Once again proving that it's better to be lucky than good! I was behind in the points going into the last races in both classes (Sport Compact and Sportsman), and somehow managed to squeak out just enough points to pull ahead in the last races of the 2011 season:
Official link to 2011 championship winners:
http://www.firebirdonline.com/Track News/2011/nov_19_11.htm
Official photos from the awards banquet:
http://www.firebirdonline.com/banquet/2011/44th_annual_banquet.htm
Sportsman season points:
http://www.firebirdonline.com/Points/Indexes/sportsman_class.htm
(Note: 2011 season points erased after April-1, 2012 and replaced with current season points)
Sport Compact season points:
http://www.firebirdonline.com/Points/Indexes/sport_compact.htm
(Note: 2011 season points erased after April-1, 2012 and replaced with current season points)
Also, my wife got 5th place overall in her 1992 500E in the Sportsman class, which is even more impressive when you consider that she missed one race, and was only 4 round wins behind 1st place (close enough to have won the championship had she been able to attend the extra race, and won that race). Funny thing was, I didn't win a single Sportsman race all year in 2011... lost all the battles, but won the war? Last year my wife and I each won 2 Sportsman races (that's 4 of 12 total), but the 2010 champion had a landslide victory with 5 races (we couldn't make up that much of a points gap).
The Sportsman class is one of the 4 "premier" race classes at Firebird, referred to as the Gold Cup series, along with Pro, SuperPro, and Pro Snow/Bike (ok, ok, and the Juniors, but I have a hard time counting those, lol)... these races have cash payouts for the top finishers at each race, and also for the top 3 in the championship points. The other "non-premier" classes (Sport Compact, Outlaw Street, Alumni, etc) only have trophies - no cash.
At the awards banquet, only the winners of the Gold Cup classes are invited to bring their cars for display at the Banquet hall. This was my first Sportsman championship, so that was a new experience for me... some pics are below, taken after the banquet was over. If you look close at the first photo, you can just barely see the E500 in the back corner of the banquet hall. The teal car was the Pro winner, the dragster was the SuperPro winner.
My wife and I both qualified to attend the 2011 Summit ET Finals in September as part of Team Firebird; and our team won this year (details here). The Sport Compact class was dropped from the Summit finals for 2011, so we both had to compete with the "big boys" in Sportsman. I went out first round in a super close race (four hundredths!), and my wife went three rounds before falling to a lady who drilled the 'tree with a 0.010 light. All Firebird team members received Summit team championship jackets for the team win. Details here.
Now I get to prep both 500's for the 2012 race season, which is only a few months away... starts in early April. Not likely I'll get another Sportsman championship, but I'll sure give it a shot!
Official link to 2011 championship winners:
http://www.firebirdonline.com/Track News/2011/nov_19_11.htm
Official photos from the awards banquet:
http://www.firebirdonline.com/banquet/2011/44th_annual_banquet.htm
Sportsman season points:
http://www.firebirdonline.com/Points/Indexes/sportsman_class.htm
(Note: 2011 season points erased after April-1, 2012 and replaced with current season points)
Sport Compact season points:
http://www.firebirdonline.com/Points/Indexes/sport_compact.htm
(Note: 2011 season points erased after April-1, 2012 and replaced with current season points)
Also, my wife got 5th place overall in her 1992 500E in the Sportsman class, which is even more impressive when you consider that she missed one race, and was only 4 round wins behind 1st place (close enough to have won the championship had she been able to attend the extra race, and won that race). Funny thing was, I didn't win a single Sportsman race all year in 2011... lost all the battles, but won the war? Last year my wife and I each won 2 Sportsman races (that's 4 of 12 total), but the 2010 champion had a landslide victory with 5 races (we couldn't make up that much of a points gap).
The Sportsman class is one of the 4 "premier" race classes at Firebird, referred to as the Gold Cup series, along with Pro, SuperPro, and Pro Snow/Bike (ok, ok, and the Juniors, but I have a hard time counting those, lol)... these races have cash payouts for the top finishers at each race, and also for the top 3 in the championship points. The other "non-premier" classes (Sport Compact, Outlaw Street, Alumni, etc) only have trophies - no cash.
At the awards banquet, only the winners of the Gold Cup classes are invited to bring their cars for display at the Banquet hall. This was my first Sportsman championship, so that was a new experience for me... some pics are below, taken after the banquet was over. If you look close at the first photo, you can just barely see the E500 in the back corner of the banquet hall. The teal car was the Pro winner, the dragster was the SuperPro winner.
My wife and I both qualified to attend the 2011 Summit ET Finals in September as part of Team Firebird; and our team won this year (details here). The Sport Compact class was dropped from the Summit finals for 2011, so we both had to compete with the "big boys" in Sportsman. I went out first round in a super close race (four hundredths!), and my wife went three rounds before falling to a lady who drilled the 'tree with a 0.010 light. All Firebird team members received Summit team championship jackets for the team win. Details here.
Now I get to prep both 500's for the 2012 race season, which is only a few months away... starts in early April. Not likely I'll get another Sportsman championship, but I'll sure give it a shot!
