> I think one of Tyson's points is that the system we use should be able to
> handle co-drivers seamlessly, not lump them into the "sh*t" happening
> category. After all, we already know we're gonna have codrivers...
I predict that when you get into it, it will prove much more seamless than
it may appear just now.
Yes, we know we're gonna have co-drivers, but we don't know who, what cars,
how many, and where they will slot into the grid, until virtually the last
minute. Thus what appears at this moment (which is not yet that last minute)
to be indecision. It is, in fact, merely keeping options open.
I ran three grids (three heats) at one of our Divisionals, and none of the
three operated exactly the same way. One had only a few co-drivers, another
had several. On one the co-drivers were bunched at one end of the grid, on
another spread throughout. On one it worked to send the co-drivers out
first then everyone else in grid order (including second drivers). On
another that didn't work because there were co-driver cars near the end of
the grid which the previous heat did not have -- you also want not to be all
finished except for a couple of co-drivers waiting for five minutes to
elapse.
So all that makes it difficult to predict right now exactly what the grid
order/running order will be. The way the grid for your heat operates will
likely be a bit different from how the one for my heat is run. In a
multi-class grid, you do not even know yet if yours will be the first class
out, last class out, or what. It is much the same reason why, although they
they do not announce what heat you will be in until the end of August even
though they announced which classes will run on which days last spring (and
despite their best guess, they missed quite wide with the Thursday-Friday
group almost 100 cars bigger than the Tuesday-Wednesday group -- which
contributes to situations like one 40-car heat TuWed and one nearly 80-car
heat ThuFri).
Ultimately, each grid pattern will be designed for what best fits that grid.
And as I said somewhere before, first runs are always a bit confusing in
that respect, but then we pretty well figure out the pattern and things
smooth out tremendously. Then, at least when I'm running a grid, if I am
going to change that pattern I make a point to go tell the affected
driver[s] ("You're not going out after that guy, we're going to slot in a
couple reruns here." etc.).
--Rocky
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