As a flagger/registrar/long-time SCCA member (i.e. non-driver), I have just a couple of outside perspectives to suggest for consideration:

I was at Topeka for the first "IT Fests", and the middle of the country location ensured some participation from both the east and west coasts. It was a fun event, and the pursuit race where the guys launched down the front straight based on qualifying times so that all would finish at the same time, was a hoot!

I've been to a couple of ARRC races as a flagger, and they were a couple of the most fun races I've ever been to. Even the ARK in 1999 when it rained 5.5 inches in three days! The competition has been great, and the fields were pretty good. Yes, there's no "qualification" per se, and the participation is a bit slanted to the east coast simply due to the distance, but it's still a good chance for drivers who don't usually race together during the year to get together for an end-of-year event.

As far as IT going national - my suggestion is to talk to the American Sedan drivers. When their class went national, the costs skyrocketed to the point where many of the original drivers are no longer able to actively compete. The class has gone through several development cycles and has been a national class for awhile.

I think talking to those Spec Miata drivers who have been around for awhile will also give you some background about how they are coping with the move to national class status. In MiDiv, Travis is right - we used to have very large SM fields when it was regional only, but once it moved to National class status the fields were large the first year or so and have dropped off since. Part of that could be attributed to the RunOffs location (Heartland Park Topeka) and the difficulties that the local guys had qualifying for the "big show", or they simply outspent their budgets in that first year.

During 2008, a committee appointed by the board of directors examined the concept of removing the designations between "regional" and "national". As I recall, the idea was scrapped, simply because the dynamics of racing are very different across the country. In the "flyover zone" (RMDiv, MiDiv), we are not blessed with population density, so we don't draw the large crowds that other divisions do. Each coast appears to have strong regional racing, and the national racing in the west coast is not as strong as it is along the east coast (probably because of the distance to Runoffs).

Just a few thoughts.

Kelley Huxtable
DMVR
"PLAY SAFE"