National Points

[NJRacer510]

I was speaking to some friends of mine who race in other divisions like asphalt/dirt modified's or late models and we were discussing national points. After speaking with them and having my own opinions about national points I was just curious how other legend drivers or crew members felt about the point system?

Personally, I really don't give a *&#^ about national points lol, basically you spend all that time and money trying to finish well in the national point system. All you get in the end is a plaque without your name on it and a check for USLC part department credit. They shake your hand and give you a poor attempt at a thank by holding this banquet at the Speedway Club but they charge you over a $100 just for a dinner you could get at Applebess for $14.99 which is probably better food haha. The last thing is in the end, no one outside of the Legends world cares about who was national champion.

On the better half of my thoughts about the national point system is that its just for peace of mind that you did well against everyone in the Legends world.

So Im curious what your opinions are about national points and if you think their anything worth giving a damn about or if they are worth anything in the end?

[VMS Motorsports]

Depends on how you want to look at it.
Some like to compare themselves to their peers, and it's a somewhat good way to do that. Do what you want to do, I guess.
I never left Wisconsin, and am currently 5th in dirt Semi Pro, but the leader is pretty much un-catchable with 40 races in.
Only taking the top 20 races (in dirt, 25 for tar) helps, but it's still a money game. I dont drive to Iowa every race, so I wont ever win National points by having the 20-25 throwaway races.

Bottom line, it doesnt hurt anyone to have it. If it's not for you, don't pay attention. If you want to chase points, go ahead.

It's the same thing with track points, just on a larger scale

Just my 2 cents

[knoxracing]

Its an attendance contest. I have seen racers that win a national tiltle by racing at hand picked out of the way tracks 40 times and win the title. Then they go run the Nationals and do very poorly. I am not a fan of  this system AT ALL!

[NJRacer510]

I agree with Knox, I don't think the system works because you can cheat it. They need to make changes to make it work better, and this is the biggest reason why you see more and more people not buying licenses. Lots of tracks are now accepting Legends drivers to only purchase their track license if they dont care to race elsewhere nationally. For example yesterday we had at a Qualifier at Chemung Speedrome, NY which a handful of non members were there. If it was a regular show who cares but being that it was a qualifier the track made all non members start at the tail of the field. The only thing I do agree with about  national points is if I have to pay for a license, everyone should.

Does anyone think that in the coming years the national points system or Inex will go belly up? I think USLC will always be around but Inex at some point will implode.

[VMS Motorsports]

INEX is USLC, so no, don't see that.
What is a better way, other than eliminating points altogether?
No point system is perfect unless it is at one track...what would you recommend? I'll be talking to USLC this week, I'll pass along your ideas

[NJRacer510]

I know Inex is USLC but they are also two separate entities, if someone decided at some point to start up their own sanctioning body for Legends  they could hurt Inex. It would be like the Whelen Tour Modifieds and Race of Champion Tour Modifieds, same cars two different sanctioning bodies.

In my opinion there is two ways to make the point system true, no more getting points for your place in your division. If everyone runs together get scored together but listed separate. Say the finishing order was Pro, YL, SP, M, Pro: the points awarded would be 1st for Pro, 2nd for YL, 3rd for SP, 4th for M, and 5th for Pro (not 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd). This would show how people truly do instead of awarding them results for what they did not achieve in the race. Why should someone get 2nd or 3rd place points if they finish 14th, 15th all the time. Hence Knox's point, people can do well in national points and even become Champion when they actually don't do well.

Another way is to section off the country, such as Northeast, Central, East, SouthEast, West, etc... Make each person pick a home track and a secondary track, national points can only be awarded for races at those tracks. Plus one Regional Qualifier of their best result from another track if their track picks do not host a qualifying race. This way people can not chase tracks, or try to cheat the system. Here is an example of cheating the system: If a driver is either a semipro or pro they have their father, brother, friend, whomever register in the same division. When there is only 4 cars in that division that person takes out their spare car for a start and park to allow them to be awarded full points. Now the Pro division is supposed to be the "highest" and "best" drivers correct? So how could a person become a registered Pro when they never even won a race or finished a complete race?

What do others think? 

[Hyerflyer2]

Ya the system stinks all it is like when we were in school and  got perfect attendance award if you didn't miss a day I think one good way to solve it is make the championship your best 25  -30 races 

[VMS Motorsports]

Thats what it is.
Top 20 on dirt, top 25 on asphalt

[Hyerflyer2]

I guess I thought the points were listed as who had most to least and that seems just like an attendance thing 
What do they refigure the points at the end and relist them in that order this is my first year so I'm still learning they're system

[NJRacer510]

Your total point listing is 24 races + 1 regional qualifier race which is 25 races. Once you start to accumulate more than 25 they knock off the lowest point races and recalculate your total number. So say you have 25 races for 1536 points with your lowest finish being 88 points. If you race a 26th race and get 97points your total will go up only 9 points.

Here is one of the problems, you have a semi pro driver who wins week after week against a field filled with Pros and Masters. The following year he is still a semi pro because even though he won all those races, he didn't beat 4 other semi pros each time. If he can beat Pros why couldn't he become a Pro? Another problem, you have a YL who never wins a race all year but gets 100 pt wins because he beats the 4 other YL drivers. He gets promoted to a Pro the next year but isn't ready yet.

Agree/Disagree?

My whole point of all this is how its so flawed that more a more drivers are non members and tracks are ok with that because they really dont care about Inex. They just want to make money at the back gate.

[legends13]

Todd,

as it relates to non-members. If you want to make an issue of it, you can call John Hagen. According to the INEX sanction agreement that each track signs at the beginning of the year:

"INEX Membership Enforcement. All Competitors must have a current INEX membership license. PROMOTER shall assist and cooperate with INEX in with confirming that all Competitors are current licensed members of INEX. INEX will provide PROMOTER with the appropriate membership applications to be completed prior to entry into the Competition. All funds and applications collected by PROMOTER must be forwarded immediately to INEX. PROMOTER may retain five dollars ($5.00) for each INEX membership (Member and Associate Member) processed by PROMOTER personnel. INEX may suspend PROMOTERS’ sanction or terminate this Agreement at any time, by written notice to PROMOTER, for breach of this paragraph"

So, if you don't like that there are non-members running, feel free to contact the track and/or John and bring this up...

My thought is that there needs to be a temporary license available that allows a competitor to run a single race at a reduced member cost. tht way if someone wants to try out a Legends car for 1 or 2 races before buying, they can do it and still be covered...

[VMS Motorsports]

There is a one day/temporary license for $50.00

[legends13]

hmmm, never seen where this was available. $50 seems awful high. Needs to be $20 or so, cause no one is gonna pay $50 for one race...

[VMS Motorsports]

We've had 2 people get the one day license in Wisconsin this year.

[Team Zero]

In Wisconsin you pay $50.oo per race until you bought it after three nights, Guy from Iowa had to give Pink Hat a check at Sun Prairie because he was running without one down there, said he had one . He had a two day old list from INEX because he was checking on me, I didn't put in for one until May and it took two weeks to show up on their list that Tech officals can get.

Brian