I know it's been said but don't let COTA reg bring you down, it's over priced, the people vote with their wallets. I don't think CMC is dying, just an overpriced event.

CMC was much more expensive than I anticipated, I had 10k more into my CMC car than my Spec Miata AND I built the motor/trans/rear everything in the mustang.
SM I purchased the pro built motor/trans/rear and it was still much cheaper. Some of the things keeping the costs down in SM are, tires, low weight so easier on tires/brakes, have to run stock brakes, 125hp, fuel etc.

I could careless the HP or lap times, it's all about the racing IMO, CMC at 150hp, 200, 500, etc, just about the same fun factor with huge cost differences.

Parts are getting hard to find, esp for LT1, foxes, I ran into this many times with the CMC car, I would buy a new part, it was from China and shit. Everything I got for the car I would check myself to confirm it was in spec or worth a damn if possible. Ex: Brand new FRPP Damper, the rubber damper between the inside and outside wasn't installed correctly and would have failed, etc.