participation or points, what matter more to you in a championship?

[ner88]

I guess it all depends on what one would consider a championship?
Often the winners is the guy with best attendance!
Not to long ago we also required and average car count per class.
We would have a guy attend every race, be the only one in his class and not win the championship. Why did he not deserve the championship?

[Andy Bettencourt]

championship. Why did he not deserve the championship?

Because every Region has to decide what they consider a Champion. If one guy goes to all races and never competes against anyone, he is not a 'Champion' IMHO.

I like the minimum participation. 50% of the races, or more commonly '1 more than half', is a way to drive participation and revenue of those with such goals but to also lend credibility to the Championship.

If you want to 'boost' credibility even more, you need to have a points structure that gives you credit for people raced against and then set up a minimum threshold to be eligible for the title.

[lateapex911]

I've always liked a points structure that rewards you for beating people. The more people that are in the class for that race, the more points you get for winning.

Then, the PTB can assign a minimum number of points to ensure reasonable participation levels, and also to make the winner actually be consistently better then his competition.

Show up a bunch and win a championship is lame,
And showing up but once or twice and winning ...does not a SERIES champion make.

[Drew M]

I liked how Pro-IT did the points when I ran it 2 years ago....even though I did finish out of the top 10.

[raffaelli]

I think points series are based on consistency and preparedness. I supoose that means that I agree with the minimum number requirement.

[Spa67]

At our level just making it to a bunch of races takes a lot of determination and effort.

One of the reasons people win or place high in championships is because the don't do stupid things that cause damage to their own car, or their own car and others. It's not like we have a back-up car waiting on the trailer.

The fewer drops allowed the better. That being said boy am I pissed our friends are getting married on labor day weekend. Don't tell the missus but if I'm in the hunt for a podium she might be going stag!

[RSTPerformance]

I don't think a amature racing champion is someone who can afford to attend every race either... There needs to be at least 1 weekend equivelant of dropped races (NER mostly runs doubles or triples so you need two or three dropped races).

I think the old NARRC series 5 or 6 + years ago had the best structure... A few drops, and bonus points for entering races as well as extra bonus points for running multiple tracks. That was a good enough "reward" for participation that made it so a champion most likely had to run at least 50% of the races. Also I am 100% in favor of a "double points" end of season championship, especially if is not on a holiday weekend!

Raymond "not sure I agree but its a valad argument that If someone races three times as much as someone else and still has less points, they are not a champion, they just entered more races" Blethen