Good news, bad news, good news

[Daytona]

Yesterday was a mixed bag of sorts at the final Points race of the season at RP. Came out of it with mixed emotions.

GOOD NEWS - Kenny got to the 2nd round and lost with a -.007 red light. Why is this good? He normally loses with a .1xx green. He finally is staging and launching the car better for better reaction times. It's also the 2nd time this year Kenny's gone more rounds than me.

BAD NEWS - I lost 1st round and that screwed me out of season-ending bonus money. My class pays bonus out to the top 5 spots and my 1st round out dropped me to 6th. It also almost dropped me to 7th as some caught up to me in points and tied me and could have passed me had he won 1 more round.

GOOD NEWS - Top 8 in my class receive Track Points Series jackets ("Team RP 2007") so I get one yet again (I've only finished out of Top 8 twice in 15 seasons). I also got an invite to compete as part of Team RP in the NHRA Division 1 Bracket Finals. Our class only take 5 drivers (the # of drivers varies per class) to the Finals and our #3 guy is going to race for Atco so that opened a spot for me. My car number will be the same as my last Finals appearance (65RP) so I don't even have to change the numbers on my car - I'm already set.


Finals are at Maple Grove, PA the last weekend in Sept. Sure wished I had won some money this year to help offset my hotel costs. And I still have to find a cheap hotel near there that isn't already booked.

[Redog]

My goal next year is at least 2.5 points a race, this would get me into the finals with no problem!!

Mitch you closed the season with 21 points, you're getting a jacket and going to teh finals in Maple Grove.

I figure with 11 races and getting 27 to 28 points would make me a hell of a racer, and that's not too far fecthed of an idea too, that's 2nd or 3rd round every day out

[Daytona]

21 sucks for me, actually. Not counting last year's abbreviated season, I've finished each previous year since '99 with at least 25-27 points and as many as 33 back in '03 when I finished 1 point behind Mullaney for the Points Title.

With us having 9 actual net race dates after rainouts, and subtracting 1 point for each date for staging 1st round, I only had 12 round wins in 9 races. That is horrible for me. Yeah, I made the Top 8 and got a jacket and finished 6th, but I averaged only 1.33 round wins per week thanks in large part to 2 first round and 1 second round exit this year.

In '03 I averaged almost 2 round wins per week and one of those weeks I got to the Semis with pneumonia! I should be averaging at least 2 round wins per week nowadays but I haven't. Plus I didn't get into the Final Round once this season. Again omitting last year's truncated season, I have only had 1 other full season in which I didn't at least reach the Finals.

This year's Top 3 averaged better than 2.5 round wins per day (= 3.5 points per day). THAT's where I need to be and should have been this year.

2.5 pts/day's a great goal for you to have. You've come pretty far in the past 2 seasons. But for me, that just isn't good enough. I don't accept me performing subpar.