I think the points as they are awarded, serve their purpose pretty well. And that is to reward participation. That's what most people are looking for in ICSCC; participation, friendly competition and comraderie. If someone wants to really test themselves in a championship then pick a class where you pretty much have to run every race to place high in the final standings.
I see that and I'm all for awarding participation but I don't like it.
I think Rule
503a is sufficient enough to promote participation. Beyond that, how far do we need to go?
- Do we refrain from awarding winning too greatly for a reason that I can't see?
- Does Conference have a record of racers being too aggressive too often with a points system that hands out a larger percentage of points to the winner?
Lance, allow me a "what if scenario":
Imagine you and I are both millionaires and money is no issue the only thing that is a restriction in our lives is TIME. We both run PRO3. Say you had 5 Wins and I only had 1 but you had some "business" that kept you from attending 2 races and because of this I took 1st place in the championship even though you had 4 more wins. How would you view the significance or importance of the Championship?
That's what's in my head right now. All year and recently I've been saying to myself; "I really would like to win an ITA championship, maybe in 2011." Now, I'm looking at it and thinking, what's the point it doesn't even matter.
I understand both sides and to me the bigger-picture question is:
What value are championship points suppose to have and what behaviors should they reward?
The clubs need participation but winners want to win. It appears that our points system awards participation and not winning. This is similar to AYSO Soccer or Youth Softball. Where's the happy medium?
Then go run the season and see where the chips fall.
I'm trying to focus on the merits of Towing vs. Winning. Winning a championship should be hard because
winning is hard, towing is not. Towing is a waste of money that's a by-product of what we do and what we do is racing.
Winning happens so rarely in Racing in the grand scheme of things. To quote a wiser racer than myself:
I've been around racing long enough to realize that we mostly lose.
And now, Lance, we've come full circle. Do I spend more Time and $$ on my car so that I can
win races in a competitive group or do I transition that Time/Money into towing/hotel/entry fees for a championship even if it means consistently finishing 2nd, 3rd or 4th?
Decision decisions!