Dave, I wholeheartedly concur with your thoughts.
WOS is my preferred event. I've attended twice, ran once, and travel 1600 miles one way to get there.
The problem for me personally is that I come off of the Labor Day weekend into a short work week, which already leads to some scheduling issues. To be able to schedule most of my travel time on a weekend is far preferable to dicing up the end of a holiday-shortened week in a mad rush to get to Wendover on Friday for tech and Saturday driver's meetings, rookie O and competition.
I can make the trip in two days, but Kate will attest that I'm a bit stressed out after the drive, and not much fun to be in the car with, especially while pulling a trailer. If I can stretch the drive over at least 2 1/2 days, leaving late on a Friday, I'm in a much better mindset to compete, and better company for my bride.
Now I know it is the USFRA - the UTAH Salt Flats Racing Association, but I also know I'm not the only one who travels quite a distance to be there, and have a need to be back to the real world in a reasonable time frame.
The other issue I think comes up is that the hotels tend to charge a bit more on weekends.
It's my hope that the USFRA will reconsider this scheduling for 2013. I'd like to run that event next year, but I may be forced to chance the weather and do World Finals. We got lucky this year - but it's always a coin toss in October.