I started racing many years ago in the Pro-IT and served as the administrator for the series for a while. I loved the series and would still be racing in the series if I lived close to Road Atlanta (I was in Birmingham at the time).
So as a former driver, here is how I would answer the questions...
Why do or don't you race ProIT?
I live too far away and don't own an IT car at the present time. I would love to come back and rent a ride though, and may do that in 2009 if the economy and time allows (Fletcher... is my truck still running???).
[FONT="]How do you feel about the class combinations?[/FONT]
I think they are fine as classed.
[FONT="]What class will you race next year in ProIT?[/FONT]
I would love to come back and race ITT again. It would be like coming "home"!
I may have an ITR car as well... but that hasn't been finalized yet.
[FONT="]Should STU be included next year?[/FONT]
I don't really have an answer here. Basically, what does it hurt to add a few non-national classes as long as there are enough cars to offset the costs?
[FONT="]Will there be any additional ITR/ITU cars next year?[/FONT]
As I said, there is a chance I might have an ITR car... but then with a five hour tow and the fact that I live 20 minutes from VIR... I doubt I would do more then one race.
[FONT="]Would more IT7 car participate if it were separated from ITA?[/FONT]
I'll let the IT7 guys answer this one.
[FONT="]Are we missing something?[/FONT]
Not that I can tell. ProIT might be able to benefit by running at other tracks, but honestly that was never it's goal. It was designed by Atlanta Region for the reasons Butch outlined, and SEDiv already has ECR and SAARC as their touring series. ProIT gives IT drivers an opportunity to make nearly (every?) tow to Atlanta Region a double (and in some cases, triple) race weekend, and to that end it seems to work great.
Summary
I really miss running the ProIT. It was (is) a great series and to this day, having raced in several other "pro" series, remains some of the most exciting and enjoyable racing I've done. It still surprises me that few (one one?) other regions have copied this successful series and I think that given the concerns over the economy, and the return of higher gas prices, programs like the ProIT series will become more common for a while. Drivers need four race weekends set about six weekends apart where they can get double races in for a total of eight races for their season. ProIT helps make that possible.