[motorsportnerd]

I'm another "oldie" who prefers the old style ATCC. I'm only 34, and remember going to Pukekohe to watch the Nissan GT-R take on a field of Sierras, Commodores and Schnitzer BMWs for the 1990 Nissan Mobil 500 race that was held there. And, yes, the crowd was large. I remember watching the GT-R disappear into the distance over the first few laps, only to retire (brake problems from memory) and leave the Sierras and BMWs to fight it out. The Brock/Crosby Sierra (yep, Brock in a Ford) eventually won the race.
V8 Supercars have been very popular over the years - and in NZ they have been more popular than the Group A or production car eras were. This is more because NZ drivers such as Greg Murphy or Paul Radisich bring in huge and highly patriotic crowds to cheer them on. With Murphy not so competitive at the moment and Radisich no longer driving full time, I get the feeling that interest in V8 Supercars are waning a little in NZ as well.
A further problem is that the Commodore may have no competition in a few years time, as I wouldn't bet too much money on the Falcon still being around by 2012. Now is certainly the time to be considering a replacement for V8 Supercars.
Personally, I'd prefer some sort of modified production catagory open to all manufacturers, but I suspect some sort of Silhouette Nascar Car of Today style control catagory will take over from V8 Supercars.
In the meantime, thanks to Youtube we can relive the old days. And not just the Group A era. There's also heaps of videos on the of the Group C Touring Car era - look for the ones from the 1983 ATCC, with Johnson's Falcon, Moffat's RX-7 and Brock's Commodore taking each other on.