Steve,
I think you've hit the problem and the solution right on the head there. Just as the AHD nearly killed the 48-FJ Club in NSW here a few years back, it appears to be threatening to do the same to the FB-EK Vic Club.
The event is too big for one club to organise year after year. It takes its toll on the club committee through the sheer workload, and the club itself withers on the vine because of all the attention being put into this one event.
I've never been to the Vic AHD, only heard glowing reports of it, but I think the FB-EK Club need to hand control over to an independent organisation whose sole responsibility is the AHD so they (the Vic Club) can get on with running their club, and/or the responsibility for organising the event should be rotated between a number of clubs (a la our Nats), so the strain on the club's resources is for 18 months or so every 10 years or something.
In NSW - and Steve can correct me here on details - the AHD is run by the All Holden Day Ltd. It is made up of an executive committee and about a dozen extra members, who have been elected or volunteered from various NSW clubs to be part of the organising committee. Some or all (I'm not sure) of the AHD Ltd Executive Committee also hold Executive positions with other clubs, but they're not all from one club, if you can see what I mean.
Additionally, there is a single club named as host of the event for the year, whose responsibility it is to ensure the gate is manned, tickets are sold, situations are dealt with etc "on the day". The host club is rewarded financially for this by the AHD, FWIW.
I think it's a good model, and I'm sure Steve would be only too happy to discuss the finer details with anyone from the FB-EK Club or elsewhere. In about 4 weeks, since the NSW AHD is on August 3rd
cheers
RET