If I remember right 2005 was the debacle in Connecticut, since we are cherry picking our numbers. What I am pointing out is that attendance is inconsistent depending on where the nats are too.
2004 - the Gate Ohio?
2005 Conn.
2006 West coast???
2007 Michigan
2008 Nebraska
2009 Gate again, IIRC
2010 Horsham PA?
BTW 1999 nats on rubber tire, 70+ in stock sedan, 50+ in mod, 2000 80 + stock, 60+ mod
In any case, the time around the middle of the 2000's was the absolute peak for sedan/on road.
Then we got wraps on tires, then 53mm rims, ultra light bodies, then turbo boost, etc. down the line. Rubber tires were not the cause of people leaving on road. And this all could have been solved if a spec foam tire had been implemented at the time. But nobody wanted that...
Plaid fronts, purple rears with stripes on a 50mm rim would have solved all this tire squabbling. Nobody would do it though, because it would have offended some tire manufacturer who then would not sponsor a race or whatever.
BTW don't you guys think that all the horrible horrible classes you have that "trophy seekers" who are not real men have made popular are actually a response to all the crap that went along with the above? I pretty sure that's a possibility.
Here are the facts, people vote with their feet. They are going to do what they enjoy, and not everyone enjoys what you think they should. Should I race only your choice of sedan class so you feel better that there were 100+ entries in one class? How is that objectively better than 2 classes of whatever with 50 + entries in each? While impressive, at some point additional entries really don't contribute to the quality of competition. Yes, there has to be a decent turn out for the competition to be close, but I'm sure 50 entries more than does it.