[thomas sheehan]

I'm not sure Bo.

Before we ran ladders at NHRA points meets (several years back), they always ran random pairings at the divisional points meets. Someone in the front of the lanes was pulled over to the side and waited to see if there was going to be an odd number of cars. That person got the bye if odd number showed up, Otherwise he ran last car that showed up.
That person was randomly selected.
This was the same way class runoffs were handled for years, before someone decided to use the ladder.