Proposed rule change: Gridding by points (revisited)

[hernan52]

Unless I'm reading Dave's proposal incorrectly, he is maintaining a priority for pre-entry riders.  Therefore the existing incentive to register early remains.The "layer" he adds applies for those who pre-entered by gridding them by points.

I don't have hard data to back my opinion but I trust that CCS best customers (the racers who race the most) will benefit from it.

In my opinion, gridding by Championship points works better tha PI because it rewards the riders who race more often (which, I assume, is what CCS wants to encourage).
Example: I'm only planning to race twice next year.  I register early.  I secured a first row position against racers who will spend ten times what I will spend during the season.
The idea is to give your best customers (those who race more) the best possible service.  This is a very normal business practice used in the airline and hospitality industries (preferred customer programs).
Yes, cash flow is VERY important.  There are also additional ways for CCS to encourage early payments such as tiered prices even for pre-registration (the earliest, the cheaper) and "bulk" discounts but only for "early birds".
Too complex to describe in detail in this message but not difficult to achieve with current commercially available software.

As for the safety factor, I don't have data on this.  Again, my gut feeling tells me that many of the first lap close calls are due to racers passing slower racers gridded ahead of them. (If not, let the experts start in the second wave...  )
Does Dave's recommendation eliminates this?  Certainly not.  But it clearly improves the current situation.

As someone said,  Not perfect.  Many issues remain.  But, in my opinion it's better than the current system.

Hernan

[ahastings]

ive been submitting this proposal to ccs for the past several years. I believe the gridding by preentry is nothing more then a financial issue to get more money to CCS sooner. I dont think it will affect the turnout one way or another, but it is definitely safer to grid by points. the faster riders are also generally the more aggressive into turn one. So when you have guys on the front row that are 5-10 seconds off the pace it creates some hairy situations at the starts

[skiandclimb]

I am pretty sure CCS/SW already grids by points.....someone correct me if I am wrong.

[daviid]

The flaw with that is if your loyal customer finishes say 15th in 7 races, he scores 70 points, while a "contingency hunter" only races  and wins twice has the same 70 points, who deserves to rewarded? The loyal customer or the contingency hunter? Grids by order of entry gives all riders the opportunity to start towards the front.

How about basing a tie off of performance index?

[hernan52]

Three comments:

1. I like David's idea to solve "equal points" situation: use the PI.
2. I agree with Dave Rosno's response to this point above.
3. It is up to CCS to decide who is your "core" customer that you want to reward.
Riders with Championship points have one thing in common:  They show up on a consistent basis.  In all tracks and in all weather conditions.  Most of them do pre-register.  For me, as a business person, the choice between my loyal customer and the eventual contingency rider is a no brainer.

Hernan

PS: about safety (again).  Do we REALLY believe that it makes no difference to grid pre-entered riders by points?
I could understand the argument that because it doesn't solve all issues, it's not worth the effort...... but, no difference?
I must have been riding in a parallel universe.

[Team Spalding]

So good points there Hernan.

[badmonkey]

With the grids as small as they are nowadays  why are you so concerned about where you are on the grid. Why not figure out a way to get more bikes out there. That seems to me like the more important problem.

[Super Dave]

With the grids as small as they are nowadays  why are you so concerned about where you are on the grid. Why not figure out a way to get more bikes out there. That seems to me like the more important problem.

Why should that be an individual rider issue?  The racer works hard enough to get to the race.  Why shouldn't current and future racers be rewarded for their patronage?  That is a way to get more bikes out there that the racing organization could undertake on its own.

[ahastings]

maybe a better gridding procedure will get more people out there.

[badmonkey]

Missing the point SD.  Turnout is down and the grids are small as crap. If you cant get a good start go to your local dragstrip and practice. 

[ahastings]

grids arent small as crap in all classes, its a different game in the middleweight and heavyweight stuff then the lightweight

[Super Dave]

Missing the point SD.  Turnout is down and the grids are small as crap. If you cant get a good start go to your local dragstrip and practice. 

Ok, then, why not grid alphabetically...