I know I am not the only one who has thought about this. What has happened to Class 12, Class 5-1600, Class 1/2-1600, Class 9 and even Class 11? The UTV classes currently can't be beat for start-up Teams due to many reasons like Dealer Financing, huge factory and aftermarket product support, low race entry fees. The basic laws of economic are in play here!

What does a person do whom wants to race in any of these Classes because face it; the VW based race cars are the soul of desert racing and people love them.

How can the industry help?

I have a few suggestions that can start the conversation but there are many people on this and other sites who could assist in turning the whole off-road industry on it's head if they wanted.

1) This is a HUGE One! - Create a Finance package (Race Car Financing) equivalent to that of the UTV Dealers or the Banks can offer. Traditionally this used to sounds crazy but here we are with UTV race car financing!

2) If the only difference in UTV vs. traditional race cars ability to get vehicle financing is a V.I.N. number then lets start assigning V.I.N. Numbers! Yes, YOU, Fab shops! Call yourself a "New Vehicle Manufacturer" to get this done in your state.

3) Level the playing field with registration fees by basing the fees on percentages of class registration. Raising the fees of the highest participating class will reduce the entry quantity as fee cost rises (basic economics). Reduce the fees for low-to-no Car Class registrants as an incentive to get cars to come back to the class.

4) Change Car Classes to "Max HP" not "Max cc/ci". Check it on a chassis Dyno. That way it opens up the engine choice to anything a racer wants to run or can afford to run. If a particular class dictates 250 HP for example and one team can afford a junk yard cast iron block and another racer can afford a high strung 3.0 Liter Type 4 the rules still allow teams to compete on their budgets and risk of finishing or not. Sort of a "Run what you brung" rule.

5) Engine builders - (For Example) Find a way to build a $5k VW engine instead of a $10k VW engine; whether that means buy enough new cases/components to cut the cost or help change class rules to allow a cheaper 2332cc instead of a time-bomb Class 12-1835cc. But limit the HP.

6) Parts Retailers - (Kartek, etc) Reduce your mark up on struggling classes just to stimulate the classes - Do it! You will sell more in the end.

These are suggestions and not saying all of them need to be put in place but one or a combination of them will stimulate the return of the lost classes.

Lets get this going Race Promoters/Organizations!