Forty-five days. Forty-five days remain in the year 2014. Where have the other 320 days gone? There will be plenty of reflection when the calendar turns to the final month but it just hit me how close this year is to being just a representation in history books. It is growing colder and it may be snowing where you are but don't let the powder get in the way of the end of the motorsports season. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
Race of Champions
As seasons are winding down, the traditional December motorsports exhibition, the Race of Champions is set to return. In case you don't know what the Race of Champions is, it is a two-day event where normally sixteen drivers from eight nations are split into teams and compete head-to-head on a short circuit in dune buggies, high-end supercars and rally cars to find out which nation and driver is the best in the world. Previous winners of the event include Sébastien Loeb, Mattias Ekström, Romain Grosjean, Hekki Kovalainen, Marcus Grönholm, Tommi Mäkinen, Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz.
This year's event will take place in Barbados, because no other place in the world screams the pinnacle of motorsports like Barbados. Eleven drivers are currently signed up. Grosjean will return as will Mr. Le Mans, Tom Kristensen. World Rally and World Rallycross champion Petter Solberg will compete along with Jamie Whincup (more on him a little later). Williams F1 test driver Susie Wolff will represent Great Britain. WTCC champion José María López represents Argentina. The 2014 European Formula 3 champion Esteban Ocon will join Grosjean in representing France and Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay will make his second career ROC appearance and he will be joined by Kurt Busch to represent the United States. Barbados will be represented by Rhett Watson and Dane Skeete.
The more and more I got to thinking about it, I wondered if Hunter-Reay and Busch are the top two drivers the USA has to offer? Both are talented but if your life depended on this event and you had to have two Americans represent you, are these the two you are calling on? Both have diverse résumé. Hunter-Reay has won in IndyCar, LMP2, Daytona Prototypes and he recently competed in the endurance races for Viper. Busch has driven everything but a Formula One car. From NASCAR to IndyCar, Daytona Prototype to a V8 Supercar and he even drove a ProStock dragster. But are these the two best Americans drivers?
You could make an argument for both of them but Kyle Larson also has a diverse background of competing in everything and anything. Jimmie Johnson is a six-time NASCAR champion but has never done well in the Race of Champions. Johnson has made two ROC appearance and was on the 2002 Nations Cup winning American team with Colin Edwards and Jeff Gordon, however, Johnson went 1-5 that year with Edwards going unbeaten as the Americans knocked off France, represented by Loeb, Sébastien Bourdais and Mickaël Maschio and Italy, represented by Marco Melandri, Fabrizio Giovanardi and Renato Travaglia. All-time, Johnson is 1-9 in ROC competition with losses to names such as Michael Schumacher, Colin McRae, Armin Schwartz and Jésus Puras. His lone victory was in his first ROC race against Antônio Pizzonia. Johnson is to the ROC what Tiger Woods is to the Ryder Cup.
What about the Taylor brothers, Ricky and Jordan? Ricky has done well in prototypes while Jordan splits time between a Daytona Prototype and as Corvette's third driver for endurance events. Scott Pruett might not be what he once was but at 54 years old, he is still as competitive as they come and has years of IndyCar and stock car experience on top of decades of sports cars from prototypes to the glory days of Trans-Am.
What about the other countries? I think Tom Kristensen is arguably still the best Danish driver but who is second? I think a lot of people would jump to Kevin Magnussen since he is in Formula One but don't over look 2013 Porsche SuperCup champion and winner for Aston Martin in FIA WEC, Nicki Thiim. Whincup is definitely the best Australian that races domestically and could be in the top two Australian but it would be hard to pick a second between Daniel Ricciardo, Will Power and Mark Webber. I think Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier each have an argument for being the best French driver in the world but if we look at ROC like international competition for soccer, you could say they are done at the international level. I am not sure who would join José María López representing Argentina. Perhaps runner-up in the 2013 GP3 championship Facu Regalia. Susie Wolff is a talented driver who has loads of experience from DTM but she isn't one of the top two British drivers. Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Anthony Davidson, Sam Bird, Mike Conway, Jolyon Palmer, Alex Lynn and Dean Stoneman would all be worthy of consideration to be Great Britain's two drivers.
What about other countries? For over half a decade, Sebastien Vettel and Michael Schumacher dominated the ROC for Germany. Unfortunately, Schumacher is still recovering from his head injury from a skiing accident last December. I still think Vettel is the best German and just because Nico Rosberg has won five Grands Prix this year and has a shot at the world championship entering the final race, I don't think he is necessarily the second best German driver. André Lotterer has proven his worth in FIA WEC for Audi and had a really good season in Formula Nippon. Marco Wittmann dominated the DTM season this year. Maximilian Götz and René Rast had great seasons in GT3 with Rast getting a taste of LMP2 competition earlier in the year.
Imagine how many countries could compete in the Race of Champions and imagine if each one that competed were represented by their best two drivers. I honestly can envision there being at least 40 countries that could field legitimate driver pairings to compete at ROC. I wish it was a bigger event with all the stars competing but it is what it is.
I've always felt the event should end with a one-hour karting race between all the drivers entered. You can keep the buggies and Audi R8s for the knockout competitions but have one final karting event, with all the drivers on level terms to determine who is the best of the best.
Dream ROC Pairings
Some of these possible ROC combinations came to mind and I thought I'd share.
Belgium: Laurens Vanthoor and Stoffel Vandoorne.
Canada: Robert Wickens and James Hinchcliffe.
Colombia: Juan Pablo Montoya and Carlos Muñoz.
Finland: Valtteri Bottas and Jari-Matti Latvala.
Italy: Alex Zanardi and Valentino Rossi.
Netherlands: Jeroen Bleekemolen and Giedo van der Garde.
New Zealand: Scott Dixon and Earl Bamber.
Spain: Fernando Alonso and Marc Márquez.
Switzerland: Sébastien Buemi and Marcel Fässler.
Venezuela: Pastor Maldonado and EJ Viso (Imagine how much in crash damage they could accumulate).
9-6-4-3-2-1 Revisited
As we all know by now, Kevin Harvick won the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship but what if NASCAR used my favorite point system, the 9-6-4-3-2-1 system Formula One used for nearly three decades? Well, here is what it would have looked like:
Brad Keselowski- 104
Jeff Gordon- 92
Kevin Harvick- 89
Joey Logano 91
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 69
Jimmie Johnson- 63
Matt Kenseth- 51
Kyle Busch- 45
Kyle Larson- 35
Denny Hamlin- 33
Carl Edwards- 30
Kurt Busch- 27
Clint Bowyer- 20
Jamie McMurray- 20
Ryan Newman- 19
Kasey Kahne- 17
Paul Menard- 16
Aric Almirola- 14
Brian Vickers- 13
A.J. Allmendinger- 12
Greg Biffle- 11
Marcos Ambrose- 10
Tony Stewart- 8
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.- 7
Martin Truex, Jr.- 4
Casey Mears- 3
Landon Cassill- 3
Austin Dillon- 2
Danica Patrick- 1
Travis Kvapil- 1
The title would have come down to the final race as Keselowski had only an 8-point lead over Gordon entering Homestead, meaning Gordon needed to win and Keselowski to fail to score to win the title. Interesting to see Newman would have only been 15th while Kyle Larson would have been ninth.
What about if NASCAR used Formula One's current points system (25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1), minus the double points finale:
Keselowski- 332
Gordon- 303
Harvick- 298
Logano- 291
Earnhardt, Jr.- 235
Johnson- 233
Kenseth- 219
Kyle Busch- 169
Hamlin- 160
Larson- 159
Kurt Busch- 121
Newman- 121
Edwards- 113
Bowyer- 107
McMurray- 94
Kahne- 77
Menard- 75
Vickers- 71
Biffle- 60
Almirola- 59
Allmendinger- 50
Stewart- 49
Ambrose- 48
Stenhouse, Jr.- 35
Truex, Jr.- 29
Patrick- 18
Dillon- 17
Mears- 14
Cassill- 12
Kvapil- 8
Michael McDowell- 6
David Ragan- 1
Same champion as the 9-6-4-3-2-1 system and the championship would have come down to the final race as Keselowski would have led Gordon by 15 points entering Homestead, meaning a Gordon victory would have forced Keselowski finish at least fifth.
Finally, what if the Chase format had not changed from 2013? What if it was the top twelve after Richmond and the driver to score the most over the aggregate of ten race was champion:
Logano- 2396
Harvick- 2389
Keselowski- 2361
Newman- 2353
Gordon- 2348
Larson- 2343
Kenseth- 2334
Earnhardt, Jr.- 2301
Edwards- 2288
Johnson- 2274
Biffle- 2247
Bowyer- 2233
Different champion as Logano would have come out on top. And had this been under pre-Chase era rules:
Gordon- 1253
Logano- 1216
Keselowski- 1179
Earnhardt, Jr.- 1175
Harvick- 1167
Newman- 1135
Kenseth- 1131
Larson- 1080
Johnson- 1067
Edwards- 1059
McMurray- 1014
Biffle- 1000
Hamlin- 986
Jeff Gordon would have had another title and who knows how much closer to history would he be. It just goes to show how misleading a system can be. In the two Chase systems, Newman is second and fourth but in the other F1 systems he isn't even in the top ten. Hamlin wouldn't have been in the top ten in the previous Chase format nor the pre-Chase era. So you tell me who had a good season and who didn't. I am curious to hear what you think after seeing how the different systems would have played out.
Since we are at, we mind as well look at the Formula One championship had they used the 9-6-4-3-2-1 system as they head to their season finale in Abu Dhabi:
Lewis Hamilton- 116
Nico Rosberg- 105
Daniel Ricciardo- 62
Sebastian Vettel- 36
Valtteri Bottas- 34
Fernando Alonso- 29
Jenson Button- 21
Felipe Massa- 19
Kevin Magnussen- 9
Nico Hülkenberg- 9
Sergio Pérez- 6
Kimi Räikkönen- 4
Jean-Éric Vergne- 1
Hamilton would have locked up the title at Interlagos with his second place finish.
Random Thoughts
Some of these motorsports related, some are not.
Homestead-Miami Speedway's victory lane has to be one of the most under appreciated place in motorsports. It never gets the attention it deserves because the focus is always on the championship stage being rolled out on the front straightaway. They have to do something to spice it up. Put a giant fountain in the middle of it, have it be a rave with a bunch of college kids dancing with glow sticks, do something.
The lyrics to Pink Floyd's "Time" are getting truer and truer each day.
Since Nationwide sponsorship of NASCAR's second division ended this weekend and Comcast's Xfinity brand will be stepping in, can we go back to referring to the series as the Grand National series as it's generic name? Winston has been replaced by Nextel which morphed into Sprint but it's referred to as the Cup series. Craftsman was replaced by Camping World but it's referred to as the Truck series. The second division needs a non-sponsorship name to refer to and I am going to start referring to it as the Grand National series in passing.
I love Christmas but there are way too many Christmas-themed commercials promoting Christmas sales. Thanksgiving doesn't get enough love. Let's enjoy Thanksgiving first. It's bad enough stores are now invading the holiday and opening on Thanksgiving night and rivaling the Maxi Endurance 32 Hours in terms of length. Let's calm down with the sales and enjoy Thanksgiving. There is more plenty of time to get whatever presents you need for Christmas and let's remember Christmas isn't about the presents.
Does anyone else spend hours playing Gran Turismo or Forza when the winter rolls around to avoid suffering from motorsports withdrawal?
Champions From the Weekend
Kevin Harvick won the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship with his victory at Homestead.
By winning at Motegi, Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda are Super GT GT500 champions. In GT300, Tatsuya Kataoka and Nobuteru Taniguchi take the championship on tiebreaker over Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Björn Wirdheim after they finished level on 78 points. Kataoka and Taniguchi finished with two victories while Hiranaka and Wirdheim ended with one victory after taking the season finale.
Quick recap of what happened in FIA WEC competition. Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi clinched the World Endurance Drivers' Championship. Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander clinched the World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers. David Heinemeier and Kristian Poulsen clinched the GTE-Am title.
Jamie Whincup clinched a record-breaking sixth V8 Supercar title with a third in race one and victory in race two from Phillip Island. Scott McLaughlin and Craig Lowndes went 1-2 in race one.
Matt Crafton became the first ever back-to-back NASCAR Truck Series champion with a ninth place finish at Homestead.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about what happened in Bahrain and Motegi, you know about Scott McLaughlin, Jamie Whincup and Kevin Harvick but did you know....
Scott McLaughlin won the final race of the weekend from Phillip Island after Garth Tander ran out of fuel coming to the checkered flag.
José María López and Robert Huff split the WTCC races from Macau.
Sébastien Ogier won the WRC season finale, Wales Rally GB. Mikko Hirvonen finished second in his final event and Mads Østberg finished third.
Allam Khodair and Sérgio Jimenez split the Stock Car Brasil weekend from Salvador.
Matt Kenseth won the Nationwide race from Homestead. Darrell Wallace, Jr. won the Truck race, the fourth of his season.
Coming Up This Weekend
Formula One ends under the lights at Abu Dhabi.
GP2 will join Formula One in Abu Dhabi.
And GP3 rounds out the Abu Dhabi weekend.
Formula E runs their second round in Putrajaya, Malaysia.
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