I think the biggest issue is the cost to be able to be competitive.
We all know that bringing new people in is the best way to keep our tracks and shops open. And that is why SC did so well for the past few years, buy a rig for 200 and put it out there with other 200 dollar rigs.
When a new person comes in you say oh you should start out in stock its slower and you can learn to drive... But now with technology gaming the system 17.5 are 13.5 speeds and 13.5 are 10.5/9.5 speeds.
Same thing happened when BL came out it was thought that 13.5 would be stock motors, then people realized the power bands different and when geared right a 13.5 was more of a 19T.
I think the thing is that there is too much adjustment in a Stock Class. Now we are on computers changing profiles of the ESC, using advanced and retarded timing on motors and more.
So you tell the new guy/gal to join mod so they can learn the car. So they go out and find the cheapest setup they can for a 17.5, the old havoc/17.5 setup, with a 15C lipo they are excited. Well they put it on the track and they are getting run over on the straight away by cars that have Modified Top end speeds but are running 17.5 setups!
So the newbie runs the same equipment just swaps in a 9.5 motor throws it down in the mod class and he/she is just as fast as the other cars now... they are bouncing all over the place because they are overpowered but thats driving they feel they will get better but now the field is level.
I run mod offroad as my main choice, And my B44 or T4 have lrp sphere speed controls running 6.5 and 7.5 motors running a 28C battery, If I am not near the front it was because i screwed up not because i was out powered...
Now I recently ran touring cars and decided I would start with stock... so I pulled a sphere out of my offroad rig and threw it in with a 17.5, geared it to where it was supposed to be and up the punch profiles on the ESC to the highest.
Now the car was fine, felt like when i ran brushed 27T in TC's 2 years back. The first heat came around and if I didnt get just swallowed alive on just about every portion of the track, cars were driving through me on the straightway or having to brake check because they were on me like I was running a 4 cell battery pack... So since this was a larger regional race I had to upgrade to compete... So 50C battery in, new X12 motor in, pulled the Sphere and Borrowed a SPX ESC for the weekend. Now I was still being pulled on the straightaway just a touch by the Tekin Turbo but the car was competitive. I went from being a road block to being on TQ pace a few heats, now I fell off that pace because of lack of talent
but speed wise I was there
All it took was a $125 battery, $90 dollar motor, and a seperate $200 speed control designed for stock specific racing. When I could have ran a 7.5 with the what is now a dinosaur sphere esc and the old 28C battery and just turned down the EPA if it was a touch too fast in the mod class and had plenty of motor to be competitive equipment wise.
Long story Short.... The speeds and Cost to get into stock racing are making it tough for newcomers to get into the sport. And it is not always about winning but you want to be able to compete right, and if you do not have SXX stock spec or Tekin RS speed controls and a 35C or higher battery you can not compete in stock classes today, and then the ya its racing so it is expensive... yes but it is now cheaper to run Mod you dont have to worry about the Flavor of the month ESC