I think this special is an attempt to appease those who have money burning in their pocket and want to spend it, as was mentioned in the 17+ page thread elsewhere on the forums, other orgs are doing it and it get people to commit their time.
As far as the $2,000, I looked at the days that are currently on the schedule and even with just the 14 days that I would go to right now, the $2,000 is still less than the elite cost of those 14 days. It makes the extra 6 days icing on the cake, plus it helps bob know how much money he has to go out and book dates.
Basically it's all circular, we want dates before we want to spend the money, but NESBA needs to know it can get the money before it books all of the dates....it's a catch 22 really and it's not good for anyone but there's not a ton anyone can do.
As far as the dates on the schedule, just remember, it wasn't that long ago that we didn't get a schedule at all until mid/end of February, now are there things that I think could be done to help clarify the schedule (like putting tentative next to the dates that aren't finalized), yes. But until we as a group realize that this a volunteer run organization right now, tracks have bigger priorities than motorcycle track days, time is limited, and nobody is perfect, all the griping will continue.
I've emailed Bob offering to help him with updating stuff. We all just need to keep our cool until everything is finalized. Now go spend your $2,000 so Bob can go get us more dates.....I know I am!!!
