However if you have serious aspirations about racing I would suggest that you consider seeing whether this activity is really for you before plunking down any serious money: The annals are full of folks who bought a race car only to find out after doing driving school or even racing in one or two events that they really did not feel comfortable racing and were happier on the sidelines.
Hear, hear. This describes me, except that it wasn't that I didn't feel comfortable with racing; I was put off by the staggering cost of every aspect of it and could see it as a bottomless money pit all for the privilege of distantly following other racers with tens of thousands of dollars worth of cheater-mods and driven by people who got a 40-50 year head start in developing their driving skills. If you think a concours restoration is expensive,
just wait until you prep (and repair and maintain, and repair and upgrade, and repair and maintain, and...) a race car.
School itself is a major investment--several thousand bucks if you do not have your own car. Several race organizations such as Vintage Racer Group (VRG) offer an inexpensive driver's school but you must have a car in which to participate.
I did several clubs' required racing schools or "HPDE" (High-Performance Driver Education) events, plus one of the big-bucks racing schools in Spec-Ford racers. I had the fastest lap time of anyone in the big-buck course who hadn't done the course before or wasn't already a racer just there for a refresher, but I found that it just didn't thrill me. It was somewhat amusing, but certainly no big deal, and I suppose that if you don't get a thrill from driving a single-seat race car, it's unlikely that a Bugeye - a heavier, slower car - is going to be a thrill either.
entry-level spridget will be $10--15K and even if the ads say it is "ready to race" plan on spending more to make it really so. Plus you will spend a grand or two on safety equipment, clothes, helmet, etc. And then you have to get your car to and from the track...
It seemed that everything to do with racing was unjustifiably expensive. My impression is that there is a MAJOR gouge going on. I suppose they figure that if you have enough money to go racing, you have enough money to pay 5-10 times a reasonable price for things. Normal rear-view mirror for your Bugeye: $25. "Racing" rear-view mirror for your Bugeye race car: $295.
Move slowly, investigate, attend race events, ask questions and make a considered decision. Better to be a happy spectator or crew member than an unhappy racer.
Between the car acquisition and prep, the clothes/driving helmet, and the schools, I dropped a pretty big wad to discover that vintage racing wasn't for me. But I made the decision to cut my losses before it got any worse, and with no regrets (except that I didn't cut my losses sooner). I do, however, really enjoy race photography, so that's my participation in that hobby.
Hey there Guest!
Hey - did you know if you click on the title of a thread it will take you to the first unread post since you last visited that thread?
but were afraid to ask: 
STOP!! Never post your email address in open forums. Bots can "harvest" your email! If you must share your email use a Private Message or use the 
smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
A friendly reminder - be careful what links you click on here. If a link is posted by someone you don't know, or the URL looks fishy, DON'T CLICK. Spammers sometimes post links that lead to sites that can infect your computer, so be mindful what you click.