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I was talking with some of the staff and management at SBRS and they were talking about the pros and cons of the current race group format (Championship group and Sportsman group) and whether or not it would be more beneficial to go back to the “old format” of run groups.fficeffice" />

To give a little history to those that don’t know, the current run grouping was created about 4 seasons ago. The consensus from us drivers was that we wanted to race “our buddy(s)” at every weekend. So with a little help Todd, Kelly and staff created three run groups, Championship, Expert and Sportsman. The goal was that the fast guys would race in the Championship group, Mid-speed drivers would race in the Expert group and the new or “speed challenged” drivers would race in the Sportsman group. This way everyone would be racing other drivers of equal speed, would have more fun and more people would get on the podium and get a trophy.

The problem that occurred that first season was that there wasn’t enough drivers to “fill the field” in each of the three classes, so they abandoned the Expert group and we ended up with just Championship and Sportsman, each competing for their own title and trophies. The next season(s) the problem was that as the season progressed, none of the Sportsman drivers wanted to move up to the faster Championship group (even though they were clearly fast enough) because they wanted to win the Sportsman Title and crown. This created a small Championship group and multiple large Sportsman groups. So this last season they eliminated the Sportsman Title and trophy and if (or when) a Sportsman driver proved to be fast enough they were moved to the Championship group. This was a plus in that it did help fill the Championship groups and also allowed for a driver to continue their learning curve of getting faster and improving their race craft, at least on the surface. It also allowed the driver to score more points and finish higher in the overall standings. Unfortunately (and the case no matter what format is used) the system doesn’t work for everybody and there is a relatively large group of people that really don’t fit in the Sportsman or Championship group. Also it is a pretty big logistical nightmare for those back in the office to arrange the groups so that it is fair, etc.

So my thought, or suggestion, is why not just go back to the old format? It seems like it worked for the majority?

To explain to those that weren’t around or don’t remember the old format here it is;
Everyone signed up for the weekend is equally split in to groups so that each group consists of 4-5 fast drivers, 4-5 mid-speed drivers and 4-5 new/speed challenged drivers. This way everyone had several other drivers of similar speed to race against and everyone competed in just one Championship (there was still a race within a race for the master drivers). As the season progressed, the series staff would make sure to mix the groups up so that over the course of the season, everybody raced everybody at least once if not twice. At the finale weekend typically the top 15-20 in points were in one group and battled it out for the final points standing and the trophies, glory, bragging rights, etc.

So what does everybody think?