What the Dash Card Must Contain
Non-negotiable elements for your car show dash card:
Required
- Car number — large, prominent, legible from 10 feet away. This is the most important element on the card.
- Vehicle year, make, and model — so attendees and judges can identify the car
- Class — which judging category the car is in
- Show name and date
- Owner name (optional — some shows omit for privacy)
Important add-ons
- Sponsor logos — title and gold sponsors at minimum. Keep it clean.
- QR code — linking to the car's registration profile for attendee notes and People's Choice voting
- Car number barcode or QR — for digital check-in scanning at the gate
Design the card so the car number is the dominant visual element. I use 72-point font for the number, nothing smaller. A judge walking down a row of cars should be able to read the number without stopping.
Size and Format
Standard dash card size is 4x6 inches (half a sheet of A4/letter paper folded, or printed two-up and cut). Large enough to contain all the information, small enough to fit on the dash without blocking the driver's view.
Landscape orientation works better than portrait for dash display — it lies flat and stays visible. Portrait cards tend to slide down or curl up.
Print on cardstock if possible, not standard printer paper. Cardstock survives the morning dew, the owner handling it multiple times, and the occasional rain shower. Paper does not.
If you're printing in colour, use it purposefully. Colour-code by class or era so your parking team can spot the right section at a glance. A quick visual read by a parking greeter — "oh, blue card, that's 1970s muscle, row G" — speeds up parking flow significantly.
When to Print
There are three approaches, each with tradeoffs:
Print and mail before the show
Best experience for entrants, least chaos on show day. Car arrives with card already in the windshield.
Late registrations need on-site printing anyway, and address accuracy matters.
Print in advance, distribute at check-in
RecommendedWhat I do at the Great Lakes Invitational. Print all cards three days before, sort alphabetically, bring to check-in. Fast, no mail logistics, clean.
Requires a print run several days before the show.
Print on demand at check-in
Flexible for last-minute registrations.
Does not work if your printer jams at 7:15am with 40 cars in line. Always have blank backup cards for handwriting if this fails.
Sponsor Logos on the Dash Card
Get your sponsor logo files early. Minimum six weeks before the show for any sponsor whose logo is on the dash card. The file format matters: you want SVG or high-resolution PNG (at least 300 DPI), not a logo pulled off a website at 72 DPI. A pixelated logo looks worse than no logo, and it will make your sponsor unhappy.
Keep the sponsor section of the card to no more than three or four logos. More than that and the card looks cluttered and the logos lose their value. This is a selling point for your higher tiers — limited logo placement on the card is a premium.
QR Codes: More Useful Than You'd Think
A QR code on the dash card linking to the car's registration profile is something attendees actually use, especially younger ones. You scan it, you get the car's year, make, model, the owner's notes about the restoration, and a button to vote People's Choice. It turns a passive attendee into an engaged one.
For the organiser, QR codes enable faster check-in (scan in instead of name lookup), faster People's Choice voting (scan instead of typing a number), and an easy way to link judges to digital score sheets.
The QR code needs to work offline or with minimal signal if your venue has poor coverage. Build your app or system accordingly.
Key takeaway
The dash card is the single piece of paper that ties your whole show together — design it deliberately, print it in advance, and put the car number big enough that nobody has to squint.