To tell the truth I think the online participation level in lfs is going down. Most people just stick to one or two servers and that's it. STCC, Redline and Conedodgers seem to be the only servers worth visiting these days for any race action but tbh I'm over them and prefer some variety and cleaner racing.
I also prefer practicing and having a few races with my team since we just have fun and race clean and fair, but it's usually league combos that we practice on and to keep the noobs out from wreaking havoc on the track we have to password the server to get some serious practice in.