Utah makes sense since there isn't much off-road racing going on in the southeast.

I agree that mid-engine would be ideal for a road handling setup. My fear is that car was designed around a rear engine layout, and you'll end up hacking most of it up to change to mid engine, and the front suspension design.

Have you thought about just doing a ground up chassis like an Ariel Atom but in steel? You can get a tubing bender setup for $800, and then you won't have any compromises already built into the chassis.