The ChumpCar World Series: National Chumpionship
Racers are, by definition (and existence), competitive.
Race winner… fastest lap… best engineering… these are just a few of the special, sought-after recognitions that teams compete for at each ChumpCar World Series event. In many cases, the competitions continue both on and off the track – such as, best custom BBQ, best theme costume, best event t-shirt or, even, best hotel parking spot with your 40’ trailer.
And the competition doesn’t always involve awards for being “the best.” Some ChumpCar awards are equally as sought-after, yet infamous in their notoriety – the Maytag “Spin Cycle” Award; The Most Likely Not To Succeed (or Finish) Award; The Ugliest Car On The Trailer Award; and, the always (un)popular “What The Hell Were You Thinking?” Award, an award usually presented for some self-inflicted, catastrophic, bone-headed-move-of-the-race.
Regardless of the accolades, praise, titles and trophies that may be thrown onto the junk-heap of awards presented over the course of any ChumpCar season, the ChumpStaff realized that we still needed… a National Chumpion. You know, a Chump’s Chump! A ChumpCar team that we can all look down to for 12 months. A team who we can immortalize by hanging their picture on the ChumpCar Wall of Shame.
However, we faced a real dilemma when we tried to determine who could be… who should be, a National Chumpion. Perhaps it should be the team whose car blew-up in the tech line, never to turn a lap on the track? Naw… too easy… and we’ve had too many teams like that. How about a team that rebuilt their car from the roof down (or ground up) while everyone else was out racing? Again, we’d have too many potential candidates.
So, instead, we came up with the mother-of-all-ideas… instead, we came up with the mother-of-all-races! A race that would truly define a Chumpion! A race that would separate the Chumps from the chaff! A race that would prove Darwinism lives! A race that would wear down even the most ardent of gear-heads…
… a 25-hour & 30 minute, multi-configuration, multi-directional race!
Why 25 hours and 30 minutes? That’s because ChumpCar already has a 25 hour / 25 minute / 25 second race (the world’s longest sports car endurance race) and we had to make this event just a little longer! That is… by 4 minutes and 35 seconds!
After defining the format, we easily knew where we should hold such an auspicious, world-record setting event… a track where the Chumps never got bored because the fast lap times were under 1 minute; where the Chumps never knew which line to take or they never figured out the braking zones; and, where they really enjoyed the summer thunder showers that became the great race equalizer…
IOWA SPEEDWAY!
Yes! Iowa Speedway! A challenging 7/8-mile oval track! An awesome 1.2-mile road course! Run it clockwise! Run it counter-clockwise! Race during the day! Race at night! Race in sun or rain! Lightning? No big deal!
Okay, format set… track chosen… but, who gets to come? Well, that’s easy – we’ll invite ALL the podium finishers from every ChumpCar World Series event in 2010… and, maybe, a few others that the ChumpStaff feels deserve an invitation… just because they impressed us so much (or, made us laugh so hard!).
And, ChumpCar is willing to help teams that have more than a 250-mile tow from the registered address of the Team Captain to Iowa Speedway (Newton, IA). If a team lives between 250-500 miles from the event, their entry fee is discounted $150 – money that can be applied to off-set towing and travel costs. If the Team Captain’s address is 500-750 miles from Iowa Speedway, the team can apply a $250 discount to their entry fee. For teams 750-1,000 miles away, a $350 discount will easily purchase 100 gallons of fuel… and for teams that must travel further than 1,000 miles, a $500 discount should help off-set travel costs.
The bottom-line is that ChumpCar wants to help ALL the invited teams attend this special event.
As identified in Section 1.8 of ChumpCar’s Basic Competition Rules (BCR), the cut-off period for an invitation to any annual National Chumpionship event is 30 June of that year. So, any team that won a podium finish in 2010, and/or will place a podium finish up until 30 June 2011, can qualify for an invitation to the 2011 National Chumpionship. In addition, the ChumpStaff has the ability to choose up to 2 teams per event as a “ChumpCar Choice Car,” otherwise known as a “C4” car. (You know… C4… highly explosive!) A team that earns a podium finish after 30 June 2011 (and before 30 June 2012) will be invited to the 2012 National Chumpionship.
The tentative event schedule for the National Chumpionship is as follows:
Friday, 2 September 2011
· Gates open: 7:00am
· Tech Inspection: 10:00am - 3:00pm
· Open-track testing: 12:00noon – 6:00pm ($200 per car/4 drivers; $50 per additional driver)
Saturday, 3 September 2011
· Race 1: 3-hour road race (10:00am - 1:00pm). At 2:00pm the track goes yellow and the pits are closed while the track is reconfigured for oval racing. All cars on-track follow a pace car. Once reconfiguration is complete, the track goes green and racing continues. All laps completed under yellow count towards cumulative race total.
· Race 2: 5-hour oval race (1:00pm - 6:00pm). At 6:00pm, track goes yellow, pit lane closed, pace car is out, and the track is reconfigured back to road course.
· Race 3: 5-hour road race (6:00pm - 11:00pm)
Checker for Saturday's sessions issued at 11:00pm. Teams can work on their cars Saturday night, as long as they want, until the call for pre-grid Sunday morning.
Sunday, 4 September 2011
· Race 4: 3-hour oval race (9:00am - 12:00pm). At 2:00pm the track goes yellow, pace car dispatched, pit lane is closed and the track is reconfigured for road racing. Once reconfiguration is complete, the track goes green and racing continues. All laps completed under yellow count towards cumulative total.
· Race 5: 7-hour road race (12:00pm - 7:00pm). At 7:00pm, track goes yellow, pace car is out, and the track is reconfigured back to an oval course.
· Race 3: 2.5-hour oval race (7:00pm – 9:30pm) to the checker.
There will NOT be any safety breaks or interruptions in any of the race segments. This is, after all, the MOTHER-OF-ALL-RACES!
After the checker, ChumpCar will host a BBQ and awards ceremony to salute the all the participants -- win, lose or DNF.
On Monday (Labor Day – 5 September) invited Chumps can pack out and drive home without the rush. (Your team can all argue about that last pit stop while driving home… or compare fast-lap stories. Just drive home safely!)
To further make the National Chumpionship something special, we’re designating this event as one of our very special Chumpstock events! That’s right – 3 days of peace and racing – just like that other “stock” event they had back in 1969.
What that means is that on Saturday night, while the race is on-going, we’re going to throw-in 4 or 5 live bands, some great food, a local brew or two, and a few thousand spectators. The ChumpStaff thinks that we might just have all the ingredients for a great party… while watching a great race!
An invitation to the National Chumpionship event does NOT mean that your car is 100%, absolutely legal. Au contraire, mon ami! No… it just means that you get to come and go through tech, one more time… and we get to dish-out the same abuse, one more time… and you’ll get some penalty laps, one more time… and we get to listen to you Chumps complain, one more time. However, this time, your complaints can be issued with a “Chumpionship” amount of arm waving and screaming.
The National Chumpion will be determined by the total cumulative laps completed over both days, all sessions.
Trophies shall be awarded to the top 10 positions! And, these will be very special trophies! Making this an even crazier race is the fact that a very generous purse will be paid… to cars finishing in 11th through 20th position! (So, there you are, running in 9th place with 5 laps to go! Want a Chumpionship trophy… or some cash? Decisions, decisions, decisions!) Finally, we’ll be presenting special contingency awards to teams that really stand out… for good or bad!
As of 1 January 2011, here's a link to the teams (including C4 teams) that have achieved an invitation to the 2011 National Chumpionship: National Chumpionship List
So, grab your calendar and set a few days aside... and start planning now! It's going to be a GREAT event!
All the best -
The Chief Chump
