When I used to attend the T/A nats when my wife, and I were selling T Shirts, the whole thing was pretty political. I have no idea of what it's like since I last attended 10 years ago.
There has been attempts over the years to bring some racing to the event, but they seem to be much more interested in the Saturday evening drive to Tipp City, than any performance event.
There is a reason they earned the nickname lawn chair nationals, seems most are F body fans, not Pontiac fans, and could care less about what the engine lineage is under the hood. Just my own observations going back to the 2005-2012 era.
The traditional shirts that sold well at all the other Pontiac events we attended, didn't sell well at all at the T/A nationals. If the shirt had a bird on it. it would sell well, if it referred to the Stratostreak powerplant, I would sell one or two shirts during the whole weekend. Definitely a different atmosphere than most Pontiac events we had attended. They also had the most expensive swap meet, and vendor rates of any event we attended. Last time it was $70 for one space.
Like Mike, I live within a half hour drive of the show, but since we stopped selling T shirts, I don't bother to attend it.
