five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Last Friday was the final race in a local ET series called "Trophy Jackpot". I typically run it as well as the "Street ET" class when they run on Fridays. This Trophy class takes any vehicle 7.50 & slower. Delay box vehicles are separated out for the first three rounds, then everyone is laddered together based on how close you ran 3rd round without breaking out. The "jackpot" part is a $10 extra fee in the staging lanes before first round, 100% pay-out from quarter finals up - if you don't pay in, there's no pay-out for you.

You have to "register" for a class in order to accumulate season points. Points awarded are: 100 for a tech card, 101 per round win, 1 bonus point if you run your dial-in with a zero in a round win; 1 bonus point for making it to the quarterfinals, 2 bonus points for making it to the semifinals, 3 bonus points for the runner-up, and 4 bonus points for the winner of a full race day. Plus 100 bonus points at the end of the season for perfect attendance.

I went through the points system for a reason.

Going into Friday, I was in the lead by 1 point, 1921 to 1920. There were about 6 racers behind us that could overtake us if we went out early and they went deep into the rounds. I had broken the LS1/T56 '82 Camaro testing on Tuesday, so I was down to "racing" my '95 2500HD 6.5 TD Silverado, a mighty 19.1 second quartermile burner. The kid who was #2 in points jumped into the staging lanes to be in the first pair down the track when our class was called - and he lost. When my turn came about half way through the pack, I had a .2 second RT advantage over the 12.2-sec dialed Chevelle in the other lane, who was also a tenth off his dial - being a little unaccustomed to judging the stripe with a 7-sec faster car closing on me, I hit the brakes too late and broke out by 0.03 sec. RATS!

The other 6 started to drop out as the rounds went by, except for one who could take over the lead with a semifinal round win (7 rounds to win). He took out the only other racer who could catch me in the 4th round to get to the quarterfinals (I wanted the other guy to win, because he would have to win the race to overtake me - he had actually won it the previous race date, and was the defending season champ). He had an easy time winning the quarterfinals, and was paired up with a local kid who happens to be #3 in NHRA Stock in the national points to date. "Bad Brad" did me right in the semifinals and finally took him out.

I finished with 2121 points, #2 had 2120, and this semifinalist in the final race had 2119 points.

In the first race of the season, I won the race over the eventual #2 season points finisher (lower car count that night, so only 6 rounds to win). 2nd race I was runner-up to a racing buddy who didn't register for the class. After that we had a rain-out (I won first round before they called the race, so the points counted), a first round win (in the LS1/T56 Camaro), and two out-first-rounds (one of which was also a rain-out after the first round, which limited the damage from the 1st round runner-up that night). Wasn't a stellar season, but was just enough.

This championship qualified me for the track's Division 5 finals team for the race in Topeka (40-car team, they only take one racer from this particular class). It also means I won't have to pay entry fees for this class next year (I'll still have to pay into the jackpot if I want to get into it, though), won't have to pay for test & tune at the track, and will get 2 tickets to the 2011 Mile High Nationals.

Guest

Very cool! Doesnt really matter what adds up to winning, as long as you win.

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

congrats

danandamy

Congrats! This whole season has been a bust for me The finances haven't allowed me to get to the track at all this year. Still gonna try to get out to a couple of races before the year's out though.

Dan

AlkyIROC

That's an interesting points system. Compared to the typical NHRA sportsman points system, do you feel it's a fair way of awarding points during the season?

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

It seems to work. I haven't heard anyone complain. The bonus points are basically tie-breakers. It would be nice if perfect attendance was worth a little more (although I understand why you would want to keep it low).

AlkyIROC

A perfect attendance bonus is more of a loyalty bonus. Keeps the racers from going to a different track when there's an event on during the same weekend. Run somewhere else with a chance for more prize money or run locally in the local series for that extra bonus.

The local drag club has a points series but they allow members to collect points run at a different track during conflicting events. To me that's not really fair. If I'm racing locally against local racers, why should someone be able to collect points in the same series I'm racing at and not even race against the same cars?

When they brought in that rule years ago, I quit the club. It wasn't worth the membership fee. I can still race without being a club member. I just don't collect any series points for season ending championships. My win last weekend probably screwed up their series as I took away somebody's win points

brandoz28

iTrader: (1)

congrats man! they have a lot better perks for a season champ than we do

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

The stick shift class has a championship for races run just at our track, plus the club has their own in which you earn points at the other tracks in the area as well. They coordinate the schedules so no two tracks have a stick shift race on the same weekend. Several racers go to all of the tracks, but typically that is the only racing they do. The races at the other tracks conflict with races I run here, so I haven't even considered it.

I can see how it would be fun to do, though.

Shagwell

That's great man, congrats! - racing the tow truck is just good ol' fashioned, gettin' er done.

steNcho

Good job bro! Another thirdgen going home with the trophy! I'm hoping to take the win too. Dominated the first 6 events... But I moved to the Netherlands last week so no more racing for now. But hopefully I've racked up enough points to keep the lead (There are only 9 events). Started the season with my 82 Z and raced the last 2 events with my neighbours corvette because I got in an accident with my Z in June . But hey, at least I finished with a win .

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Well, in the interest of full disclosure, I won 13 of the 14 rounds in the '57, and one in the LS1/T56 '82 Berlinetta.

But, without that "one", I wouldn't have been champ...

steNcho

Yea, the 2 events i raced with the corvette I got 3rd one time and 1st the other one. We have 9 events here every year. And every racers best 7 results count towards the championship. All 6 times I raced I was in the top 3, so I'm hoping that dropping 1 event isn't gonna hurt my points lead all that much.