NASCAR:BOB LATFORD -POINTS SYSTEM

By : Mark Aumann Nascar.com
There are benchmarks in the history of NASCAR, stories that seem to have grown more important with the passage of time, almost mythological in a sense. Consider the following:


• Bill France calling a meeting at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach in 1948.
• Lee Petty demolishing a borrowed car in the first Strictly Stock race at Charlotte in 1949.
• The photo finish in the inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959.
• The last-lap crash between Richard Petty and David Pearson coming out of Turn 4 in 1976.
• The post-race fistfight between Cale Yarborough and the Allison brothers in 1979.
And like Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on a trip up Mount Sinai or Archimedes discovering the method of measuring the volume of an irregular object while taking a bath, NASCAR's current point system reportedly came to Bob Latford in a stroke of genius one winter evening at a Daytona Beach bar.
What?
You don't think that somewhere under 24-hour lock and key, there is an actual bar napkin from the Boot Hill Saloon, covered in pencil scribbles -- the Holy Grail of NASCAR's points system? That's not likely.
Boot Hill Saloon ... today“
We tossed around some ideas. What are we trying to do? We were trying to determine the champion of the entire circuit, not just selected races. We talked about what we wanted to do and how we needed to get there.
BOB LATFORDHowever, there is always a kernel of truth at the core of every myth, and according to Phil Holmer -- who worked for NASCAR's public relations office at the time, and was co-owner of the Boot Hill Saloon -- that's the case with the Latford/point system story as well. Some of it actually occurred, but in this case, the myth doesn't necessarily fit all the facts.
"Bob pretty much had the points structure worked out in his mind before he ever got down to Daytona that winter," said Holmer, who retired last year as marketing manager for Goodyear's racing operations. "But it does make for a good story."
In order to realize the actual importance of Latford's breakthrough, one must first understand the evolution of NASCAR's points system up to that point. In an effort to determine a champion, NASCAR officials tried a series of systems, usually with a scale and adding some sort of multiplier. In most cases, it had to do with purse money. Later on, NASCAR added different bonuses for track length, laps completed and races started, which made for incredibly complex calculations.
For instance, the 1949 points system awarded points to the top 10 finishers in each race -- 10 for first, 9 for second, 8 for third, and so on -- multiplied by a percentage of the race purse. So for Charlotte, winner Jim Roper received 250 points (10 x ($5,000 x .005)). In 1952, the basis was expanded to the top 25 finishers and the multiplier altered. That system stayed in place until 1968, when the basis jumped to 50 points and the multiplier used race distances instead of purses.
In 1972, points were doubled and laps completed were added to the equation. And two years later, the points were based on total money winnings multiplied by starts divided by 1,000. So series champion Richard Petty accumulated 5,037.75 points in 30 races, while third-place David Pearson wound up with 2,389.25, despite running 11 fewer events.
To say that everyone -- from the competitors to the fans -- was confused would be an understatement.
In that era, many of the top teams towed only to races that would provide the biggest purses and points, leaving smaller venues with perilously low car counts. And to make matters worse, manufacturers in Detroit began to threaten to pull their support for the series, mainly as a result of the 1973 oil crisis and resulting recession.
"Back then, individual races were more important than the overall championship," Holmer said. "What NASCAR needed was a way to make the championship more important, and still keep the track owners happy."
RacingOneRichard Petty won the 1975 title, the first under the new points system.In the summer of 1974, Bill France realized he had to do something. New series sponsor R.J. Reynolds wanted more exposure, and a points system that would create more late-season suspense was paramount to their marketing plans. So France turned to Latford, a long-time public relations official and Daytona Beach native who went to school with France's son.
According to an article by Godwin Kelly written some time before Latford's death in 2003, Latford described in detail how he was summoned to Daytona Beach for a meeting with France.
"I thought something bad was going to happen to me," Latford said. "But Bill said, 'You've always been interested in numbers and math. Would you be interested in a project to give us a better points system? The one we have is confusing. Heck, the competitors have a hard time understanding it. If the competitors can't figure out the system, the fans certainly can't.'"
According to Holmer, Latford went back to his office and started thinking about how to create a simple but elegant points system that took into consideration several key elements: a sliding scale based solely on finishing order, something that would reward consistency and make it imperative for teams to run the entire schedule, and keep the scale narrow enough to provide for late-season championship battles.
Latford was the perfect man for the job.
"Bob loved numbers and was always calculating statistics for writers in the press box and his press releases," Holmer said. "So it wasn't a surprise that he was the one to come up with this."
With a framework for the new points in his head, Latford returned to Daytona that winter and called on two of his friends: Holmer and Joe Whitlock, who handled public relations for Daytona International Speedway. He explained the basic principle of his idea, and Holmer suggested they go over to the Boot Hill and discuss it further.
The Boot Hill Saloon is now one of Daytona's pre-eminent biker bars. But back in 1974, it was -- to put it nicely -- a tiny watering hole. Holmer remembered it having less than two dozen barstools.
"There was only one table in the place," Holmer said. "And we took it over."
Latford explained to the other two how he felt the points system should work, settling on 175 points for the race winner and using what Holmer referred to as "an accordion" effect to distribute points to each succeeding position. Latford suggested a difference of five points between the top five finishing positions, four points between positions sixth through 10th, and then three points thereafter.
RacingOneAlan Kulwicki's 1992 title was won by 10 points, the closest margin before the Chase."We tossed around some ideas," Latford said. "What are we trying to do? We were trying to determine the champion of the entire circuit, not just selected races. We talked about what we wanted to do and how we needed to get there."
According to Holmer, the three spent several evenings going over Latford's figures. And yes, some of the whole "written on a bar napkin" myth was based in fact, but it was more mathematics than a "Eureka" moment.
"We made a lot of pencil marks on a lot of napkins," Holmer said. "You've got to remember, that was back in the days before personal calculators. We were doing a lot of figuring, trying to come up with different scenarios and see how that would affect the totals. Basically, we were trying to make sure there weren't any major flaws in his idea."
Holmer said he was the one who suggested Latford add a five-point bonus for leading a lap, which then got the three thinking about an additional bonus for most laps led. They also discussed point bonuses for qualifying, but Holmer said they decided against adding anything that didn't have to do with the specific event.
"We decided that somewhere in this system we needed to have a reward for the guys who would get up there and run hard," Latford said. "So that's where we came up with a five-point bonus for leading a lap and five more for leading the most laps."
At some point after that, Latford returned to Atlanta and typed up a formal presentation for France and the folks at RJR. It was immediately put into place for the 1975 season, and even though Petty routed the competition with 13 wins that year, was considered a success by all involved. And it only grew in reputation in following seasons when Petty beat Darrell Waltrip by 12 points in 1979, Dale Earnhardt edged Cale Yarborough by 19 points the following season, Bill Elliott topped Rusty Wallace by 24 points in 1988, and three drivers came to the season finale in 1992 with a mathematical chance at the title.
"Yeah, there were years when it was sort of one-sided," Holmer said. "But there were a lot of times when it came down to the final race."
It might be a little presumptuous to say that Bob Latford "saved" NASCAR with the implementation of his points system in 1975, but his contribution led both directly and indirectly to NASCAR's unparalleled growth in later years.
"It did what it set out to do," Holmer said. "It kept the manufacturers happy. It kept the track owners happy. It made R.J. Reynolds happy, because the best teams showed up to run all the races. It must have been a pretty good idea, because it's still being used today."

POINTS

A NASCAR POINTS SYSTEM PRIMER
The premise of the NASCAR points system is accumulating more points throughout the race season than the other drivers. Whoever has the most points at the end of the race season is the winner.
At it's essence, it is a pretty simple formula.
A twist was added to this simple points system after the 2003 NASCAR race season. The 'Chase for the Nextel Cup' is a unique spin on the race season and how points are accumulated. At the start of the 2007 NASCAR Season the points system was tweaked again. This article includes those changes.
NASCAR SEASON LENGTH
A good starting point in understanding the NASCAR points system is knowing how long the race season runs.
The NASCAR Nextel Cup race schedule generally starts around the second week of February and goes to about the third week of November.
Most races are run on Sunday afternoon. A handful of races are run 'under the lights' on Saturday night. With its stretch of 36 NASCAR sanctioned races at race track facilities from the east to west coast, the NASCAR season is arguably the longest and most grueling sports season in the United States.
HOW POINTS ARE AWARDED
A NASCAR race is comprised of 43 drivers. Each participating driver is awarded points based on his (or her) finish position in the race. The range of points earned is from 34 to 185. The table shows the corresponding points to race finish position.
You'll note that:
Positions 1st and 2nd have a 15-point spread between them
Positions 2nd - 6th have a 5-point spread between them
Positions 6th - 11th have a 4-point spread
Positions 11th - 43rd have a 3-point spread
Bumping up the points awarded to the winner (from 180 to 185) was done so that more emphasis would be placed on winning. It's still argued that there should be more points awarded to the winner, and no points awarded below 30th.
BONUS POINTS
In addition to the points a driver can earn for his finish position, extra (bonus) points are awarded for leading a lap during the race.
An extra 5-points is tacked onto the drivers race points earned from his finish position for leading at least one lap in the race. Even more, the driver who leads the most laps, gets twice the bonus points as the other lap leading drivers. He gets a total of 10 points. In the event of a tie for laps lead, the driver with the finish position closest to 1st gets the 10-points.
At best, a driver can score 195 points in one race. That's 185 points for 1st place and 10 bonus points for leading the most laps. In theory, if the winner of the race also leads the most laps, he could earn 161 more points than the driver finishing 43rd and leading no laps.
195 (185 + 10) [1st place + most laps led] - 34 [last place with no laps led] = 161
BIRTH OF THE CHASE FOR THE NEXTEL CUP
This method seemed 'good enough' until the 2004 NASCAR season.
With the rising popularity of NASCAR racing, Brian France (the grandson of Bill France, the founder of NASCAR), devised an alternative to the method of crowning the NASCAR Champion.
I believe it was for three reasons.
Wins. The 2003 season champion, Matt Kenseth, won the NASCAR Championship having only won 1 race. Jimmie Johnson finished the year 2nd having won 3 races. Ryan Newman finished the year 6th having won 8 races. Matt Kenseth's consistent top-10 finishes won him the Championship, not his wins. Some argued that wins not consistency should determine the Championship.
Excitement. Recent NASCAR seasons Championships were runaway victories many races before the last race was run.
Jeff Gordon, the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion scored 349 points more than 2nd place Tony Stewart.
Bobby Labonte, the 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion scored 265 more points than 2nd place Dale Earnhardt.
Dale Jarrett, the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion scored 201 more points than 2nd place Bobby Labonte.
Jeff Gordon, the 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion score 364 more points than 2nd place Mark Martin.Because of these lopsided victories, there was no excitement over who would win the NASCAR Championship come seasons end.
Money. NASCAR's popularity has been on the rise over the last several years. For this trend to continue it was important to have the race season end with a climactic finish. Competition for television ratings and advertising dollars are tougher in the fall due to the start of the NFL season. NASCAR needed a way to lure race fans to stay loyal to the NASCAR race broadcast over the football game.
HOW THE CHASE FOR THE NEXTEL CUP WORKS
NASCAR's Chase For The Nextel Cup actually breaks the race season into two segments. The first begins at the first race of the year and continues through the 26th race. This segment has been dubbed the 'Race to the Chase'.
During the 'Race to the Chase' (the first 26 races), all the standard rules for race points and lead lap bonus points apply. The goal of every driver is to be in the top 12 in race points. This makes them eligible to participate in the 'Chase for the Nextel Cup' and ultimately, the Nextel Cup Championship.
Each driver will have their points adjusted to 5,000. Additionally, each driver will be awarded 10 points for each race win during the previous 26 races.
For example, if you are in the top 12 and have won 3 races during the first 26 races, your points total is 5030.
SEASON ENDING CLIMAX
In view of the three reasons I listed above the NASCAR points system change to the 'Chase for the Nextel Cup' format has been a tremendous success. The last 3 Championship season have proven it out.
Kurt Busch, the 2004 Nextel Cup Champion, won 3 races and beat out 2nd place Jimmie Johnson by 8 points.
Tony Stewart, the 2005 Nextel Cup Champion, won 5 races and beat out 2nd place Greg Biffle (and 3rd place Carl Edwards) by 35 points.
Jimmie Johnson, the 2006 Nextel Cup Champion, won 5 races and beat out 2nd place Matt Kenseth by 56 points.

RACING "SLICKS"

Racing "slicks" are very different than your treaded car tires.


On a typical race weekend, a Cup Series team will use between nine and 14 sets of tires depending upon the length of the race and type of track. By comparison, an average set of street tires gets replaced approximately every three years.



Racing tire specifications also differ from race to race depending upon the degree of track banking and type of racing surface (asphalt, concrete, or mixture of both).

Goodyear uses about 18 different types of tires to cover the needs of teams during the course of a racing season.

RACE TIRE SAFETY

Like a "tire-within-a-tire," the Goodyear Lifeguard Inner Liner Safety Spare allows the car to return to the pits in the event of a flat.

TIRES IN NASCAR

Few factors play a more critical role in a NASCAR race than tires.

Inflation pressures, tire wear and tire balance can all have a tremendous effect on a car's performance

TRANSPORTER

Transporter carries the team's two cars (one primary and one backup) for the race weekend, as well as enough parts and tools to repair an entire car, if necessary. It also provides a place for the team to relax and meet before and after the race.

INSIDE THE COCKPIT

1 Main Switch Panel -- Contains switches for starter, ignition and cooling fans.

2 Tachometer -- Monitors revolutions per minute (RPMs) of engine, assisting driver in selecting gears and monitoring engine power.
3 Engine Gauge Cluster -- Monitors engine oil pressure, water temperature, oil temperature, voltage and fuel pressure.
4 Auxiliary Switches -- Can serve a number of purposes, including turning on the backup ignition system, ventilating fans, or helmet cooling system.
5 Master Switch -- Shuts down electrical system in emergency situations.
6 Ignition Kill Switch -- Shuts off engine in emergency situations.
7 Radio Button -- Controls communication to pits and race spotter.
8 Gearshift -- Controls four-speed manual transmission.
9 Safety Seat -- Provides extra support and protection for head, shoulders, ribs and lower extremities.
10 Head and Neck Restraint -- NASCAR mandates the use of a head-and-neck restraint system to prevent injury during an incident.
11 Window Net -- Safety device located on the driver's side window that helps keep head and arms inside the car during an incident.
12 Rear-View Mirror
13 Fresh Air Vent -- Directs outside air into the driving compartment.
14 Main Rear-View Mirror
15 Fire Extinguisher -- Automatically engages in the event of fire.
16 Seat Belt Harness -- Keeps the driver strapped securely in his seat in the event of an incident.
17 Fire Extinguisher Switch -- Discharges fire-suppressing chemicals into the driving compartment in case of fire.
18 Fire Extinguisher Discharge Nozzle -- Directs fire suppressant in the event of a fire.
19 Helmet Hook -- Provides a place for the driver to keep his helmet when outside the car.
20 Ignition System -- Placed on the passenger-side dash, this box is programmed to help the engine achieve the most precise timing possible, for maximum power.