Yea, the SCCA put some real effort into the sport and we even had "Factory Teams" from Ford, Subaru, and even Hyundai for a while (and I think a semi-factory Mazda team)... Its a bummer that the factories are not still involved, but it didn't seem to trickle down to the club level people anyway... NASA Rally Sport does a good job, and the events are more for the competitors now (and less about the organization trying to chase sponsorship).
The events in Riverside look pretty cool... I think they do time attack and drift events there...
My friend goes regularly on Friday nights - said he saw an old toyota camry do a run LOL. Theyve got it lined in tires or something, so you cant damage your car too badly.