Sunday, August 24, 2008

Rivalry born

More trouble for Kahne and Junior kept several scores down, and I couldn't find anyone who had Edwards and KyBusch - that would have blown away the field this week. The details are here.
A fishing trip prevented me from updating the Head to Head standings and schedule, so please accept my apologies (new standings and a Fontana schedule are below).
OVERALL
Short of a momumental collapse in the Yahoo overall, Yahoo second half, Chase and Head-to-Head competitions, Van's Bums likely wrapped up the overall title at Bristol. Van's clipped Barrie Lang by 22 to advance to the semifinals in the Single Elimination, drove past testcar for a spot in the Double Elimination championship, and cruised past KLA Sadler to advance to the quarterfinals in the World Cup.
BRISTOL
The RMN average for the short track was a low 207, the lowest since June's race at New Hampshire and not helped by at least six teams not paying attention to their lineups. Just three teams scored 300 or more points.
CHASE
Our cutoff is 6,309 points, leaving 13 teams in the field after Bristol; another five are within 100 points of the cutoff with two races to go.
SINGLE ELIMINATION
In addition to Van's, TURBO, Rev-A-Lusions and Rolling Thunder advance to the semifinals. Van's matchup was the closest, followed by TURBO's 105-point win over reckhard. The semi matchups (which run from races 25-30, Fontana-Talladega): TURBO v. Rolling Thunder, Rev-A0Lusions v. Van's.
DOUBLE ELIMINATION
Van's 99-point win over testcar was the largest margin and it was the only matchup in the winners' bracket. RacingAngel eliminated Team Lester (by 34 points), Yabos knocked out Team Parski (9 points) and Longs Gap nipped AFTER BURNER (1 point). Four teams remain in the losers' bracket, and the last one standing will face Van's for the title. Round Eight is just three races, Fontana through New Hampshire.

WORLD CUP
Cooter, Team Lester, Sarge's, Rubbins', Barrie Lang, Team Parski and RacingAngel joined Van's in the quarterfinals. Parski posted a 5-point victory over TURBO in the closest matchup. The quarters cover four races, Fontana through Dover.
HEAD to HEAD
Each team has 36 games remaining, including a string of 4-game weekends at Richmond, Talladega, Atlanta, Texas, Phoenix and Miami. Team Lester leads speedracer by a little more than one game and Rubbins and TURBO by almost three. For those wondering: Van's is tied for 14th, nine games behind Lester.
Note to 2009 RMN players: I will be able to adjust past scores for vacant players and adjust the standings accordingly; this year, it's just not possible with a clumsy program. So, if we have the same issue of six teams going AWOL midway through the season, for 2009 RMN I will be able to adjust those scores to 0 for the races earlier in the season and give us a better representation of the standings. We're stuck with what we got this year; my apologies again.
Head to Head - through Bristol:
1. 44-18-0: Team Lester
42-18-2: speedracer
40-19-3: Rubbins Racin, TURBO
40-22-0: Yabos
39-23-1: reckhard
38-23-1: KLA Sadler
38-24-0: Rolling Thunder
36-26-0: BLOWINSMOKE
10. 36-25-1: Sarges Squad
36-26-0: Black Bear
35-26-1: FC Newman
34-26-2: yduck
35-27-0: Vans Bums, No right turns
34-28-0: Team Parski
33-27-2: nstag8rs, Cooter
32-37-3: Rev-A-Lusions
20. 32-29-1: testcar
32-30-0: need4speed, Barrie Lang, CHK (formerly known as Craker)
31-31-0: gonzo
29-29-4: FORDFUCUS
30-30-2: RacingAngel, Crash & Burn, AFTER BURNER
30-32-0: 3WIDE, RoadRage
31. 29-32-1: KitchenPass, Gordon #1
29-33-0: RAZN, AERO PUSH
28-34-0: asian assassins
27-34-1: Smokin Aces
27-35-0: Beer Belly, photo finish
26-33-3: gordon hater
40. 25-32-5: Chevys Redneck
26-34-2: Team Wyoming
24-36-2: Longs Gap, hardbody
24-37-1: RugRatRacers
24-38-0: Dirt Runners
23-38-1: Kntcky
21-41-0: Hendrick Express
19-43-0: Canyon County
15-47-0: Junior
11-51-0: DWI
Head to Head: Fontana schedule
Team Parski v. Rev-A-Lusions
AERO PUSH v. Cooter
need4speed v. yduck
AFTER BURNER v. Vans Bums
Smokin Aces v. Black Bear
Crash & Burn v. 3WIDE
Chevys Redneck v. Rubbins Racin
Kntcky v. Barrie Lang
DWI v. Beer Belly
photo finish v. CHK
KitchenPass v. Sarges Squad
nstag8rs v. Dirt Runners
Hendrick Express v. BLOWINSMOKE
RacingAngel v. FC Newman
KLA Sadler v. RAZN
Yabos v. No right turns
gordon hater v. Longs Gap
Rolling Thunder v. Junior
Team Wyoming v. reckhard
speedracer v. hardbody
FORDFUCUS v. asian assassins
Team Lester v. Canyon County
Gordon #1 v. TURBO
gonzo v. testcar
RugRatRacers v. RoadRage
nstag8rs v. Rev-A-Lusions
RacingAngel v. yduck
AERO PUSH v. Vans Bums
need4speed v. Black Bear
AFTER BURNER v. 3WIDE
Smokin Aces v. Rubbins Racin
Crash & Burn v. Barrie Lang
Chevys Redneck v. Beer Belly
Kntcky v. CHK
DWI v. Sarges Squad
photo finish v. Dirt Runners
KitchenPass v. BLOWINSMOKE
FC Newman v. Cooter
Hendrick Express v. RAZN
Team Parski v. No right turns
KLA Sadler v. Longs Gap
Yabos v. Junior
gordon hater v. reckhard
Rolling Thunder v. hardbody
Team Wyoming v. asian assassins
speedracer v. Canyon County
FORDFUCUS v. TURBO
Team Lester v. testcar
Gordon #1 v. RoadRage
gonzo v. RugRatRacers

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Michigan update

Other than 'damn that Kasey Kahne,' more comments later (along with head to head standings/schedule).

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Team Contrail

The Newman-Stewart marriage is complete. No surprise other than how long it took for the two sides to hammer out details.

These are two guys with high expectations of themselves and their teams, and if either end is perceived as not pulling its weight, watch out.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

RMN - post Watkins Glen

Gory details - here you'll find the latest spreadsheet I use to keep track/update the various competitions. The goal is to post them here, and reduce some mundane typing and copy/paste functions to write some more interesting info from our competitions.

Unfortunately, I use a separate program for the head-to-head competition and haven't figured out a way to import those results and standings in a manageable format. I'm working on a solution for the '09 season, if you care to come back for more fun.

After this week, the gory details will include headers on each page to indicate what's what. A quick summary for the Watkins Glen file:
Pg1 - overall standings using averages from finishes in the different competitions. Yahoo 1.0 is the second half standings; Yahoo .5 is the first half standings. 0s indicate the number of competitions that team has yet to place in (the higher the number, the better). Ignore the 'Rank' column.
Pg2 - summary from the first half of the season
Pg3 - summary from the second half of the season
Pg4 - Chase summary; note that this only includes 'wins' from the regular season and does not include the Chase qualifiers ... yet.
Pg5 - single elimination tournament
Pg6 - double elimination tournament
Pg7 - World Cup, pt1 - track qualifying summary
Pg8 - World Cup, pt2 - champion qualifying summary
Pg 9 - World Cup, pt3 - Chase bracket summary

Some notes:
* Van's Bums has a commanding lead in the overall standings. That could change with the Yahoo! standings tightening and with stiff competition for Van's in its current matchups in the single elimination and World Cup brackets.
* We appear to have seven teams that have closed shop for the season or at least suspended operations. They're noted in the cute, light blue highlights in the first and second half summary pages.
* The above note will certainly impact the Head to Head competition as we move closer toward the Chase season and multiple 100-race weekends. speeedracer is the surprise, holding steady at No. 2 in this competition while only 30th in the Yahoo standings. With five more points in key matchups, Chevy's Redneck would be among the top 15 instead of 30th with five ties in its 56 games thus far.
* Two weeks remain in the quarterfinals of the Single Elimination competition. Rev-A-Lusions and Rolling Thunder appear headed to the semifinals.
* The final eight in the Double Elimination competition are off to even starts.
* Cooter and Team Lester are eyeing quarterfinal spots in the World Cup's Chase Bracket. All other matchups in the Round of 16 - which is halfway complete - are within 100 points.

See you in Michigan.

Sharp Turn

Two weekends, in different times of the year around 2001, converted me.

A typical Sunday in the fall included time in front of the TV to watch NFL. John Elway was retired, the Broncos were OK but not great, and the league's list of lame, felonious, deadbeat-dad, unsportsmanlike players in my mind was growing each day. I snapped. I changed channels. For the rest of that NASCAR season, I watched more of a race than of the snaps on Sundays.

The next spring, I was in North Carolina for a conference and was able to take a ride in a pacecar around Lowe's. We reached 100 mph on turns banked at 24 degrees, and I was hooked.

Drivers are athletes, I realized. My appreciation for the sport has only grown since.

The 2008 season in the fourth for RMN, and fifth year I've managed a league. It's grown each year, and I'm eager to keep players interested with several side games. This year, we have double- and single-elimination tournaments, world cup format, head-to-head standings format and a playoff chase. I'm looking at a few more wrinkles for 2009.

Stay tuned.