I got hassled pretty hard one year at US Nationals for sure. To the point of not allowing me to race. It was really hard for me to come back to NHRA after that, but I wasn't going to let 1 bad apple spoil my fun. I'm glad I came back because I've been treated well since then.
I don't know if others from my genre of racing would've came back or not. But there are a lot of really nice cars that could definitely put more buts in the seats and develop some rivalrys as well!!
It was like 10 years ago, and it was dissolved way too early to even know whether or not it would've worked. GM and Mopar money pretty much drove every privateer away! I raced in that series and sold my car in 2003. Pretty sure it was dissolved in 2006. Yes, there were definitely breakages, major discrepancies in qualifying times, you had factory backed teams and privateers, but you need to realize that the cars we raced had ZERO aftermarket support, unlike the factory teams....which was why there was such a wide gap in ET/MPH. We were basically making due with OEM parts. It was probably like 60 years ago, but I would imagine there was a time where you guys didn't have the beauty of just opening up a catalog and ordering parts that wouldn't break. Things are a lot different now. A ton more cars, and much better aftermarket. So the racing is a lot better, and the parts are a lot stronger. So those 2 items have been addressed.
The cars I'm thinking of wouldn't be stock or super stock. They'd have to fit into some sort of Comp class or even a class of their own. It could work and be successful if implemented properly. There are a lot of 6 second, well built imports, and a handful in the 5's now.
I'm obviously just spit balling, but I hear people say things like the younger generation isn't in to racing. They are, but unless they were born into class racing, most lean towards import/sport compact, heads up racing.