Watching the Saturday coverage of Texas Motorplex, if I was there I would have been so bored and falling asleep. When the conditions are such that the field is set Friday night, it makes Saturday qualifying a bit of a yawn fest for me. I have a proprosal for a new qualifying format that I think would make EVERY session full of excitement, so I'm just putting it out into the universe. Only for Mission Food Pros.
The basic concept is 4 cars qualify per session,and ladder is set based on Final Session elapsed times.
Details:
Session One - Quickest 4 cars are locked into the field
Session Two - of the remaining cars unqualified, the quickest 4 of them locked into the field
Session Three - of the remaining cars unqualified, the quickest 4 of them locked into the field
Session Four - of the remaining cars unqualified, the quickest 4 of them locked into the field AND Ladder is set by Final Session elapsed times
if you are a team that doesn't run all the sessions, anyone who is locked in but does not run the final session, they will be slotted at the end of the field in the order of what time qualified them in.
It may be confusing to the casual fan, but the casual fan isn't there to follow qualifying, they just want fast and loud. The hardcore fans would figure this out.
I think it would make EVERY qualifying session interesting. I think having the ladder on the final session times means that you can't anticipate the round one pairings throughout Saturday, only when the last cars of the session cross the finish line.
You wouldn't need to change the format of the sessions, the run order (although I would say the already qualified cars, for example the 8 in Session 3, would go at the back, but not necessary), the 2 Fast 2 Tasty could still operate the same etc.
For Indy, you could qualify over 5 sessions 3+3+3+3+4.
If you lose a session on Friday, you could do 5+5+6.
I think there are multiple ways you could handle a rainout, and if it's a one session race it would revert to the regular method.
Qualifying points could be based on WHEN you qualified not where
Book your spot in Q1 - i's the 8-7-6-5 portion of qualifying points
Get in during Session 2 - it's the 4-4-3-3 portion of qualifying points
Session 3? all the 2 points,
and wait until the last, just the 1 point.
Anyway, I came up with this concept when I was at the races on a Saturday and starting to feel exhausted from a long Friday and waking up super early on Saturday to watch some Lucas Oil Sportsman racing. This, to me, wuld make every session exciting ("who's getting in on this session?") and using the final session times for the ladder I think would make for some WILD round one pairings.
Anyway, just putting it out into the universe and maybe somebody important will like it.
The basic concept is 4 cars qualify per session,and ladder is set based on Final Session elapsed times.
Details:
Session One - Quickest 4 cars are locked into the field
Session Two - of the remaining cars unqualified, the quickest 4 of them locked into the field
Session Three - of the remaining cars unqualified, the quickest 4 of them locked into the field
Session Four - of the remaining cars unqualified, the quickest 4 of them locked into the field AND Ladder is set by Final Session elapsed times
if you are a team that doesn't run all the sessions, anyone who is locked in but does not run the final session, they will be slotted at the end of the field in the order of what time qualified them in.
It may be confusing to the casual fan, but the casual fan isn't there to follow qualifying, they just want fast and loud. The hardcore fans would figure this out.
I think it would make EVERY qualifying session interesting. I think having the ladder on the final session times means that you can't anticipate the round one pairings throughout Saturday, only when the last cars of the session cross the finish line.
You wouldn't need to change the format of the sessions, the run order (although I would say the already qualified cars, for example the 8 in Session 3, would go at the back, but not necessary), the 2 Fast 2 Tasty could still operate the same etc.
For Indy, you could qualify over 5 sessions 3+3+3+3+4.
If you lose a session on Friday, you could do 5+5+6.
I think there are multiple ways you could handle a rainout, and if it's a one session race it would revert to the regular method.
Qualifying points could be based on WHEN you qualified not where
Book your spot in Q1 - i's the 8-7-6-5 portion of qualifying points
Get in during Session 2 - it's the 4-4-3-3 portion of qualifying points
Session 3? all the 2 points,
and wait until the last, just the 1 point.
Anyway, I came up with this concept when I was at the races on a Saturday and starting to feel exhausted from a long Friday and waking up super early on Saturday to watch some Lucas Oil Sportsman racing. This, to me, wuld make every session exciting ("who's getting in on this session?") and using the final session times for the ladder I think would make for some WILD round one pairings.
Anyway, just putting it out into the universe and maybe somebody important will like it.
