Solved

Leaving League Values Reset

When leaving a league do all of your car values always get reset to zero?

I was in a league that never raced and left to join another league. All of my car stats were set to zero and I wasn't given the three design points the leave league penalty dialogue offered.  No big deal, lesson learned. 

I am now in a dead league where I am the only one showing up 3 races in. I'd like to join an active league but want to understand what will happen to my team when I make the change. Does timing (where I am in season schedule) matter?  Any information would be greatly appreciated. 

Points are reset and timing does matter.

If you join a league, you don't get missed races development points. That is why joining an league before it started is better.
Also, since you won't have compete in all races, you won't get all the points when starting the next season.

Looking at your profile, your league started a new season, that is maybe why you see reset points.

If you want, we just raced Australia today, it won't be too much difference. There is a place in rookie :)
https://igpmanager.com/app/p=league&id=22201

Also, if you race less than 24h before joining a new league, you won't be able to compete in the race in the new league

We have a few Americans that race in our leagues due to the times we run. We have 3 leagues to choose from in our group. 
Look Up Our Leagues Here!
On the part of the car stats that also depends on how new the league is and how active from what i gather. Our main league car stats are higher than our than our development league due to the main league being in Season 6 where as the Development League is only on Season 3. We have both active and very competitive leagues and we always help each other out if we are in trouble. 
You can check out our results pages here:
Main League
Development League

Best of luck mate!!