The official DragInsights Power Rankings thread

[Dan Bennett]

I'm getting ready to dive into a foxhole, but my opinion is that some people are not understanding what the reports are about.

Not the best analogy, but I've never seen any racer be offended by being left off the Tricky Tipster list. That was simply one person's (who changed over time) gut feeling considering performance levels, recent wins, and driving ability. The list here simply takes that from a gut feeling to a more specific analysis.

I may be leaving some things out, but what gets you on the list is a number of things: recent reaction times, ability to run under the index, past success at a given track, ability to drive the stripe, and performance in eliminations so far this year.

If you're being honest, those are the same things most racers would consider as they dial their car and plan their race.

Being able to put numbers on things is much more accurate than gut feelings. In the days before 60' clocks, you'd hear about one car hooking better than the other. But when we got numbers, sometimes it was a case of a slower 60 but a better reaction.

So they're looking at a lot of cold hard facts. And putting a rating on who is doing a better job. No, it is not 100% accurate since all of us have seen those occasions where the "impossible" or unlikely happens.

It's an argument for another day, but those that think statistical analysis is not needed in drag racing probably should yank the data systems out of their cars and ask the track operator to shut off the clocks and just leave the win light.

[jmcarter]

I’m in the hole with you Dan. Know Alicia and Rusty (RIP) were formulating a plan to roll out this tool years ago and kudos to her for providing this resource. Don’t know the algorithm and while some anomalies such as Keith’s omission will no doubt be corrected by her in the near term it would behoove folks to use the data points provided to augment your strategy. Just looking at how analytics has changed baseball is a perfect example of winners using every tool available.

[Alicia]

Hi guys! Thanks for all the feedback. Couple things:

1. Keith - yes, I completely messed up and posted a non-current list. Mea culpa, I am literally the WORST with details. Bobby has to babysit me constantly. You're the man.
2. In no way do we believe anyone should ever pack up and leave a race, or take any of this too seriously. The Power Rankings are my way of getting racers to think about racing a different way, maybe take an analytical view if it's of interest, and if not, that's ok too! Sure, on any given Sunday, anyone can win, and that's the beauty of the sport. And I love your ideas about how we make this information more useful (and fun) to look at and use.

Appreciate you all very much - happy racing!
Alicia

[Keith 944]

I was first car in line and I don’t think they needed the stats to realize what was going on,
the first three cars switched lanes to get in behind me instead of beside me lol

[Alicia]

Corrected rankings...sounds like the word is out

Super Street
Keith Mayers - Power Factor 55.6870, Win Probability 18.93%
Brian Sawyer - Power Factor 55.1696, Win Probability 18.76%
John Olson - Power Factor 30.7706, Win Probability 10.46%
Raymond Knight - Power Factor 24.2121, Win Probability 8.23%
Paul Lorenti - Power Factor 24.1937, Win Probability 8.23%
Jason Mazzotta - Power Factor 21.0528, Win Probability 7.16%
John Harper - Power Factor 18.9976, Win Probability 6.46%
Robert Lohnes - Power Factor 14.7155, Win Probability 5.00%
Kelly Kundratic - Power Factor 6.3877, Win Probability 2.17%
Lou Avolio - Power Factor 5.4381, Win Probability 1.85%
Field Win Probability 12.75%