History has shown that when a track has a hard time
maintaining a respectable car count in a division over a couple of years, that
division is eventually dropped. Not so with the Four Cylinders as several
tracks continue to run the class with as few as five, four, three or even in a
couple of recent instances just two cars showing up to compete. Why a track
promoter would continue to run the class with these types of numbers boggles my
mind. I have had a couple promoters tell me that “they pay for themselves”, but
do they really? And even if they do, what effect is it having on your race fans
who don’t care to watch a three car “race” where the competitors are spread out
all over the track? Don’t get me wrong Four Cylinder drivers and fans, I would
feel the same way about any other division that had the same car counts after
two or more years, but there aren’t any because they get dropped.
It may be trivial to everybody else, but to me the tracks
that continue to race with low car counts skews the All Iowa Points enough that
drivers who race at those low car count tracks are ranked significantly higher
than those who actually race, and finish in the top five, against a good field
of cars each week. For example, at one of those three car races the winner gets
the five points, the runner-up gets four and the last place car, no matter how
fast or how slow, collects three points. In comparison, at a track that draws,
for example, eighteen cars, the driver who finishes fourth and is likely a very
competitive car only gets two points, one less than the straggler at the low
car count track. I have waited for a couple of years now for track promoters to
resolve this situation themselves by either doing what was needed to grow the
car count, or to drop the division, but that has not happened, So instead, for
this division only beginning in 2014, I am making a change in how the points
will be awarded based upon the car count.
In events where there are only two cars, yes this has
happened on a couple of occasions this year, I will continue to do what I have
been doing and will not award any points to either driver. Two cars is not a
race, it is an exhibition. In events
where there are three to five cars the winner will receive one point. In events
where there are six to nine cars the winner will receive three points, second
will get two and the third-place driver will be awarded one point. And in
events where there are ten or more cars the full standard All Iowa Points five-point
pay scale will be in effect.
This will not help myself, or any other fans who are at the
tracks watching three or four car feature fields, but at least it will relieve
my own frustration when it comes to tracking the point standings.
I had originally planned to catch up with the Corn Belt
Clash tonight (Wednesday) at the Cedar County Raceway in Tipton, but I now have
another commitment. It is back to Sprint Car racing for me again this weekend
as the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders go to the Bloomfield
Speedway this Friday night where I am excited to see the turnaround that
second-year promoter Chris Eggers has been able to accomplish. Then on Saturday
night the Invaders run the annual “Night of the Twins” at 34 Raceway near
Burlington with two feature events for the Sprint Cars, plus UMP Late Models ,
Mod Lites and Four Cylinders (typically more than twenty of them here).
Hope to see you on the Back Stretch!
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