FWIW, I have 2-3 SCCA, ITB and HP cars, 2 Chumpcars, 1 NASA SM. and prep many more..

The Chumpcar racing is just like SCCA regional racing, driver quality wise.
The speed is about ITA lap times for the winners. ITA speeds for 7 hr, 14 hr, 24 hrs. All on Treadwear 190 tires. The tires last about 30hrs on our light( 1750#) VW
The front running cars are purpose built. IE I have water cooled brakes, Big rad, some compression, no roof, well gutted. rear steer, custom ball joints, etc.

The cage rules exceed SCCA IT cages by a good bit. IE the complete Rocker/sill is encouraged to be attached. No max square in rule.
Driver side door bars are the same. You may cut the roof off and gut the inner panels. No bars past the strut/crush zones. Fuel cells or stock tanks.
The hoods may be gutted , vented, removed , (if you have a windshield and roof)

Chumpcar is not a joke. It is a fun way to run on great tracks for long races.
Chumpcar is not perfect. the 500$ is BS. The wheel/brake rules promote huge tires, not good, IMHO.
I have proposed a two class deal with the wheel size as the break at 7in, CCL and CCU.
John( MR head Chump) has shot it down each timeBTW.

Chumpcar has about 2900 drivers for 2011, they are doing something right. 40plus races.
25hr of Nelson had 75 ish cars,
14hrs @ Sebring had about 82 cars
How can SCCA tie onto this bus??

IMHO, SCCA would be wise to allow the Chumps/lemons drivers, credit for one school by showing 2 or more races on their logs.( 4-6 hrs driving time per race. )
Many of the drivers that rent my cars have Skippy, Bondurant, SCCA, IMSA exp. A huge cross section of well funded drivers .

I would be happy advise the Class and help setup basic rules and license considerations.
ITJ is just not verynice tho.
I like Crap Can Limited,CCL and Crap can unlimited , CCU