Jerry- my one opinion on championships....
One year, when my program was running reliably, I looked at the schedule and chose the races that I wanted to compete for the win in. IIRC, I couldn't go to the ARRC that year due to a conflict, and after looking at the schedule, I saw that if i added a few races, I could compete for the NARRC. (This was '08) As I recall there had been some rules changes, that made the concept more palatable. I think the changes made the series less "Run every race and finish" and more "Run a moderate amount of select races, but you'll have to do WELL".
I'm glad I did it, and the Championship came down to the last race at Lime Rock..the NARRC Runoffs, in the rain, and a 3rd overall/first in class clinched it for me. (IT7, ran with ITA that year)

But....I had little desire to go for a repeat. I had to go to Pocono. (Yeccch), and NH was repeated twice (yechh) ...I had to skip the spring race there, putting me in a big hole.
And the Pocono race resulted in damage that affected my performance at the IT-Fest in Mid Ohio which followed closely.

So, it's cool, and all, but, I like the freedom of heading to the race and track that fit my schedule, and racing goals better.
It was fun, glad I did it and proved to myself that if I applied myself that I could do it, but once was enough!

Before I decided to take a crack, I was turned off by how it was run. Too many weak drivers won it, with their highest finish being a 5th in fields of 12. Thats just a trophy for entering and finishing the most races. The changes to a more compact "count X number of races" was the impetus for my run....I had to win most races to get the trophy.

Again, thats just my opinion.