I agree with part of what you're saying. Particularly the part about Speed TV. I fear it's only a matter of time before the most of us lose faith in hoping for a German Touring Car race or such only to see another rerun of Death Race 2000 or such and give up on Speed. Then we will only have to read about F1 and such. I would hope that a sponsor wouldn't pay much for advertising some of the crap they have on there now.

I agree with the need for spectators at our races, but if you don't know what's going on, you don't appreciate the racing. With the exception of only a few nation wide events, multiple classes are running simultaneously. The guy winning his class in a fight for his life could be a lap down to the leader. To the average guy in the stands, he's just in the way.

I've been told, and this was a long time ago, that the insurance on a spectator event was triple that of a regular secret club race. I can only imagine that it's worse now. Major races such as NASCAR, Champ Car, F1, etc. have one class on the track. The guy that comes in first is the winner from the fan's point of view. These races cost tons to put on, the entry fee is outrageous, and the sponsors are fighting for a piece of the action...at least on NASCAR. It would be nice, but there are few regions that could afford to make it happen.

The last time I heard the price of an IRL entry at TMS was ten years ago, and that was over $1000. That would pretty much put me back into autocrossing.