I race a Spec Racer Ford wheel-to-wheel with the SCCA. Racing is a high risk, high reward activity. There are only so many local race weekends and the time commitment associated with loading up a trailer and towing to Road America, Mid-Ohio, etc, doing a test day, qualifying, racing, qualifying again, racing again, packing up, towing all the way home, is substantial and I need a little break from the pressure of squeezing that into my schedule, so I'm going to get about 12-15 lower-intensity hits of the crack pipe while still doing a few races to keep my competition license current. Track days are fun, I used to be an instructor, but they're kindof like masturbation compared to wheel-to-wheel racing.
You can also use autocross prepped cars in SCCA Time Trials/PDX with a couple changes. The changes for Stock are relatively minor and in the case of the struts/shocks, front swaybar, alignment, exhaust, etc. are all easy to reverse and easily adapted to other classes if you want them to be.
Either you get autocross or you don't, it's not for everybody.