NEMS 2012 Points System
Points, have been a major topic for the last few years. How to arrange points in a way that can help keep some of the part time racers in the chase. Last year we took a look at a handicap system that rewarded racers for making every race. In a season, when cars are plentiful, this may have worked out more than it did. But with the economy still trying to find it’s way out of the pinch, a majority of the racers tend to miss more than one event. With only a handful of weekly racers, the handicap system more so isolated the weekly racers from the part time racers. Not only that, but it put the weekly racers up front week after week.
Talking with other drivers has convinced me that we can do better. So to do that, we have made two big changes in the lineup and points system for the 2012 season.
The Line Up
The line up for 2012 started out as a draw. Drivers drew starting positions out of a hat to line up for the first Heat, with rookies to the rear. After 2-3 races the rookies will be lined up by their drawn numbers as well. This will continue to be the case for future races this season.
Each race, all drivers will draw for heat starting positions. The only handicap will be that the top 4 points drivers will be sent to the back and inverted for the heat, and the feature. Not the top 4 heat finishers. The remaining cars will start the feature in the order that they finished the heat. Later we may add a coin toss to determine if these cars will be inverted or not. The decision would be made at the drivers meeting and not after the heat. But for now they will not. Drivers missing a race during the season will not be handicapped. They will have the same chance do draw their heat position, and start on the pole.
Points
For years, points systems have been set up to encourage competitors to show up for every race. We understand that that is not always a practical expectation when you have other life responsibilities. Points have also been developed for full car fields. When your running 24-26 cars a night it makes sense that the reward, (points) stay stationary. What I mean is that no mater what night you race, or how many competitors you race against, you get the same amount of points for first, second, third and so on.
That’s where the points system has to change. If we think about what points really mean, points are a method of reward to measure a drivers success against the competition. So when the competition is the same (car count) each race, you get the same measure of reward. Makes sense. But in a time were 24-26 car counts are not possible, why should a person who wins a race against 6 components, be rewarded the same as someone who wins a race against 15 components. The answer is they shouldn’t. The points need to be scaled.
For 2012, points will be rewarded on a car count basis. More cars, more competition, more reward. For heat races, if 10 cars start the heat, the winner will receive 10 points. If 6 cars start the heat, the winner will receive 6 points. Each position behind the winner will count down till the last car receives 1 point.
For the Feature, there will be 2 points added per position. So if 10 cars start, the winner receives 20 points, while each car behind the leader receives 2 less points each position until the last place person receives 2 points.
Aside from awarding drivers with more points for dominating against more competition, this will allow the gap to be less for those drivers who can’t make all the races. When a driver misses a race, he reduces the amount of points that all other drivers can gain on him. That said, if you’re a competitor who missed the opening NEMS race at Canaan Dirt Speedway, you should plan on attending the next race. If car counts rise, and you do well, your chances of gaining enough points to get back into the top 5 aren’t too shabby.
