This thread is for discussing the number of races scheduled and how to get more people out to the track. I know this issue has been discussed several times over the years, and the two items are connected. The Killer Bees would like to limit the number of races they hold to 5 race weekends plus the Las Vegas race for a total of 11 races. Bruce said that they would probably be able to do 6 race weekends and Las Vegas, if the East Coast had 6 race weekends. By limiting the races the hope is that more people would come to the remaining races. This also cuts down on travel expenses for some people. I believe the Bees had 16 races last year & the East Coast had 13. We also believe to be as fair as we can that both the East & West should have as close to the same number of races scheduled as possible.

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

Whether "Fair" should play into the picture, I don't have that answer.

Exposure and accessibility should. Anywhere we can hold an SSRN event, we should pursue the possibility. When it comes to west coast races, we have a bunch of members on the other side of the Rockies that may not have an opportunity to pull all the way out here to play.
The same applies to the East of the Mississippi club. Folks have a long way to travel that might otherwise come out and play if they have an opportunity closer to home. Might not be big "points," but it's an opportunity to be involved.

Any track that is willing to work with us, any opportunity to race, we should explore that possibility. Any race that is well attended, should be kept. If folks don't want to drive that far, fine. Do not. I have made it clear I'm not going to pull to every race, and burn vacation around the weekend. Not going to do it. More power to you if you want to run everywhere. Have a blast!

I will pull for Vegas periodically, but that isn't a racing location. If you think your going to do a lot of racing at MATS, you haven't been there. It's the event that makes it worthwhile.

Don't kill successful SSRN Events just because a group doesn't want the expense. It's an opportunity for slant six racers to get together and play. Having more possible races for SSRN is great. Make the ones you can afford or want to attend, and allow for other events to occur. Many folks just want to have the social interaction and fun at the track. Most don't give a hoot about the points chase. It's about the cars, and maybe showing what your able to extract from them.

That's the important distinction. This isn't professional racing. Even our best are pressed when it comes to taking on a strong Sportsman team at any given track. It's a social interaction for people that want to play with slant six cars. No limit. If somebody is going to "Buy" the championship by traveling, well, they better bring a package with them. Nobody gives anything away at the track.

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

I agree with Ceej NO LIMIT on races held east or west, but if we are going to have a National Championship there must equal opportunity on both sides. I think it is simple to fix. For the National Championship points we simply count x number of races. This number can be decided by using the least number of races scheduled by each division. As I said it is simple and uncomplicated. Any additional races in the division with a greater number of events will only count points toward their divisional championship. I think each division should schedule races as they feel necessary to best suit their needs. In the east we have learned the hard way that too many races end up with very low car count so we have arrived at a happy medium that everyone can plan for each year.
The key is for the National Championship only we need to count the same number of races. Aside from that each side should schedule to best meet their needs.

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62 Val, 66 Dart, 16 Ram 2500 Mega

I agree. No limit on number of races, but you can only count points from 5-6 race weekends (decide number later) towards national points. 6 weekends (12 race days) seems reasonable to me.

That said, having too many races does dilute attendance, so we should just be mindful of that when scheduling races in the first place.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

The pendulum has been swinging back and forth on this one as long as I can remember.

I have always been in favor of as many races as we can possibly have in as many varied locations as we can manage.

I understand the threat of diluting the attendance, but I am more in favor of "making disciples of ALL nations" and encouraging people to set up a race wherever they can.
(Kinda like those poor MoKan guys that are West of the Mississippi, but the Killer Bees don't recognize... )

I like Ron's suggestion of counting the least number of races scheduled by each division to keep the National Championship equitable. If a racer attends more than that, we count his/her best X races just like we do now.

Those racers that are chasing points can decide which races to attend to meet their goals.

The rest of us can race "a la carte".

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

You guys can discuss whether or not you want a Columbus race May 16-18. Jeff Johnson will be happy to have us. His number is 614-268-1181 .

I am out. I can not get vacation time for that weekend, someone with seniority on me already has it booked. Seymour is out too.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Cookie's the newest "Race Coordinator" and he's likely one of the closest too...

Hey Cookie!!

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

That is the same weekend as the Mason-Dixon race.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Yes, that has already been discussed. Some of the Midwest guys expressed interest in Columbus because they won't go to M-D anyway.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

So let me get this straight in my head. We can hold as many SSRN events as we wish, the 12 races allowed for Championship points would be how points would be added up for team status. Individuals would be allowed to attend as many of those events as they wish, but would count only the top 6 race results, from what pool of points? Can they attend 15 races, and take the top 6, or can they only count six of the first 12?

If the Limit is hard at 12 Races that can be used as SSRN events, it kills venues that are successful in their own way, and limits getting events going in new areas, like Seattle, Nevada, Texas or ???.

This is all precipitated as one of the groups within the Bees wants to kill the second Woodburn event. They base it on second day events being 30 pointers. Many locals don't run both the Sunday SSRN and the local Inliner race. We would be happy to keep just the Saturday race at the second Woodburn weekend. If that isn't permissible under the new rule regarding total SSRN events allowed, we have a challenge here.

Thoughts?

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Why does the race have to have 40 or more points to be on the schedual this is an entry level race series not a pro series.

Richard

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

This/\

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

If we vote to allow 6 race weekends/12 races as our limit for National points, and there are 15 races scheduled on one side of the country, the person who would attend all 15 races would have to declare 3 of those races as non-points races for himself. It could be any 3, at any track, at any time of the year. He decides. So all 15 races are still important to all the other participants. He does not have to take his best of the first 12 races. It can be any of the 12 races. And he does not have to tell anyone until the day of the race. Just so long as he lets it be known before the ladder is drawn.
There would be no limit. All of your races could be SSRN events. Each individual would only be allowed to count from 12 for his National points
If there is genuine interest in a "New" Slant 6 venue and people want to attend, go for it. I do not see this rule affecting that at all. If there is enough interest to have a new race in Texas, it is unlikely that those folks would travel to all the other races. And if they did, they would just declare which races, over the 12 race limit, that they would not count.

As has been said before, each Coast will have to decide what is to many races and if they think more races will make smaller fields at some or all of them.

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

Why would a racer have to "declare" which races to use for points? Why not allow a racers X (6, 7, 8, etc) best finishes count. Regardless of how many races are held or attended. That is an incentive for a racer to attend a race at the end of the season, in the hope of bettering his point position.

Lets say I attend 3 weekends (6 races), and i do poorly at one but good at others, but for that one weekend, I might be in contention, to win the championship. That would be a big incentive for me to tow to Mason-Dixon (almost 2,000 mile round trip), a race I probably not attend, at the end of the season. I would still have to do better then, the the earlier race, where I had a poor showing.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

I agree with Charlie's idea. Take the best finishes, declaring whether a race counts or not at the track before racing could get tricky. What if people misheard a racer's intention, or what if there where not more than one witness to hear it...

Limiting the number of races counted for the Championship would not put a limit on SSRN races desired. It would create a level playing field to compare apples to apples. Also, if people don't want to go to a race because of a low car count, then that is their decision. We have had 30pt races several times in the past, and I have enjoyed them just as much as a larger race. If people are only interested in racing for a championship, that is their loss. The fellowship, competition, and fun should be the main reasons for racing, in my opinion.

Humbly,
Brian

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Flyin' Brian

74 Duster, 225, rear-mounted blow through turbo at 12psi boost, street/strip car
"Sixy Beast"