H
HardScrabble
Guest
Once Winston came on as the series sponsor and revamped the schedule for the 1972 season it was decided a new points system needed to be used..I guess that was why.
Anyways in 1972 a new system was put in place. The new system awarded the race winner 100 points and each finishing postion after that was reduced by two points. 100 for first, 98 for second, 96 for third and so on. In order to encourage teams to run the entire race, points were also awarded for each lap completed, regardless of postion. But life cannot be simple.The points awarded per lap depended on the track.
Tracks under 1 mile .................0.25 points per lap
Tracks of 1 mile........................0.50 points per lap
Tracks of 1.3 miles....................0.70 points per lap (that would be only Darlington)
Tracks of 1.5 miles....................0.75 points per lap
Tracks of 2 miles.......................1.00 points per lap
Tracks over 2.5 miles.................1.25 points per lap
With the emphasis on completing laps to really rack up the points some non-winners did well in the points chase. Though in the end the battle was between the top winners of the season, Richard Petty and Boby Allison with Petty taking the crown.
The same system was used in 1973, and Benny Parsons won one race and the championship over Cale Yarborough who won 4 races. Petty won 6 races and finished fifth.
NASCAR revamped the system again for 1974.
Strangest points system I recall for sure. I reckon if ya figure the teams are racing for the money, might as well amke the points reflect the money. Thus was born the system used only for the 1974 season. It was simple, take teh number of dollars won by a driver in race purses (qualifying and contingency money not included) and multiply that number by the number of races the driver has started, then divide that number by 1000........voila that is the points a driver has. Richard and Cale finished first and second in the Daytona 500, the biggest money race of all, and the run for the crown was over. The problems of the system were dramatically illustrated in the fall of the season.
At Darlington in the Southern 500 Petty crashed early and ended up finishing 35th. Darell Waltrip on the other hand ran well and finished second, still Richard gained 65 points on Waltrip in the points race. As a matter of fact of the 34 drivers who finished ahead of Petty, 33 of them lost points to Richard in the standings. At Martinsville Petty again had problems and finished 29th, his closest pursuer in the points hunt, Cale, f\has some problems but finished much better in 11th. When the points were tallied up, Petty had gained 10 more points on Yarborough.
Needless to say, the system was changed again for 1975 to the Bob Latford designed system still in use today............
Anyways in 1972 a new system was put in place. The new system awarded the race winner 100 points and each finishing postion after that was reduced by two points. 100 for first, 98 for second, 96 for third and so on. In order to encourage teams to run the entire race, points were also awarded for each lap completed, regardless of postion. But life cannot be simple.The points awarded per lap depended on the track.
Tracks under 1 mile .................0.25 points per lap
Tracks of 1 mile........................0.50 points per lap
Tracks of 1.3 miles....................0.70 points per lap (that would be only Darlington)
Tracks of 1.5 miles....................0.75 points per lap
Tracks of 2 miles.......................1.00 points per lap
Tracks over 2.5 miles.................1.25 points per lap
With the emphasis on completing laps to really rack up the points some non-winners did well in the points chase. Though in the end the battle was between the top winners of the season, Richard Petty and Boby Allison with Petty taking the crown.
The same system was used in 1973, and Benny Parsons won one race and the championship over Cale Yarborough who won 4 races. Petty won 6 races and finished fifth.
NASCAR revamped the system again for 1974.
Strangest points system I recall for sure. I reckon if ya figure the teams are racing for the money, might as well amke the points reflect the money. Thus was born the system used only for the 1974 season. It was simple, take teh number of dollars won by a driver in race purses (qualifying and contingency money not included) and multiply that number by the number of races the driver has started, then divide that number by 1000........voila that is the points a driver has. Richard and Cale finished first and second in the Daytona 500, the biggest money race of all, and the run for the crown was over. The problems of the system were dramatically illustrated in the fall of the season.
At Darlington in the Southern 500 Petty crashed early and ended up finishing 35th. Darell Waltrip on the other hand ran well and finished second, still Richard gained 65 points on Waltrip in the points race. As a matter of fact of the 34 drivers who finished ahead of Petty, 33 of them lost points to Richard in the standings. At Martinsville Petty again had problems and finished 29th, his closest pursuer in the points hunt, Cale, f\has some problems but finished much better in 11th. When the points were tallied up, Petty had gained 10 more points on Yarborough.
Needless to say, the system was changed again for 1975 to the Bob Latford designed system still in use today............
