Its rare that I agree with Fairtrace, but this time I do. I went to the carpet nats for the first time last year and felt that the 17.5 class was well seeded without this rule in place. The sportsman rule would benefit me greatly as I have negative sponsorship, yeah the interest on parts I have to buy
A few of my friends and people that I would like to compete against do however have those "low level" deals where they basically get internet pricing direct from the company and I don't see that as an advantage, and I would like to have them in the class. If a company is throwing motors, speedos, tires and batteries at you, you should be well past stock racing. I think companies that offer bonuses for finishing positions to their drivers should voluntarily exclude that for stock classes as well.
I do also want to run 17.5 and 13.5, I did it last year with one car and it worked out well.