First of all, We're going to assume you're reading this because you're interested in good ol' American V-8 powered ground-pounders. Not the most sophisticated machinery on the planet, but they sound great, go fast and in general are a hoot to drive!
Since Grand Touring America (GTA) is just one version of a road racing stock car, we should probably gain consensus on "Why should I road race a stock car?" before building a case for running GTA. Granted a stock car (aka - "tin top", "taxi cab", "grocery getter", etc.) is NOT the sexiest V-8 to be found at your average road racing circuit. The Corvettes, Camaros and Mustangs running in GT-1 are sleeker and potentially faster than the average stock car on a road course. Once you get past the idea that you're racing your mom's sedan, however, running a stock car starts making a lot of sense financially.
It's a simple case of market-driven economics. There are maybe 500 people in the country racing GT style cars, so essentially everything you need for one of those cars needs to be custom made. Contrast that to the 30,000 or so that are running stock cars on any given Saturday night and you can understand why the prices for the stock cars are so much lower - good old supply and demand. And the trickle down from both the professional ranks and your local short track provides a ready supply of used parts that can fit most any budget.
GTA is just one "version" of road racing stock cars. The class was originally started on the West Coast as the next step past Improved Touring racing, and the current iteration of the GTA Rules has been developed over the years with safety, cost-containment and close competition in mind. Yes, the rules can be viewed as restrictive, but the target is around 500 hp connected to a drivetrain designed for 700+ hp to increase longevity. That way you get to RACE your car rather than replacing broken components every other weekend.
With all the ASA and Late Model stock cars on the market, you can get into a competitive GTA car, set up for road racing, for $18,000-$30,000. The spec bias-ply racing tires are currently around $600 a set mounted and balanced. You can get 50+ hours on the carbureted engines (at least two seasons if you run once a month) before they need freshening, and the fuel-injected ASA engines are lasting longer than that. On the rare occasion where you hit something hard enough to bend the frame, it's still a tube frame car so you cut out the damaged parts and weld in new ones. Not only is a GTA car cheaper initially than a top Spec Miata or American Sedan, they're faster and cheaper to campaign. And while we run about the same speed as the front running T-1 Corvettes, see what the repair bill is for nudging the wall.
Gobs of American V-8 horsepower with the abundant offering of joyous noise from the racing gods, off-the-shelf stock car components, well-defined rules, close competition, spend time racing your car rather than writing checks - GTA just makes cents!
