Curt, this event was awesome. I think you are feeling a bit burnt out after a full weekend of organizing a car event. One day is hard enough let alone a whole weekend! I still like the length of the cookout, and you're right--if you want to not be there as long, come later!
Don't sweat the numbers, whether you broke even or not. Life (and business) has its ups and downs and you can't let one setback kill everything for you. With the number of volunteer hours that go into events like these it is impossible to 'break even' with it, and I think some small changes would really bring the event into its own. Charge admission at the gate(s), get people in charge lanyards that say 'staff' on them, and really I think you should consider delegating more! Have someone else do the vote tallying or the registration (or complete registration as you suggest), etc. You're stressing yourself out because you were looking at a clip-board all day and not the cars you invited there. I think this year there was a VERY strong showing of SUPER clean cars and we are really seeing the cream of the crop at this show.
Remember, the economy is down and its possible we're seeing the results of this as well. You did a good job scheduling around the autoX and rally events scheduled this summer, and despite the lower turnout, everyone had a damn good time!
Lastly, I'm wishy-washy about the two-day event. I think if you want to grow the cookout, axe the dyno day. Dyno days are DAMN fun, but I honestly think that it hurt the cookout numbers this year. If you do keep it, lets convince the out-of-towners to bunk up with locals and keep them around for the whole event, and anyone that is at the dyno day needs some sort of encouragement to come back the next day for the cookout.
Keep your head up, we all had a good time!
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