How to run a car club show
Running a car club show is a point of pride, and it usually falls to the same handful of members every year. This guide covers how to run a car club show without letting the paperwork eat your afternoon. On Car Show HQ you duplicate last year's show in one click, open online registration that any club officer can manage, and take entries into the club's own Square account. On show day, spectators vote from their phones by scanning a QR code on each windshield card, one vote each. When voting closes the count is finished and it holds up, so you hand out trophies clean and nobody spends the ride home arguing that the tally was rigged.
The same volunteers, stuck at the table again
Every year a car club show comes down to the same routine: clipboards at the gate, a cash box someone has to guard, and a shoebox of ballots to hand-count while the crowd waits for awards. The people running it are the same members who restored their cars to be seen, and instead of walking the field they are pinned to a folding table all day.
And because the count happens off in a corner, someone always mutters that the winner was a friend of the counter. For a club that has to see each other at the next meeting, that kind of doubt is not worth it.
The three tools that matter most here
For a car club show, it comes down to setting up fast, keeping the club's money clean, and ending the count arguments for good.
Registration and payments
Duplicate last year's show, open entries online in minutes, and take every dollar into the club's own Square account. We are never the merchant of record.
Learn more →Spectator voting
The crowd votes on site by scanning the QR on each windshield card, one vote per phone, locked the moment it is cast.
Learn more →Results and awards
The People's Choice tally is done the second voting closes, with a count every member can trust and nobody can dispute.
Learn more →How to run a car club show in five steps
Duplicate last year's show
Copy last year's setup in one click, then change the date. Your categories, entry fee, and show details carry straight over, so you are most of the way there before you start.
Connect the club's Square account
Link the club's own Square account so registration and entry money lands with the club, not with us. Car Show HQ never holds your funds.
Open registration and share the link
Post the sign-up link to the club's Facebook page and email list, and let members and guests register from their phones ahead of the show.
Print windshield cards and open voting on site
Check cars in at the gate, print a plain windshield card for each, and let spectators scan the QR to vote right there at the show.
Hand out trophies with a clean count
When voting closes the winners are ready, so you announce them with a tally that holds up and get back to talking cars.
Car club show questions, answered
How do you run a fair vote at a car club show?
Spectator voting on Car Show HQ happens on site only. Each spectator scans the QR code on a car's windshield card, enters the car number, and casts one vote from their own phone, with duplicate protection built in. Every vote is locked once cast, so no member can question whether the count was handled straight.
Can we reuse last year's show setup?
Yes. You can duplicate a past show in one click and just change the date. Your categories, entry fee, and settings carry over, which is why returning clubs can open registration in minutes instead of rebuilding from scratch each year.
Where does the entry money go?
Straight into the club's own Square account. Car Show HQ is never the merchant of record and never holds your funds, so entry fees land with the club and refunds are handled in Square.
Do spectators need to download an app to vote?
No. Voting works in any phone browser. Spectators scan the QR on a windshield card and vote right there, with no app to install and no account to create.
See a club show in the demo
Click through a seeded club show with a full field of cars, on-site QR voting, and a finished People’s Choice tally, so you can see exactly how your next show would run before you set anything up or spend a dime.
Run your club show the easy way
Duplicate last year's show and open registration in minutes.
