*The Dilema*
Given the dilemma of attending a race in England at Brands Hatch (a wonderful racing venue)and going to a FCR race in some place I have never heard about - as a real example, Lake Elsinore, and with a limited amount of money to spend on travel- if I were a points guy- I'd have to blow off Brands Hatch.
*Would this promote Global skating?*
Not very likely- it would likely make California's "vacuum" stronger and competing expensive for non Californians. Remember this is "Poor Man's Formula One". Waiving the entry fees for non Californians would help a little, but not enough and certainly not desireable for the promoters.
*A possible solution.*
So what if we went for an extremely equal model where points are awarded Equally for Each major skating area? We could break up the skating areas by Driving time to try and minimize the amount of flights purchased so that skaters would not feel forced to buy airline tickets if they could not afford to do so. Skaters could attend any contest they wanted to and still get points.
*Regions could be broken down according to drive times-8 hrs. Max.*
West coast (San Luis Obispo- San Diego 8 hours driving time), East Coast North (NH- Washington DC 8 Hours driving time), East Coast South (Florida- the Carolinas 11 hours ), I'd need some ideas on Europe there could be a similar break of regions based on 8 hours drive time.
Here's what I think would happen. The Bulk of California's TOP tier of skaters (Top
would likely still MOSTLY only compete in California in NON BANKED SLALOM events. Yes I realize Smith came over for a race in DC, Dunn and John O for Dave Gales (Coleman, Gorman?),and Bruce Brewington for the July 4th race. The only California Competitor we consistently see coming to the East Coast for street slalom is Chris Chaput. If points were equal we might see some Second tier Californians (and other non Californian racers not in the top tier) feel tempted to come East or Go to Europe to try and pick up some "extra points" to get on better footing with the top tier Californians. You might see a funny scramble like this occurring near the end of the season- or even during the middle. Also you might see a top tier Californian skater coming to compete because he was not able to attend all the West coast dates and fell behind due to injury/family. You might also see a top tier Californian try to firm up his lead by attempting to go to all the events (And how nice would it be for everyone to be able to see fast non local racers go through the cones at your local venue?)
You might see more fast racers traveling everywhere. You might see no "Majors" race going off without at least 5 fast non locals in attendance (who all think they might win).
*Another important point- how many races?*
Let's say that we were to select 4 races for each geographical region. 2 could be "Majors" and 2 could be "minors". There could be other racing perhaps even for smaller points- this would help reduce ties.
Promoters should try to work together to schedule at least two races in each region on back to back weekends. With at least (1) of the (2) back to back races being a "Major" race. Major races are worth more than Minors- but if someone really wanted to draw people for points they could schedule two Majors back to back. Only 2 majors races and two minors races per region.
*Why we should promote travel.*
It encourages non locals to compete. (not only Californians)
The rest of the World has given credibility to California's World Championships by attending The World Championships in California (otherwise it would have looked like a locals race). How about giving Californians (and others) some good incentive to give credibility to other events outside of California? I know how hard it is to get Californians out of California but we are talking about a sport done best in 65-75 degree weather- and we do have some of that everywhere we skate.
In the 1970's when a good Florida skater like Alan Gelfand went North to drop in at a local park- the locals appreciated it "Did you hear Gelfand was here last week?" It lent credibility to their skating and helped stoke local skating.
Last years Points system made the FCR series look more like Western Conference- it also resulted in some odd bracketing as everyone did not have to qualify on the same course. We saw some people eliminated who should have not had to face hard competition until later rounds, we saw some people who would have been better off not pre-qualifying as they were seeded much to their disadvantage. I'm not saying this system would completely eliminate this- but I do feel it would promote travel to places other than California and grow the competitor base.
*Other Concerns.*
Knowing that putting on a local race would not be weighted as heavily as a FCR race gave less incentive for local promoters to be driven to throw a race on the same date or near a FCR date. With points being equal we might see more racing outside of California.
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*Possible races- Majors/Minors. Europe*
In the Western Europe Driving division We might see Brands Hatch and the Trocadero (Thanks to the Chunnel) as being 2 majors. And we might see the Flatland UK race and another race as the 2 minors.
Other possibilities- in Switzerland we would see the Grueningen race and perhaps a German race as the two Majors. And two other smaller races as Minors.
*Possible races- Majors/Minors. East Coast North*
On the East Coast North we might see 'Da Farm 3 and a Central Park race as the Majors. And perhaps a New Jersey, NY, CT, VT,NH races as the two minors. (Boston to Florida non stop is 24 hours- way too large to be made a single region.
*Possible races- Majors/Minors. East Coast South*
On the East Coast South- we would see a Race in Florida as a Major and perhaps a Mississippi/Missouri race. Or Dave Gales race, with some other events like Georgia as a minor or perhaps a Miami South Beach flatland race to kick off the racing early season or late season.
*Possible races- Majors/Minors. Colorado/Oregon/Washington* (Colorado being the Ski/snowboard state perhaps deserves its own region)
Colorado would have the Breckenridge race as a Major and perhaps another race could be scheduled in Denver or another ski town like Aspen or Vail or Seattle or Portland. In terms of Travel distance and available cheap off season airfares and hotels Colorado would be a good location for a World Championship mid season when the skiers and snowboarders are looking for this type of activity.
*Why back to back contests?*
Doing the back to back races works in concert with the good weather window as well as reducing air tickets.
*Airports*
Lets try to make the closest airports major airports ones that are cheaper and have more scheduling options- a really good idea for the Majors contests. Minors could be in the middle of no where- but close enough in driving to the Major contest scheduled a week away- preferably the Minors contest would be a Saturday only affair to allow travel time back to the original airport.
Besides it lets the non local meet the locals and stay at locals houses and gives a week of practice with a non local, fosters understanding y'know? Just ask Martin Drayton (A charter member of the International Slalomer Exchange Program)- pronounced EYE-Slept ov'r.
*When to schedule racing- according to the weather*
On the Northern East Coast you would expect to see the middle of the season racing in July and August. ME, NH, VT.
Racing in NY, NJ, CT in Late May- June nothing during the hottest months- then more racing later in Early September.
In the Mid Atlantic States you would see racing in late April - late May and no Major races (minors Okay) until October- Early November.
In Florida we would see racing in Late March- Early May Nothing in the summer months or until after hurricane Season when it is cooler.
It would give East Coasters incentive to go to Florida to race when it was too cold to race up North and incentive for the Floridians and DC crew to escape the oppressive humidity of the summer and race North. I bet the wives would even like it. (Wish I could graph this- it would look a lot better).
A similar thing could happen in California where the Northern areas have their racing in the Summer months and the Southern areas have their racing in the spring and fall.
*WHY EQUAL POINTS?*
It is a pretty bold move- but we should also look to where there has growth in Slalom sales and try to promote competition in these new growth areas as much as possible. Equal points would help to do that by increasing participation on a local level by adding incentive for non locals to compete. Nothing else helps any skate scene more than getting your ass kicked by a non local. (just ask the Locals at Kona or the Redbull NYC event).
Equal Points would get me to go to places like Missouri and give California and New Hampshire wives an excuse to go to Paris- where there is no surf.
This Equal point system would not order all skaters accurately according to their ability level. (But neither has any other points system that we have used).
But it might make competing more enjoyable and perhaps more convenient/less expensive for all of us. IMHO it would help slalom on the local level and generate more slalom sales and participants in the long run.
*Other Benefits*
It would also lighten the load on promoters who are working the hardest (Jack, Don, John, Gary, Brian Parsons, GBJ etc..). It would encourage other promoters who ahve thrown "minors races" to concentrate their efforts on making a good "major" race knowing that there was a likelihood that more skaters than just locals would attend.
*What about ordering the skaters according to ability level?*
From a data base standpoint it is probably easier to do that at the end of the season than to attempt to order the skaters as we go. This model would not help to do this- a statistical array using matrices would probably do best- and the more info we have the more accurate the results.
*What are the points good for?*
A points trophy in Gary's case- or If I were doing this- a trip to The Playboy mansion
*How about Qualifying for the Worlds?*
For the most fair racing every racer must qualify on the same course. The points system might give us a "bubble" of say 50-60 racers who compete for the top 32 spots. The greater bulk of which, still, will be from California. To try and equalize a bit for this we could have California host 3 Majors and 3 Minors if we were to deviate from being totally equal points recognizing the Califiornians for having a large talent pool and not forcing those who can not afford to travel to travel. This would give Californians 50% more points than other regions.
Just tossing this out- go ahead guys tear it up. I'm just a skater like anyone else here making a suggestion and I am sure there are flaws in it. Be objective- Save the good pieces. Would it improve competitions outside of California?
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: John Gilmour on 2003-03-13 14:42 ]</font>
