[slotloco]

Andy - so much overlap between your post and mine. Just slightly different flavours - I actually ran a juniors and parents night for 2 years and stepped some up to the main club night, but overall, it is interesting to see how close our "formulas" are. 
How we both want to keep costs down, and class longevity - which I neglected to mention, but which we also maintain. We maybe change 2 of 15 classes a year - tops, and often combine two old, similar classes as their relevance and lack of new releases brings them toward closure.

And everything else so similar, but adapted to our physical situations - we have multiple smaller venues, and fixed design wood tracks of course. 
But it's all about the people.
As a result, we haven't had anyone "throw their toys out of the cot" for some years. We don't even have any formal organisational leadership. 
At our club size, and close knit group, its not so needed. But we do have an equivalent informal "benevolent dictatorship." 
One of our hosts is a natural leader and organiser, about a head and shoulders and 50 kg bigger than me, and can generally point us in the directions we might next go. But everyone can throw in some thoughts. 

The key throughout seems to be good relationships - as highlighted by Leo's feeling about some that got heated at his club.

I remember visiting a private club that was "by invitation only" in Sydney, Australia just as I was getting our club established. It was mostly populated by the "Greek mob" of slotters in the city. I was hustling to marshal very quickly, so nervous I would let someone down in my novice state.
One of the guys said with a big grin  "don't worry Mark, around here, we marshal with our hands in our pockets, and for some guys we don't bother to take them out of our pockets" 
That taught me a lot about good attitude and fun being paramount, not the hunger to "crush and conquer all before me on the track"