I just ran the SARRC series for points this year and won. Best six races count PLUS double points for the SIC (equivalent of the NARRC runoffs I think).
We had 100 separate cars run over the course of the year (I believe) with maybe 10 guys running more than 6 races. 3 of us had a shot at the championship.
SARRC is not a show up and win series, although it can be "gamed" in some ways if you are willing to tow long distances. Daytona, Sebring, VIR, Road Atlanta, CMP, Roebling, Charlotte and Barber generally get large ITS fields and you need to have your A game on to win.
That said, if you are willing to tow to Palm Beach, Homestead or Nashville, you can score some easy points.
To me, the SARRC championship is more prestigious (to me) than the ARRC becuase of the year long need for consistency and reliability, the competition, and the fact you have to run and win at very different tracks.
NC Region
1980 ITS Triumph TR8
Not speaking for Jeff, but I'd find something else to do if each year I had to run all 30+/- SARRC races (14-18 weekends) in order to contend for the the series championship. Different parts of the country have different challenges, but in 2011 SEDiv held 32 SARRC races at ten tracks from Homestead (South Florida) to Barber (Birmingham) to Nashville to VIR (Southern Virginia). Requiring folks to compete at all or even most of those races in order to win a championship would have resulted in maybe three people (overall) participating. We constantly debate whether or not counting one's best six is too few, but so far that number seems to be working. It also means you could have 3 or 4 drivers show up at the final race (the SARRC Invitational Challenge) with the same number of points, which makes for some VERY good racing there.
Butch Kummer
Former SCCA Director of Club Racing (July 2012 - Sept 2014)
2006, 2007, 2010 SARRC GTA Champion
So ours is a TON less vigorous, but we all also have multiple series to choose from. Here it was 11 events over 7 weekend, with one must-attend double-points Runoff. 5 different tracks. Then there is the NERSCCA, NYSRRC and Pro It series all at the same time with additional weekends. Most racers here think one more than half the races is a good call to allow for real life.
I agree 100% with Butch. If I had to tow from VIR to Barber in Alabama to Sebring and all points in between to run 30 races since all of them counted, I'd be (a) broke and (b) even more single than I already am.
Butch, FWIW, I think six is dead on. Seems to work the same every year. We get 75-100 entries in SM, SRF, ITS and sometimes ITA, with 4-5 guys running enough and well enough to contend for the championship. I tihnk that works. Anything more and it gets tough for the amateur racer to run enough races to count. Anything less and it can be too easy to be good at just one track.
NC Region
1980 ITS Triumph TR8
Is this going to be an East coast or a National thing?
Mitch
#64 ITA Miata
#64 FP Miata
Mannschaft Schwartz Auto-Rennen
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