Years ago, I heard that for a car to have certain race qualifications it had to have a production model/version (something like that). So, by building them and selling them to the public, it allowed them to be raced/qualify in certain events. Winning was good advertisement. Insurance companies would not insure a car that was solely intended for race application, making it road worthy and toning down the numbers made it so the puplic could afford to insure/own the thing. I am definitely not the authority on this. Terry