I think everyone is overlooking the most important point in classifying and/or trying to find a way to make the older cars in each of the classes at least competitive enough that the drivers will continue to compete in IT

What's the major factor? COST!

When you allow an "overdog" into the class such as the E-36(just as an example) owned and driven by people who have large budgets and then go on to dominate a class as they have here in the DC region, the older cars in the class get parked, or sold.

If you allow cars with 20+ years technology advantage over the rest of the class, and they aren't spec'd properly to keep them from dominating the class, you increase the costs associated with older cars trying to remain at the same level of competition as they once had. Many times, the cars they are dominating are at their highest potential already within the rules. Spending more money on them is wasting money as they will not be able to compete at the same level as they once enjoyed versus the yearly budget to run the car.

IT should not become what caused the downturn in Production car counts. There's a limit to what some people will be willing to pay to go out and have fun on the weekends, and we are seeing decreasing numbers of "older" IT drivers that still compete on a regular basis becuase the price to be competitive in their classes has reached a limit where they aren't getting their money's worth out of their car budgets. They keep spending and spending, yet, they keep getting further and further from the front of the field.

IMO the open ECU rule is as much to blame for the problems as is anything else.

Car A is classified, and then because of the ECU rules, can simply "plug in" an extra 30+hp for X amount of dollars. Cars B, C, D and E that have been competitve for 5-10 years and are prepped to the maximum of the rules, yet have carbs, are at a fixed state. Car A meanwhile, as the driver gets more time behind the wheel decides he can finally afford to do that "high dollar" ECU and suddenly goes from being mixed in the pack of cars B-E, is now running 1-2 seconds faster per lap. Is it fair to the drivers who have supported IT for years to be left in the dust, simply due to a loophole that was left in the rules only due to it being so difficult to police?

Leave the open ECU rule in place, but restrict them with plates to negate a small percentage of the gains they may achieve, or allow the rest of the field PCA's to remain reasonable competitive.

If the IT rules have to be re-written to allow PCA, then so be it. It may be the only way to keep fields full on a regular basis.