Mike let not make it sound worse than it is. Physical must be within 90 days. we have tried to loosen that one up but the head doc won’t budge. The only real problem is if you have two things that need medical at different times like SCCA and DOT or FAA.
If you have no serious conditions you need a new physical every five year until 35, every two until 59 and every year after that. FAA says every year after 70. We are working on that.
A few years ago I complained to my director about the strict medical requirements when a friend of mine and longtime driver had to sit out a season while he got a problem under control. She told me the biggest killer of SCCA drivers in competition was heart attacks. Kind of hard to argue with.
Small changes can be made. At the Las Vegas convention in 2010 I ended up sitting next to the top doctor at a lunch. I whined to him that my doctor refused to do the peripheral vision test saying he did not have the equipment making me go to an eye doctor. I found this requirement particularly silly in that I wear a full face helmet. He said my doctor was wrong and all they really had to do was hold up a finger to test us.
When I receive my Medical form in December there was a new paragraph added explaining how to do the simple test. Nice to see he was listening.
We can make the club better but it will never be the wild wild west.