My observations concerning bump drafting have come up on this thread. Danny posted a link to the bump drafting thread. I have nothing to add on that subject as such. The subject of this thread is team racing. Bump drafting is relevant to team racing only insofar as it is one of the many tactics which can be employed by teammates. Take away bumping and you still have drafting, which is legal, and running interference for a teammate by racing hard behind him, which is also legal as long as it does not rise to the level of blocking for a teammate, which is illegal, but which, unfortunately, I believe I myself have witnessed. Note: I said I believe I have witnessed it, but I can't prove it.
So, take away bump drafting and you remove one of the more effective tactics from team racers, but you by no means eliminate the benefits of team racing; you just shift the emphasis to other tactics, for better or worse. Jim Creighton's admonishment to be careful what you wish for applies equally to to the strict prohibition of bump drafting as it does to permitting it. Eliminating a tactic which is employed in plain sight will push team tactics into gray areas. (Refer to my statement above regarding team blocking). This will have the additional unintended consequence of creating suspicion among competitors, with attendant drama and ill feelings, with no way to prove what's really going on and thereby resolve the conflict. As an aside, bump drafting will not be an issue when the runoffs are held at Laguna, but let's see if the team driving question goes away or merely shifts its focus.
Two things must be borne in mind throughout this entire discussion. First, no rule can be effective without broad support among the governed. At least here in the SEDiv, once the no-contact rule as applied to bump drafting became honored only in the breach, there was no way to enforce it. Stewards couldn't see every piece of track, and the few drivers who opposed bumping were unwilling to be "That Guy" by filing protests with video evidence. Eventually, the officials acknowledged the policy already in effect: look the other way. And it's not just a SEDiv thing; despite an explicit no-no in the supps, bump-drafting was ubiquitous at the June Sprints this year. Second, no rule can be effective unless it can be implemented practically and expeditiously. For example, the bump drafting rule is simple. It's bump or no-bump: no gray area. Yet, in practice, it is impossible to implement because there are not enough "police" and there are no "whistle blowers". Team racing is even more problematic. The very nature of team racing defies any attempt to abolish it, even if it were agreed that it should be abolished. Likewise, it is extremely difficult even to regulate. It is full of gray areas. Fact-finding becomes a judgement call in most cases, with attendant risks of inconsistency. Hearings and appeals drag out. Every case turns on contested and unique facts, so no real precedents are established.
Ironically, team racing is the product of of the substantial achievement of the ultimate goal of spec racing: parity (at least at the pointy end, which may include twenty cars at this year's Runoffs). There are so many great drivers and the quality and prep level of the cars is so consistently equivalent that racers are forced to look for an edge anywhere they can find it. So, yes, team racing is both the present and future of Spec Miata, at least so long as the competition is as tight and intense as it is today. And, no, team racing will not ruin the class, but tactical skullduggery may. It's essential that team tactics be confined to the light end of the gray area. Stewards and rules can't make that happen. Only we drivers can do it.