You must be doing something right, Hog, for the club to survive 20 years. Our CRCRC is about that old, having just hosted the 18th annual Mid-Winter Championship with almost 500 entries for the electric weekend. The trials and tribulations along the way would fill a book!
I want to get to England to watch off-road cars racing on polished wood floors, and astroturf, and cobblestones, and, apparently, anything else you've got lying about! By all reports you've got everything but dirt -- LOL.
Seriously, 4WD stock is contested every year at the ROAR Stock Nats, and, as I said, it's the fastest class. So it is done here, just not very much. And I agree, stock (or 19-T) would be better for the novice, perhaps engendering more participation.
Unfortunately, we've got to deal with what's there now. I remember starting out eight (has it really been that long?) years ago with Paul. Because of the place where we live -- there's no back yard, just a woods -- his first R/C car was a wheeler. After Paul had played with it a while, I told him there might be a place somewhere where they held organized races, and we were, as they say, off to the races. With a wheeler.
It was his only car. His Tamiya was, in fact, unsuitable for racing, so, still thinking about the woods, I got him one of the first xx-4s. The manager of the LHS, Bill Bridges (Losi factory driver) sold us a 14 X 2 Onyx and Paul headed for the track.
That's how Paul started, and that car & motor quickly and brutally taught him racing lessons that stand him in good stead today, particularly throttle control and perserverance. There were too many horrible disastrous crashes to mention, but Paul, to his credit, stuck with it and learned.
Does that make 4WD Mod the place for all to start? No.
Does that make 4WD Mod the best place for anyone to start? No.
But it can be done...