How many 1/8th mile races this year?

600 miles is a loong way,,680 miles to Eureka is looonger and I have done that the past 2 years alone.

Split for the 1/4 at a 1/8th mile track doesnt make any sense.

I run my car at the local 1/8th track set up the same way as the 1/4.Mark

RULE CHANGE DISCUSSION AND VOTES:

I would like to start by saying that it is a top priority to keep Eastern and Western Slant 6 racing rules the same. This allows us to come up with a true National Champion at the end of each year, and have all of the records remain national records. This is a bit complicated given our large separation and somewhat different racing styles and tracks, but I think it is worth staying on the same page.

1) Regarding the rule on points that has the race winner being guaranteed the # of points from last year's race:

This rule was deemed to be out of date and is no longer apparently encouraging race participation. We made this rule back in 2003 or so to encourage people (top points seekers) to go to small races.

The Eastern racers voted unanimously to drop this rule and make all points gathered depend only on the number of cars at a given race. This is in full agreement with the Western vote.

2) Regarding "bonus points" awarded to racers who break a SSRN record:

A long discussion ensued, with 2-3 motions proposed then dropped. In order to balance bracket racers' concerns that someone might set and re-set records by a little bit to bring their points total up (Mark, Lou, Ryan C, Charlie, others?), we found that the following rule makes the most sense:

A driver will get 5 bonus points (toward their year-end point total) for setting a record at any official Slant 6 race. However, this 5 pts will only be awarded once per year, per driver (not for each record or for different class records). So, you get a substantial benefit for setting one SSRN record per year, but cannot make huge gains by setting multiple records. We also discussed 1-2 pts per class per year (for each driver), which might be workable as well.

We hope to use the 5 pt bonus rule this year and try it out, and we can revisit this issue next year. All Eastern racers voted unanimously to approve this new rule. This is in accordance with the large majority of Western racers.

3) Regarding the number of possible races to count for points, and "best of X number of races to count as your year-end point total:

Since we have gone to almost all 2-day race weekends, we believe the "best 4 of 7" rule from years past is out of date. It is quite reasonable for folks to make 6 races (on 3 weekends) and be competitive with a higher possible race count. The East voted unanimously to allow as many races as one can attend to count for points, and take the best 5 to get your points total for the season. This is in accordance with the large majority of Western racers. There were several instances in the East when people did not attend races at the end of the year, or were asking themselves why they were bothering, since they had to drop other races in order to count points. We do NOT want to discourage racers from attending as many races as possible, and attending 10 races is way easier than ever before with the new 2-day races. Plus, both the East and West each have 10 races (on 5 weekends) this season, so there is an even number of possible races to attend on both ends of the country. We are happy to revisit this rule again next year if it is not working well.

4) Regarding the setting of 1/8th mile SSRN records:

Why did we initiate 1/8th mile records? One reason: to encourage race attendance. Using "splits" of 1/4 mile timeslips to count as 1/8th mile records does nothing to accomplish this, plus there is no way for a person at an 1/8 mile race to set a 1/4 mile record too with one timeslip.

All racers in the East voted to keep 1/8th mile record setting as it is, and not allow "splits" to count as 1/8th mile records. This is in accordance with the vast majority of Western racers. It is simple to get an 1/8 mile race at most 1/4 mile tracks (all of them I have seen), so we suggest that if folks are interested in setting 1/8 mile records, they should get their race coordinator to set up 1 day 1/8 mile and 1 day 1/4 mile on a race weekend. If you have never run 1/8 mile, you might really like it. I was skeptical at first (2002), but now I really don't care which I run.

In good faith, this year we in the East are looking at running either Mason-Dixon or Clay City as 1/8 mile one day and 1/4 mile the other. We sincerely hope that 1-2 of the Western races will do the same in order to allow folks to set 1/8 mile records out West.

Thanks very much to all and here's to a great 2012 season!!

Lou

You can keep those 1/8 mile records on the east coast till I really want them.Guzzi Mark

Thanks for the feedback, guys. There are a lot of issues and people to balance here.

805: We did discuss the D weight break, but everyone in the East thought that 3200 was a good break point. If we made it lower than that, we would probably have to add an E class too. 5 weight classes seems like enough to me. If you are below 3200, could you add some weight to set a record in D? Basically, changing weight breaks now would be a nightmare in that we would not know what the old records mean.

Sorry I did not mention this discussion, and I'll revise my post.

Mark: Go for it at Barona! Man, do you want to come down there Thursday eve to run your car on March 29? I can probably find a way there from my conference in San Diego (ends that midday).

Best,

Lou

There seems to be some good competition evolving in D/Gas.

Lou