Hey, I just had a flash of brilliance, or maybe a brain fart -- not sure
which so I'll throw it out for reaction.
We cut our classes in half by eliminating all the Ladies.
(Hang on, gals, you're not out of it yet)
There are only Open classes, and both sexes run together.
Top ladies who are NOT trophy winners in the open are declared the Ladies
Award winners. Same trophy-depth basis as now. If there are 3 ladies who are
NOT Open trophy winners, we give one Ladies Award. If there are 4, we give
2, etc. And yes, that means if there are 4 gals and one of them trophies in
Open, then there is One Ladies Award because there are three left.
Pro: It cuts the total number of classes in half.
It boosts the total number of competitors in each Open class by a few
more.
It eliminates the many 1-, 2-, 3-car classes common in Ladies.
It ensures that women who are good enough to trophy in Open do so.
There are still Ladies champions and trophy winners, but none would
lose the opportunity to win that by entering Open instead.
Husband-wife can be tire warmers for each other.
Con: It may reduce the number of drivers that can compete in one car (two
max instead of two Open + two Ladies).
It creates more "Chinese fire drill" for husband-wife cars that now are
separated into different heats.
It creates more multiple-driver cars in a heat.
Some Ladies who would be "Champion" would then just be "trophy winner"
(in Open)
They won't really have an exact count of trophies needed ahead of time
(but the count will be close).
Someone will have to give Bob the Trophy Guy a set of results marked
with Ladies Award winners. Can't just give him bare results as they do now.
???: It creates some monster classes in the 60- to 70-car range (is this
good or bad?)
On the cons....
IMHO, nothing says we cannot rewrite the total-drivers rule to, say, 3 per
car. And we can even specify that a third driver must be opposite sex (2 men
1 woman, or 1 man 2 women). The idea of the rule is to keep several good
drivers in one good car from monopolizing the top of the trophies. A 2+1
rule would go a long way to the same thing, and if *those* three should
still finish 1-2-3 ... well good for them!
IMHO, the "Chinese fire drill" would be nothing not now encountered in most
co-driver situations. We would, however, have to come up with how to handle
3-driver cars if the above concept was adopted. Heats are big enough at
Nationals (also at most Tour/Divisional events), separation is not really
the problem .. it is merely a matter of organizing the heat.
IMHO, if we are 3-4 trophies off in the count, no big deal. We usually are
anyway (SM had none this year). They can be taken care of post-event. And
getting Bob the annotated list is merely another organizational tidbit.
Had such a concept been in place this year, seven Ladies Class champions
would have trophied in Open (2 in SP, 1 in ST, 2 in P, 2 in M -- none in
Stock but a bunch were very close). In most cases, but not all, that would
have meant Ladies Awards would have gone one gal lower -- same number of
ladies awards, another gal wins one. In every case this year, the gals being
added increased trophy depth so all the guys who trophied still would have.
In many cases, trophied would have gone one deeper and been won by a guy (in
which case all the gals who trophied still would have received Ladies
Awards). In no case this year would a gal finishing 2nd in Ladies have
trophied in Open (although in one class the gals finishing 2-3 had times
that would have beaten the last-trophy mark in the Open class). Of course,
this figures only Ladies class drivers added in, not those gals who ran Open
up front (two of whom trophied, both in Stock).
This is NOT a proposal to eliminate Ladies classes, but an idea to cut the
total classes while still giving the gals their due. IMHO, Ladies classes,
by that name, should continue on a Regional level as an entry-level
encouragement. The above would apply only at Divisional/Tour/National (maybe
Pro, but Pro would have its own take on the idea).
Good idea? Really dumb one? Needs work?
--Rocky
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