The answer of "it will improve it" is not an answer at all. Improve it how?
Still using GTL as the example: The small bore run group will still be there. It will just have about 6 fewer entries in NEDIV events. How is this an improvement?
To address the ridiculous idea of improving the "quality" of the national championship, I'd say this, to win GTL you will need to beat five prior national champions with a total of 12 championships between them (most of them not in GTL). Can ANY of your open wheel classes match that?
There are no spectators. There maybe friends and family of the racers, but the number of actual spectators that dont know anyone in the event (nationwide) would not fill my living room. So there is no issue of "spectator" experience. It's just us.
I think that many of you guys aggrandize amateur road racing. There is no vast hoard of new racers waiting for the next big change to bring them out to spend $50k to start and $20k per year. It's pretty much just us. Let's try to stop pissing on the people who have already demonstrated a devotion to this sport, shall we?
BTW: You people above all should be looking for this elimination based on participation thing to go away. Do you realized that open wheel racing in America is dead and has been dead for a decade. When all of you were kids (like me) the Indy 500 was a big deal. Those days are over. Kids today think of tin tops when they think of race cars.
Amateur road racing will lag pro by about 25 years. The time it take for the people who thought it was cool when they were 18 to make enough money to do it themselves.
How long before your numbers are in the toilet and tube frame stock car look alike seems like a great idea to the kids that grew up on the Daytona 500?
Careful with those stones.
-Kyle
PS: I wonder if most regions could even survive if they lost the entry fees from the classes under 2.5. Most regions are scraping by or losing money as it is.