TVs??? I don't recall any hookers either (and god knows I've looked!!). ...[/b]
Hey, man - it's not MY fault that you decided to race that plastic thing this year rather than hang out with us at enduros.

Don't take this personally, David but I get the sense you haven't been around this game very long. What you describe has been done (e.g., Renault Cup) and guess what? People figure out that they can spend money (within or beyond the rules) to go faster. Parker Johnstone explained that he won his Renault championship by spending what he would have on an underfunded Formula Atlantic program...

... AND THEY REBUILT THEIR ENGINES BETWEEN SESSIONS LIKE A FUNNY CAR TEAM because they figured out that the crappy wet-liner, o-ring sealed POS powerplants were losing compression with less than an hour running time.

I wrote a white-paper brief years ago for a proposal to a manufacturer, for a series that was like those "Cup" things, but an arrive-and-drive deal, where the cars got hauled from race to race in commercial car haulers, and drivers drew their cars from a hat. Guess what? Pretty much nobody liked the idea, for a few interesting reasons.

1. Like Greg mentioned, it seemed kind of expensive when all of a weekend's racing gets paid for on one check, rather than spread out over months and months.

2. Drivers like to own their cars. They (mistakenly, generally) feel like the hardware is an investment - like it's not really an expense.

3. Drivers WANTED to be able to engineer their individual advantages! Many just don't WANT a truly level playing field, or doubt that it will be level and are afraid that they'll draw the pooch. (This is a very real concern. They used to move the bodywork around on the Russell series car in an effort to bamboozle the drivers - who just started bribing the techs to help them get into the "hot cars.")

Now, if things have changed just let me know and I'll resurrect that idea. Call it Conover Motor Sports Spec Rabbit. You never turn a wrench, show up with your kit, pick your seat out of the semi, get fitted to the car, and go racing. Figure about $5000 per weekend if we could come up with 25 guys who'd sign a contract for the entire season.

K