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September 18, 1998
Handicapped Need Not Apply?
A funny thing happened at New Smyrna Speedway this Saturday between the Run-a-bouts and the TBARA Sprints. The two classes that are the most uncommon:
One is a pure racing machine. The other is a beat up street car.
One has fenders. The others are open wheeled.
One runs on gasoline. The other burns alcohol.
One uses fat 17 inch tires. The other uses treaded street tires.
One was the headline event for night. The other was an "also ran" class for people who race for fun.
Yet, these two car classes that are on totally opposite ends of the short track spectrum had one thing in common. They had the best races Saturday night. 20 run-a-bouts took the green flag. Cars were battling everywhere on the track. Two wide. Three wide. Passes for the lead. The action was great. 18 sprint TBARA sprint cars took the green flag. Cars that were as fast as lightning went bumper to bumper. Passing in the high and low grooves. Passing for the lead. Speed and fury picked up dust like a vacuum.
What helped make these races so good? At first look, it would be the car counts. The other classes running that night only averaged about 10 cars for their features. But there was one other difference. The start. The TBARA sprints use a handicapped starting system based on points. The fast guys start in the pack while the slower guys start up front. At the drop of the green, the fast cars attempt to charge to the front while the slower cars hold on for dear life. The run-a-bouts must use some sort of blind draw for the field. Any driver can start anywhere. Again though, if the faster cars start in the back and slower cars up front, the action will heat up.
For it's other racing classes, New Smyrna uses the pill method of determining the starting lineup for the feature. The winner of the heat race pulls a number (0, 2, 4, or 6) from a hat and that many cars are inverted from the finishing order of the heat race. Faster cars start up at the front and slower cars start in the back.
In my opinion, the Limited Late Model race saw a worst case scenario. Bobby Sears in the #9 started on the pole in the heat race and lead wire-to-wire. He drew the zero pill for the feature meaning he would start on the pole. In the feature, he again lead wire-to-wire. Two races. Two wins. Zero passes for position. Zero passes for the lead. This is not a knock on Bobby Sears. He had the car that was strong enough to blow everybody in the field away.
But for the person in the stands, these kind of races turn into glorified hot laps after a lap or two. With a handicapped starting system, competition and racing action are almost guaranteed. Also, drivers learn more. Drivers in faster cars at the back must learn how to pass. Drivers in slower cars at the front must learn to block and hang on. I think a driver in a slow car learns nothing when the faster cars start in front of him and simply pull away because they are faster.
I know it's not the way things are done in racing in the South, but maybe it's time to increase competition, make our drivers better, and eventually fill the stands by starting feature races using the handicapped method instead of the pill method.
--John Matthews Comment on this story? Post it on the Message Board!
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