Did they actually run out of seats? Or they ran out of seats close to the line?
I couls see them running out of seating at NED especially given it's the first one. The northeast has been starving for such a show for decades.
I've been to the NHRA at E town - I took a bus trip so you're dropped right at the pits and picked up there and you can sleep on the bus. I wouldn't drive on my own. I have a coworker that lines in southern MA - he has some physical limitations (but no legal handicapped status) and rented an RV that he was in for the whole meet but I don't know where he parked it.