class structure should reflect your entrant base, not some ideal taxonomy of all automobiles ever made. If your show draws mostly muscle cars from the 1960s and 70s, you don't need a "pre-war classics" class or a "European imports" class with one car in it. Empty classes waste time and make the trophy ceremony feel thin.

Before your first show, talk to your local car clubs. Look at what showed up at similar events in your area in recent years. If you're running a charity show at a community festival, you're going to get a very different mix than if you're running an invitational for a marque club. Build classes for the cars that are actually going to register.

Whatever else you do, you need these fundamental separations for your car show classes and categories:

The short answer is: more than you have judges for is too many.

Each class needs two to three judges. If you have 15 volunteer judges, you can run roughly 5–7 classes comfortably. If you try to run 20 classes with 15 judges, you'll either have to double up heavily or rush the judging, and rushed judging produces bad results.

At the Great Lakes Invitational, we run 28 classes with a judge pool of 60-plus. For a first-time show of 100–150 cars, I'd target 12–16 classes and recruit accordingly. You can always add classes as you grow. It's harder to collapse classes once owners have registered.

Every class on your registration form needs a description specific enough that a reasonable person filling it out knows whether their car belongs there. Vague descriptions invite misregistration, and misregistration creates reclassing conversations on show day that nobody wants to have.

Write these descriptions before registration opens, not after people start registering and asking questions.

It will happen. Someone will register in Stock and show up with a car that's clearly modified. Or someone will register in the 1960s class with a 1972 car because they didn't read the description carefully. Or an owner will intentionally register in an easier class to improve their odds of winning.

Have a reclassing process. My process: the chief judge or registration captain has authority to reclass any car before judging begins. The owner is notified, their placard is updated, and they're moved to the correct parking section if necessary. After judging begins, reclassing is not permitted — it's too disruptive.

Put this policy in writing and publish it with your show rules. "Cars may be reclassed at the discretion of show management before judging begins. No reclassing after judging commences." Simple. Fair. Enforceable.

Beyond class awards, most judged shows give special awards: Best in Show, Best Paint, Best Engine, Best Interior, Longest Distance Travelled, Organiser's Choice. These sit outside the class structure and are judged separately.

Best in Show is typically selected from the Best in Class winners — each class winner re-competes for the top award. This requires a separate judging pass after class results are in, so build time for it into your schedule.

Longest Distance Travelled is easy and crowd-pleasing — collect distance travelled at registration. Editor's Choice or Organiser's Choice awards are at the show management's discretion and let you recognise a car that might not have won its class but is genuinely special. Use these thoughtfully — too many discretionary awards waters down the judged results.