Unfortunately the reality differed somewhat from the pre-season hype, and grid sizes struggled to get into double figures for much of the season. But what it lacked in quantity it made up for in quality, and the inaugural championship was a close faught affair right down to the last race of the season.

The only fully works backed entry was from USA manufacturer Chrysler, who had entered a Dodge Stratus for Dominic Dobson and David Donohue. The cars were constructed at the Chrysler Design Centre in Detriot with assistance from Reynard Special Vehicles and were run by Indy Car team Pac West, of which Dobson was part owner.

Their main challenge would come from T.C. Kline Racing who had managed to purchase two Honda Accords from the German Linder team. Their lead driver was Randy Pobst whose race experience had mainly been in the amateur ranks and he was joined by three times British ProSport champion Peter Hardman. There was another Honda for the Honda of America Racing Team (HART) with pilot Forrest Granland and an ex-BTCC Toyota Carina for New Zealand rally man Rod Millen. There were privateer BMWs for Darren Law, Steve Petty and Canadian Ed Delong, while Ford was represented by Leitzinger Racing and Jeff Andretti, but only in certain rounds.

As expected the Pac West team began the season the strongest, mainly due to their extensive pre-season testing, with two poles and two wins in the first round giving them an early lead in the championship. But this lead was short lived as the other teams became more familiar with their new cars.

The most significant opposition came from the Honda of Randy Pobst, who found that his T.C. Kline Accord had a significant power advantage over the Chryslers for much of the season. A couple of early wins at round 3 put Pobst ahead in the points after which his consistant finishing would keep him there for the rest of the season. There was also a late season charge from Peter Cunningham, who replaced Forrest Granlund in the HART Honda. Cunningham, a Honda factory driver since 1987, adapted quickly to the series and took an impressive 4 wins out of only 8 races.

So Pobst was the first NATCC champion, beating the big-budget Pac West team drivers of Dobson and Donohue, with Hardman and Cunningham rounding out the top five. Even though the field sizes has been small, the racing was close and exciting with many teams and drivers keen to return in 1997.