Forum: Minnesota Dirt Track Racing Forum (go)
Moderators: StanM

One correction Greg. Brooke and Robby were both by me before I got tagged maybe even more of the leaders. I had checked up for a poorly executed slide job for positon and then dropped to the bottom when someone was trying to shoot the hole. I'm not really sure what car it was, but it was racing deal and more my fault for plugging the hole then theirs.

Thanks Jimmy. I wasn't entirely certain which one of the lead cars made contact with your car. A couple of people I talked to thought it was either Tatnell or Wolfgang. I fixed it up on the post to just say one of the leaders. Great night of sprint car racing at CLS last night! See you next Saturday.

Looks like Leigh Thomas has the point lead heading into the final UMSS race of their inaugural season this Saturday night at the Legendary 100 at the Cedar Lake Speedway. Should be interesting to see how it shakes out between Jerry Richert Jr. and Leigh Thomas. Good luck to all drivers.

UMSS Point Standings through Richert Memorial Sept 12:
1. 29 Leigh Thomas 3542
2. 62 Jerry Richert Jr. 3512
3. 55 Joseph Kouba 3280
4. 23 Cody Hahn 3266
5. 10 Kevin Nickel 3169
6. 34 Brad Barickman 3010
7. 37 Sye Anderson 2902
8. 34TW Jimmy Kouba 1892
9. 1 Lynn Franklin 1854
10. 34TW Jason Tostenson 1692

Does UMSS also do owner points? If so, Dave and Margaret would be looking good with the 34tw.

Jerry's car got pretty tore up at Cedar Lake last weekend and it looked like the frame was bent beyond repair. Any word on that?

My loyalties are split on this deal because a case could be made for both Jerry and Leigh. Jerry won all those Features, Leigh hasn't ever won much but he's been a loyal supporter of our local racing. They're both deserving and it looks like it's going to come right down to the wire.

Stan Meissner

Championships are about consistency. (Well they were before NASCAR decided it needed a playoff scenario). If Leigh wins, he'll have earned it with solid top finishes all the way through. If Jerry wins, it means he'll have overcame two bad nights with an otherwise stellar season.

Good luck to both this weekend at CLS. Both are great guys and are deserving of the title. (and the honor of being the subject for a future GRP Sprint car challenge question)

No owner points.

Oh well... something to consider for next year.

I think its good to acknowledge the owner's contribution, even if the point fund is not split. A plaque or something for the top points guys by car seems to be a good way to show apprecation for the money and time an owner puts in.

Back when Shep was a pup and I was kid, both Jackson and Huset's point systems had the points staying with the car. I never felt that was right either as the driver that latched multiple rides during a season was shafted. When Shep was a gleam in his daddy's eye and Dad was racing, the norm for organizations was to track both owner and driver points. That said, many point systems paid nothing for either owner or driver (they believed in paying at the races, mostly), so it was an easy no/low cost thing to throw everyone that participated a bone at the end of the year.

Again, just something to consider for 2010. UMSS is lucky it actually has pure owners supporting the group. Would be good to throw them a bone.

It's certainly open to your point of view. Joe and I were talking last night with Ron B. Joe would agree with you I think. He liked the part of Wissota's point deal that specified how many races ended up counting. In other words when all was done you could miss a couple of just drop off the bad nights. On the other hand, I believe all races should count, the folks that make the effort to get to each race and ensure they get themselves in the A main, should be rewarded. And, someone that chooses to race elsewhere a night or two, should not get a free pass.

UMSS point system is based on feature finishes only. There are no points awarded for passing, no points for the heat or challenge races. The breakdown is:
1^st: 250
2^nd: 246
3^rd: 244
and it keeps dropping by 2 points down the field.

I like the no points for heats or challenges (or dashes). All of the prelim races build to the features, so it seems to me the points should follow the money and only be awarded for features. Passing points are interesting, I like the idea of rewarding someone for coming from way behind to win or a top finish, but they did put themselves in the donkey in the first place and are essentially trying to get out of the hole they dug for themselves. That said, UMSS, and many other places, do a redraw. So the org is, in some cases, putting the best car in the hole for the sake of a better show for fans. I don't the best way to do passing points if used. I do feel strongly that no one should get more points in the night than the feature winner (this is one thing I strongly disliked about Wissota's system.) It doesn't matter how fast you were in the heats, how many laps you led or how many cars you passed, when you win, you won.

As you can tell, I'm a bit of a hardliner when it comes to allowances for hard luck. That comes from years of hard week all week to prep a car that is not only ready to race but capable of finishing whatever race it started. Right or wrong, that' where my head and heart are.

However, this line, my view, is not good from a promoter's point of view. Letting guys catch a break for hardluck helps keeps moral and enthusiasm up. This is needed to want to work hard to come back out. Also, it lets guys take a shot at a big race somewhere else. Finally, at this level we are "weekend warriors". All of us have day jobs, family and other things that sometimes have to come ahead of racing. So, to help promoter and drivers having a point system that only counts your best 15 of 17 or 18 or 22 races may be the best thing overall.

The last thing I'll bring up is the point structure itself. Again, I think the feature winner should earn the most points that night, no exceptions. After that, I'd like to see the points break down similar to the money drop. Come to think of it, how about the points earned is the same as the payout for the spot (or pay divided by 10 to keep the numbers smaller)? But, every position should be worth at least a point (unlike the payout for the bottom feature spots.) That would certainly account for the fact the competition is generally tougher when more money is at stake. Even if not based on purse the point drop between positions should have more proportion. Such as 10 points difference 1st to 2nd, 7 points 2nd to 3rd, 5 points 3rd to 4th, then 4, 3, 2 and maybe down to 1 point difference drop of all the back spots and through non-transfers froma b-main..

For a situation like Jerry and Leigh, one could fiddle with either the shows counted or the point breakdown and achieve a different outcome. My choice would be to count all the shows, points only for the features, no passing points, but put more proportion into the breakdown after first. If you got this far, thanks for reading and indulging my views.

At this stage of "redevelopment" of sprint car racing in the local area (as witnessed by sprint car fans attending the 100 last weekend), I'm thinking having the point system weighted to reward those that show up most often might not be such a bad thing for now...

Congratulations to both Jerry for all the wins (and sorry they had to wad up that car so bad), and to Leigh for your Championship level commitment to the UMSS. The extra effort you put into obtaining parts for your engine in time to make it back for the second night at Brainerd late in the season was great - we are lucky to have competitors like you supporting the sport we love.