I have a not so good chance of going to the runoffs next season for two reasons:

A) I suck horribly and also don't have the budget to run at the front consistently

B) I'll presumably only have one week of paid vacation at my first job, and I'll be spending it on my honeymoon

A) I have a couple sets of V710's that still have a bunch of life in them. I could run a few weekends until they're corded in SM/ITA and then buy some toyos and start running them in SM/ITA for the rest of the season. This way I'd stay out of the National pool and stay out of the way of the people who will actually go to the runoffs if they get invites, since I do have a chance of messing things up in the top 5 occasionally, at least in MiDiv. I'd save a good amount of money by using up my old tires, I'd get lots of seat time, and I wouldn't be messing up a points race when I'm not likely to be able to go to the runoffs.

B) Run National events only, on Sundays only, in SM. Buy two new sets of toyos, one shaved and one unshaved, sell 3 sets of kumhos, and make a serious (sans Sunbelt) effort at an invite to the runoffs, while praying that I'll be able to go (by some miracle) if I do get an invite (again, miracle). This would mean a significantly larger tire budget but less time spent at the track (smaller hotel bills, smaller entry fees).

Option A opens up a bunch of options for weekends I can attend, since there will only be 10 National weekends within a decent amount of drive time of me. It also feels a lot like giving up, but it will put me in a better position to make a real run at a runoffs attendance in 2007 budget wise. A MiDiv championship for me in ITA would IMO be more likely than an invite to the runoffs.

Option B would give me more Toyo setup experience and driving experience in the National format faster. Risk of damage to the car is probably higher due to much closer and more crowded racing. Selling points to a sponsor are much better as far as exposure. I would most likely get a little bit less seat time per weekend, but not a whole lot.

I don't really know what route to take, and my Christmas list is kindof based on what I'm doing with racing next season.

Feel free to add an option C besides the implied "kill yourself" option.

 

Well, I really think it depends on 2 things.
1: Budget
2: Talent

If you feel that you can go to nationals and be competitive, I would go for it. Only you can tell if you are at a level as a driver that would be competitive at the national level. (I am assuming you have run enough races to know). If you don't feel that you can go and win, I would take another year in the regionals to sort yourself and your car.
For the budget, you have to also factor in the extra body work your going to need running at the national level!

Well, that is what I would do if I was in your shoes!

 

i was talking with johnson about this yesterday (for him going, not me of course). jim drago is building a 99, daniels is running drago's 1.8, hugh sutton has a couple cars, volante is buying a new sunbelt, jim wheeler bought pemberton's car, charlie james is buying a huge transporter......it's just gotten way out of hand. i can think of at least 4 guys off the top of my head that will bring multiple cars to each track.

i think you've got the skill to do it rich, it's just a matter of if you want to spend the big bucks to keep up with everyone. i personally think regionals are going to be more fun, still be extremely competitive, and be way cheaper. i'm just running regionals next year (if at all), and johnson thinks he might do the same.

 

I think I have the skill to do it too, but that could just be me being nice to myself based on my results this year (top-5 in 5 out of 6 races where I didn't have mechanical problems or a crash, lots of solid qualifying). Ballgame is going to be tougher next season for sure. I think I'll have the money to spend from the Bank of Mom sponsorship to keep myself competitive on the parts and setup side of things. I guess what I'm trying to decide is more whether or not it's a waste of resources to try for the runoffs invite this season when the '07 season will have a lot more options for me as far as vacation time, money commitment and so on.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TeamSlowdotOrg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I guess what I'm trying to decide is more whether or not it's a waste of resources to try for the runoffs invite this season when the '07 season will have a lot more options for me as far as vacation time, money commitment and so on. </TD></TR></TABLE>


I think only you can answer that one!

I personally would never run SM simply because of what tnord is talking about. Competing with people with that much money is quite hard no matter what it is...

 

Yeah, but that's racing, I'm not worried about competing with more money as there will always be people who can throw more money at something than I can. I'm more worried about getting in the way or wasting my time. I can cut corners where the corners don't matter and have a decent buget for the things that matter aside from a bitchin' pro motor for this season, and that's good enough for me to do pretty well assuming I used up most of my bad luck in 2005.

I think I'm starting to talk myself in to my original plan of running Nationals.