[cmiovino]

One thing with street touring classes I've seen more locally is that people just don't do street touring as much as street/stock classes. We have huge attendance numbers for DS for example, sometimes 15+ drivers at just a local event, but then only one driver in STX... and it's usually not even a semi-competitive car. This past event, it was someone who normally does drifting and came because he was bored. We're lucky to see one STX semi-prepped twin all year.

Cost-wise, for even street classes, you're looking at $1k in wheels, upgraded shocks, some running MCS and whatnot for $4k, lightweight exhausts for $1k, Karcepts bars for $1k or more, etc. It all adds up for about $5k+ for just street classes. I totally get you can just slap on some wheels/tires and go do street classes, but that's not going to be competitive. And don't even get me started on people running 3+ sets of tires a year or having dedicated rain tires.

A lot of people locally here don't want to go down the street touring rabbit hole and dump even more into a build.

A actually hate the whole classing system period. In street classes, you basically have to be financing and buying a new car every 2-3 years just to stay competitive. CTR is the top dog in DS, everyone's financing the shit out of $50k Civics. 2nd gen BRZ's are out and everyone's financing those and you have 7+ of those sitting in grid. With street classes, the ticket is having the next best thing. At least with street touring, it gives older cars a more even playing field and keeps them relevant longer.