Re: chump car broke it off in us
Chump puts on a very good event. Just finished my second race and have almost all positive things to say. This has to be the BEST prize:cost:odds of any racing series on the planet. This weekend they gave out ~$3500 with only 22 cars entered!
Chump both benefits and is hurt by low car turnouts at its races. Super low traffic makes for satisfying open track and very low incident counts. But it also makes you feel a little lonely out there. And it makes me worry about the long term profitability of the series if more cars don't start showing up.
The penalty/BS assessments are my only complaint, as they can drastically affect the outcome. Unlike Lemons where a huge majority of the teams start the race on even footing, almost no one in the chump race is on the same lap at the start. This weekend Kreider Racing started NINE laps ahead of us both days. Granted, we finished more than nine laps behind them, but it was still a bit of a kick in the nuts to start so far behind. The gnome is a frequent contender for sure, but its not like that multi-podiumed pizza delivery mobile contends 9 laps "LESS frequently".
Five of the laps came from the "charity fund raiser" category. This really rubs me the wrong way. Tying the charity donation with something that can significantly alter the outcome of the race just smells funny to me. The teams that are flush with cash or are hyper-competitive are happy to pay for this advantage. Other teams that are just scraping by or don't think they have a prayer at a podium spot are less likely to pay the extra fee. Then you get some underdog team click well and do better than expected, and end up losing to a team that runs less laps but ponied up charity cash. Not saying it happened this weekend, or that a well funded team doesn't deserve to win, etc. Just trying to loosely describe the conflict of interest as I see it. Raising money for charity = good. Running more laps than other teams = good. Awarding a team that runs less laps a higher podium spot because they paid extra money before the race = weird.
Hopefully that last part doesn't come out wrong. Tough to type it clearly.
Gnome money, Gnome problems. (RIP) http://www.facebook.com/MetroGnomeRacing