For the most part, PASS has made all the right moves this off-season.Responding to criticism that it had stretched too far from its northern New England roots, the PASS North Series centered its 2008 schedule around Wiscasset Raceway and the DNK 250 there this summer. Helping fill the void left in Super Late Model racing down south after NASCAR stepped out, the PASS South Series has stepped up with more races and new venues. Bridging the gap between the North and the South, PASS president Tom Mayberry announced the creation of a PASS National Championship.
But there's just one little problem. It's really not a national championship at all. One person joked with me the other day that it really ought to be called the "PASS Southern National Championship."
In essence, that's what it is.
3 of the 4 races in the mini-series are being held in the south, starting with next Saturday's Easter Bunny 150 at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway. The only series race in these parts is the PASS 300 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in late September.
Further aiding southern teams' quest for the championship within a championship is the provision saying that teams need only submit their best 3 finishes toward that national title.
In the end, winning that championship will sound all nicey-nice and look good on an aspiring young racer's would-be NASCAR resume, but it's really not a national championship of any kind at all.
Understand this: there is great, great difficulty in trying to lure southern-based race teams to compete in the north. It's long been accepted that they simply won't race in unfamiliar territory, that they abhor any kind of racing where time trials are meaningless and restarts are double-file. I get that.
Still, an even split of races (2 in the south, 2 in the north) would help to make this more of a true "national" championship, though even then it's not necessarily "national" in every respect. But it would be "national" in terms of PASS' reach. And that, ultimately, is what it's all about.
With the schedule as it's currently constructed, simply making all 4 races mandatory for eligibility would go a long way toward righting the situation. We're not asking teams to drive to 10 or even 6 extra races -- it's just 4 races. And since we're talking about the southern teams here (and tailoring the national championship to encourage their participation), it's not a stretch to make one of the 2 most significant PASS North races on the slate an obligation.
If they want to be "national" champs, after all, they ought to run at least one race out of their comfort zone, no?
9 comments:
You are 100% correct TB....
It's a joke to proclaim any southern team a National champion when they don't even have to compete in the North in order to clain the title....
This format is totally unfair to the northern teams...I'm surprised there is any northern interest at all in going south to these races when the deck is so heavily stacked in favor of the southern teams....JMO
I agree this has been a pretty good off season for PASS (after all they have managed to shut me up this winter).
Titles are what they are; I don't get too hung up on them or take them very seriously anymore as a result of “hyperbole overload” by under-trained & under-skilled practitioners (for all the talk about the death of local race programs, the lost art of short track “promotion” is too rarely mentioned.
I don’t think it would make a big difference in who is entering the races if two of the events were held in Maine instead of one (or 2 events were held in NC/SC instead of three). I think the same 3 – 4 teams from the North would run the series regardless of how the schedule was made up. The cars are the same, the race procedures (for the most part) are the same, and the officials are pretty much the same. Only difference is that the Northern teams have to travel a bit more – big deal. If they wanted to chase the PASS South title they would be in the same boat. Going south three times instead of two isn’t going to discourage any Northern teams who are serious about chasing that title.
Another thing to consider (assuming this “National Series” has a point fund), I don’t believe the current PASS South series has a point fund, but PASS North does (how “fair” is that?). Shouldn’t the teams who support PASS South get some sort of point fund too? I think it’s time to stop getting hung on “their title is bigger than ours”. For all I know the “smaller” title pays more.
Purse in the South Series is larger to compesate for no point money. Sort of like racing at Oxford no point money worth racing for.
And, irony being what it is, an even smaller title pays more than the PASS North Series title.
Wiscasset Raceway will pay its track champion 10 grand this season (versus 7,500 for PASS North)...
Although, Andy, I don't think it's about northern teams having to travel more or less -- it's about southern teams not having to travel at all.
TB
True enough.
I guess if we were talking about a situation where most of the races are being held at tracks where the southern drivers have a big edge in experience, then I'd have a bigger issue with this, but looking at the entry list for Hickory, I see very few (if any) southern drivers with as much, or more experience there than the Rowes and Cassius Clark.
I think it’s more unfair for the northern fans because they will only get to see one “National” event that likely will have very few southern teams.
I think a better deal would have been to make the DNK 250 a national event and allow the southern teams to pick either that race or Beech Ridge as the one northern race they would have to run if they wanted to chase the title.
I do think you’re spot-on about the teams down south unwillingness to travel (unlike a few decades ago when southern invaders were regulars at big northern events).
What incentive do the southern teams have to travel north? We all know racers don't race for the money and none of the big northern races are as prestigous as they once we're.
Baseball has the World Series- it's only played in North America.
GO YANKEES.
Look at the entry list for the first race and it looks pretty national to me. Nice mix of drivers so far.
We'll see if the "nice mix" finds its way to Beech Ridge!
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