TOPEKA, Kan. (October 26, 2012) – The Sports Car Club of America’s Board of Directors today announced the point structure to be used for the 2013 U.S. Majors Tour Conference Championships, the National Points Championship and Divisional Points Championships. The point standings will be used for all 28 SCCA National Championship Runoffs-eligible classes.
The 2013 point structure eliminates the bonus points previously used for the National point championship, and weights the Majors races more heavily than in the past for each Championship. All 28 Runoffs-eligible classes will crown a Majors champion in each of the four Conferences, as well as a single overall National point champion in each class.
“The National Point Standings included bonus points to weight better attended races more than lesser attended races,” Jerry Wannarka, SCCA Chairman, said. “The goal of the U.S. Majors Tour is to cluster competition, eliminating the need to count bonus points. Instead, those races will simply be given more weight, with more drivers scoring points.”
Races held during the Majors weekends that will be a part of the 2013 schedule will award points to the top 20 finishers in each class. Race winners will earn 22 points, followed by 19 and 17 for podium finishes. Beginning with 16 for fourth place, points will decrease by one for each of the remaining top-20 finishers, with 19th and 20th each receiving one point.
“After much discussion, it was determined that keeping the points as simple as possible was the desire,” Wannarka continued. “The simple way to view the Majors event points is that the events are on a ‘plus 10’ schedule from the traditional points. The top nine finishers earn the regular points, plus 10. Then from 10th on down, the points start at 10 and decrease by one through 19th, with an additional point for the 20th place finisher to round the points-paying positions out.”
Points for the non-Majors National races will remain on the traditional point scale for the top nine, with no bonus points.
2013 Point Structure
Finishing Pos. Majors Traditional Nationals
1 22 12
2 19 9
3 17 7
4 16 6
5 15 5
6 14 4
7 13 3
8 12 2
9 11 1
10 10
11 9
12 8
13 7
14 6
15 5
16 4
17 3
18 2
19 1
20 1
The races scored toward each of the four geographic Conference Championships on the U.S. Majors Tour will be based on the number of actual races held in each conference, with a driver getting a number of “drops” in his or her Conference. While most, but not all, Majors events will be doubleheader weekends, a Conference that hosts 11 or 12 races will count the top eight finishes toward the Championship. A Conference that hosts nine or 10 races will score the best seven finishes, and if a Conference held only eight races, the top six would score toward the Conference Championship.
Outside of the new point structure and the elimination of the bonus points, the National Point Championship will be tallied in the same way as 2012, with a driver able to count his or her best seven races regardless of Division or Conference affiliation. Similarly, the Divisional Championships will count both non-Majors Nationals and Majors races, with the only change being the revised point structure for Majors events.
The qualification path to the 50th National Championship Runoffs will be announced during the PRI show in Orlando, Fla., in December, following a discussion and vote at the SCCA Board of Directors meeting. The complete U.S. Majors Tour schedule will also be announced in the coming weeks.
Additional information on the U.S. Majors Tour is available at www.sccamajors.com.