I did not want IT to go National, look at what happenned in Spec Miata. The first year SM was a national class there were tons of cars, then the reality set in. It became apparent to many that it was not that fun running 20th-dfl at nationals and it would take a whole lot of money to move up. Throughout the season entries dropped because many figured they would not accumulate enough points to go to the runoffs. The haves stayed in nationals and the have nots returned to regionals over the last few years.
I am only saying that if someone wants to try a national or just run at their hometrack more than at the regionals it is now a possibility. Also since NASA decided to take their Championships a couple of thousand miles west away from their recently grown base in the Midwest, this may give many NASA drivers a chance to run with th SCCA since many of their cars are beyond IT prep rules.
I also know that like in the SM case once real STO and STU cars show up the cost to be competitive skyrockets. Maybe over the next few years people will build purpose built cars to the rules and the class will succeed. If that happens what is wrong with the plan. We need all of the entries we can get.
The move to Topeka and the economy has decimated national racing in the Great Lakes and Northeast. It only takes 5 entries per national to make it one of the most successful National classes.
The best change is that the new rules are written to allow the STO class to run without SIR's ( which I deal with in GTL). It is very easy for someone that has a car that they want to modify more than allowed in Touring and Showroom Stock to run faster and still run Nationals

matt