Rules

[sliver043]

Originally Posted by Mike Schwartz

Toby has the solution for Mike's case of 65 cars. My basic idea is to resolve the ladder in a way that there are no bye-runs after the first round. In some fields that means several singles in the first round, while most cars race; in others like 65, there will be, in effect 63 byes in the first round and one actual pairing.

You have to remember that in order to eliminate a 65 car field you are in effect going to need a 128 car ladder with 63 empty slots in it. Current practice is to manipulate the ladder into multiple "full pods" and "empty pods" to compensate for the scheduled odd car byes. If you look at the ladders at NHRA.com, you'll see that many ladders set up this way are 1/4 empty space. My plan takes all the mid-race empty pairings and competition byes and moves them to the first round.

Current format:
65>33>17>09>5>3>2
- - - Six rounds of eliminations to reach final. Seven wins needed for title.
- - - 9.2% (6/65) of starters have shot at title with only six wins needed

Proposed format:
65>64>32>16>8>4>2
- - - Six rounds of eliminations to reach final. Seven wins needed for title.
- - - 96.9% (63/65) of starters have shot at title with only six wins needed.

The first page of the NHRA rule book.. THE BASICS OF DRAG RACING What is a drag race? ( The sport of drag racing is an acceleration contest between TWO vehicles racing from a standing start over a straight quarter - or eighth- mile course. A drag racing event is made up of a series of individual TWO -vehicle races called eliminations,) This is right from the front of my NHRA rule book. Page 6.. That is our money they are keeping by not paying out the odd check..Any ladder can be made to end up with even car counts at the end of the race. Add up the cash per class , per event and wow. If it is a "posted" payout, where is it? Where does it go? Who gets to keep it? Can i have it?....This is something i feel needs to be addressed with both the NHRA and the track owners? just my 2 cents