I am curious how many of the 90+ entrants are first timers. I would guess it is close to 30-40%. I am one of them, and cant wait for the spectacle of it all.
I like the idea of top 40-50, and the LCQ race for the remaining 22-32 spots, but if they did it that way I would prefer it being longer than 15 minutes. 20 I would be fine with, but my guess is that the LCQ is going to be chaos, and track position will be huge. I hope i don't have to experience that but either way it is going to be blast, and I will be grinning most of the week, and hopefully weeks after.
The cost of it all is daunting, but that is part of the deal spending 10 days racing for our national championship at the most iconic venue in North America. Don't get me wrong, since getting into road racing I have wanted to go to the runoffs, but being at IMP pushed me over the edge to make it happen. I have sold guns, cars, electronics, securities, and have worked especially hard this past year in preparation to be able to go. The qualifying of 3 Majors made it simple, but I also feel like there should have been some minimum of points that had to be achieved in some form or fashion. I also get that this will break many records if not all of them for SCCA Runoffs attendance, which is a great thing for our club.