[montoya1]

The Nascar chase has been tweaked several times over the years, and it has been somewhat lost in all the changes that they also tweaked the wins incentive, which for many was the real problem.

In EAHORC terms the guys doing the winning lead the Cup standings, so we don't have the same issue, there is nothing to fix. Closing up the top six after the have worked hard to get there over half a season goes against the meritocratic way EAHORC works, it is an artifice just as handicaps, claiming races and stuff like that are.

I'm not sure how it gives everyone in the field more to fight for. It may close up the top six artificially, it may not for all of them, depending on the math. The guy who is 7th now can't win the whole thing, but he can say he was the highest non-chase driver, otherwise known as finishing 7th.

If you want to rework the Cup points for the season just finished into your chase scenario, knock up a spreadsheet and post it here, that would be worth seeing.

 

[montoya1]

Nascar felt they had to solve a problem of their own making, the long season and convoluted points meant one had to grind out a championship. With EAHORC that does not apply.

I think were the chase applied to the EAHORC cup it would be less fair. I think Andy P was around 7th place due to missing a round through outside circumstances, under a chase scenario he would not of been able to get back up to 4th with an end to the season that was only bettered by Andy W. If Andy W had missed Edmo, which looked likely at one point, he would not of won the EAHORC cup under a chase scenario, which everyone would agree would of been a bonkers outcome.

For me that is the danger of all these things: The crazy outcome. Everyone accepts the BTCC with all it's artifice and Plato rattle-throwing because it is one big show, but it is not proper racing. In our hobby crash and burn, random grids, handicapping, claiming rules, wet weather calls and stuff like that are all attempts to upset the natural order, and I think they cheapen what we are trying to do.

One sees the phrase 'level playing field' mentioned a lot in our hobby. It always sets my teeth on edge, because it is a level playing field already in so much as you live and you die and in-between you pick which races to enter and have exactly the same chances as everyone else. Quite often levelling the playing field looks more like dragging the quick guys down to everyone else's level, and that's not right.

I'm not a great fan of Gareth's charger table either, at least not the way he sets it out initially. There is an HO club that awards points for finals, but that treats somebody who has a strong evening and one good final worse than somebody who has a weak qualifying and then makes up ground. I am interested in some kind of 'punching above one's weight' tabulation though, and will think about it. Andy ideas on that Gareth?

 

[montoya1]

Exactly, and the same goes for the Lee's chase scenario.

 

[montoya1]

Nobody stayed away, perhaps a couple would of got out of other commitments if a title had been on the line.

I think we need to hear further from the OP, there is a fair amount of rebuttal to his idea, but it's a debate worth continuing, right?