I certainly remember Macest and Lefty setting WRs' and releasing their setups - likely prior to SetupField going live.
I was definately hooked on LFS while the forums were hosted on RSC, the logo competition was way off in the future and Blackwood was the sole track without the first 's' bend. Probably first found LFS around the time 'racing legends' by West Racing / the West brothers had a good following. I'm sure that was when I was in college about 12-13 years ago!