Amelia Island’s annual March classic car event has new name and owner

Amelia Island’s annual March classic car event has new name and owner

Chip Ganassi is surrounded by some of the racing championship trophies he and his team have won. He's being honored at this year's Amelia Island Concourse d'Elegance classic car event.

A new name and some big changes are coming to this weekend’s 27th Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, as one of the nation’s top classic car events launches its future under new corporate ownership.

Along with honoring the legacy of winning race car team owner Chip Ganassi with a Sunday display of his race cars among many other classics, what is now simply called The Amelia expands its Saturday Cars & Community event with a kids zone and more.

The Amelia was founded in 1996 by local businessman Bill Warner, who led the event for 26 years and remains chairman emeritus after The Hagerty Group acquired the rights in June. The Thursday-to-Sunday concours is in and around the Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island.

Hagerty CEO McKeel Hagerty’s automotive lifestyle brand and insurance company also own other major classic car events, including the Concours d’Elegance of America and the Greenwich Concours d’Elegance. He said he bought them and The Amelia after seeing that many great classic car events were “run on a shoestring,” and acquiring them could help “save driving.”