Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris1529
How about random first round pairings to get rid of the ladder games?
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Been there, done that. It was the second worst format ever implemented in Stock Eliminator (second to "index dials with no break-out" racing).
In some ways, "random" pairings must have been comical to watch from a bird's-eye view. The over-the-record or lame-*** drivers usually found that any time they left their pit spot for a round of eliminations they would be leading the cherry-pickers all the way to the staging lanes like a pack of neighborhood dogs-in-heat on a summer afternoon. In today's world, the Dan Fletchers, Lang Brothers, and Joe Santangelos (no offense intended, guys) would be keeping an eagle eye on the lame ducks in the field and following them to the staging lanes in a string. In fact, they would probably get together ahead of time and make sure that they divided up the pigeons for a tasty first round snack. When I started racing Stock I thought it was cool that the bad-boys like Val Hedworth, Joe Allread, Bob Lambeck, Willard Wright, and Dave Kempton (further apologies to the living) were so willing to pit close to me and the other rooks. Later on, I realized that every time I started my car, one of them was in my rear view mirror and if I headed to the staging lanes, they surrounded me like wolves circling to pounce on a wounded deer.
In retrospect, it probably wasn't all that bad because it chased the panty-waists and ribbon-clerks out of the sport very quickly. You either improved your combination and skills or got out of Stock altogether.
Many of the practices we have today had their origin in problems that plagued the sport many years ago. I'm still around to tell you that, if you mess with some of those fixes, you may not like some of the outcomes.
c