Would you rather win the races or the championship?

I've been reading some 70's car books and came to the realization that back then the championships didn't mean anything to the drivers. In fact, most series only had a manufacturer's season title for grabs anyway, there wasn't even a driver's championship. Nowadays everybody is only concerned with "championships", the individual races seem to mean very little (outside of maybe, LeMans).

So what say you? Would you rather win a race or a championship? Locally? Regionally? Nationals?

For example, if I was an F1 driver (yeah, right), would I rather win at Monaco (and/or Silverstone, Spa, or Imola) or win nothing (or some other races like China) and get the driver's season championship?

NASCAR: Daytona 500 or not? (Think about how much Dale Sr valued Daytona even after his 7 championships)

Personally, I'm coming to realize that I'd rather have the race victories, even locally. Way back in 2008 I won a local drag racing 1/4-mile season championship (and a bunch of races), but I came in runner-up at the biggest race of the year (the Big Summer Bash). I think I'd have rather won the BSB. I know my goals in the future are almost all individual races like the Mopar/AMC day at Woodburn, the NAMDA all-AMC drag meet in Cecil, and the Rose Cup at PIR.

So, how about you? (Hypothetical and real)

I just think everyone should get participation trophies and leave it at that.. It just seems really unfair that only the top 1% percent win.. I mean heck.. Some of this guys are winning based on luck, family support, and things like that.. It is simply unfair... We should strive to be more equal

E36 M3.. wrong thread...

I say Championship.. With a few wins thrown in for good measure..

I would rather win races.

All I have done is one AutoX, my car died half way through and ended up last in class(GS), and dead last for the day. DFL SUCKS.

I want people to know I am fast, not how consistent I am. Ideally, you win both.

Hell, beating everyone at my last event in a $6k car vs the $40k plus cars was good enough for me!

Win Championships. For example (Nascar Reference):

Kyle Busch wins races, but makes mistakes and has yet to win a championship.

Tony Stewart won, what, 5 races all last year? Came away with the Championship. People will review that more in history

How many champions have been crowned without winning a race or three? Answer: very few.

Any competitor that focuses on only "winning" may not be of champion-calibre, anyway.

I'd rather win the war than the battle.

The championship is what proves you as a driver. I've seen lot's of fluke race wins, but don't recall a single fluke championship win. If anybody remembers that heinous Chevette that I've posted, that guy won a season championship without winning a single feature. Quite an achievement.

I'd rather have the championship, personally. That is a year long battle for supremacy.

Besides, in AutoX, I only really care about competition and participation. I do it to have fun, not win a championship.

I'd rather win a championship, if I had the budget to compete the whole season. They say it's better to be lucky than good, but I'd rather be good consistently than have one stroke of luck. It also appeals to my belief that it is better to learn something every race and keep plugging away at improving one's abilities.

Last year I pretty well dominated our local autocross Pro class. I had the most FTDs, most Pro class wins, and most overall top PAXes. But I didn't win the championship, and that sort of annoys me.

Give me the title over wins.

Races I've run several full seasons with stockcars and it can be a grind. Once I win the Mega Millions I'd like to cherrypick events like running modifieds in New Symrna for the winter, Dirt week in september, and other big races around the country.

What about the big races? Like say, would you rather be a Tony Stewart who won 5 races that nobody remembers and the championship, or be an AJ Foyt and win the Daytona 500 and other prestigious events?

Indy is probably the best example. Can you name who won last year's championship? And the Indy 500? Which one of those is more important?

LeMans is a good one, too, now that the ACO is back. Will you remember which team took the championship, or which team took the LeMans 24Hr win?

Grand Am is also a good one. Who won the Grand Am championship last year? And who won the 24 Hours of Daytona? Which is more important?

I really think it depends on the series. Local autocross, for instance, there's no real distinction between the races, so it's an easy call. Club Racing gets tougher if your region has a big event. Locally we have the Rose Cup, the longest running road race west of the Mississippi or some other such thing. It's not "big" on a national scale, but it does attract many drivers from California, Oregon, Washington, and BC Canada. Winning the Rose Cup is a big deal to them, the NW SCCA Club Racing season championship? Not so much.

I do think it's kind of odd how it "shifted" over time. Like I was saying, back then they didn't even have driver's championships. Trans Am didn't start with one, none of the prototype races had them, etc. Of course, many of the races were held independently and weren't linked by a sanctioning body, either.

I've done both (boy does that sound stuck up), I prefer winning races. Like ZW says it's possible to win a championship without winning a single race, that happened to me in RC car racing. OTOH, winning an actual race shows that you were The Man (or The Woman) To Beat at that particular event.

I agree it depends on the venue. Back in my mtn bike racing days, if I were asked to chose between a series championship and either National or World Champion, I would have picked the latter every time. A Champion earns the right to wear champion stripes (rainbow for world, national colors for nationals) on their jersey for the rest of their career. In the bike racing world, that's a big deal.

Win enough races, and the championship comes with it.

I've never won the local ministock championship, and never finished lower than fourth in the points. That irks me a bit. I've won the IT2 region twice, and the overall once. those plaques are very prominently displayed. The race win trophies are buried on a shelf.

I won the ITB class championship one year at Waterford. Did it by consistently finishing second while the fast guys won, or fell off the track. I'd rather have won a couple of races in exchange for the championship.

Which one gets me more skrilla?

Osterkraut wrote: Which one gets me more skrilla?

The birds in Monaco are going to be far more impressed with your victory there than the birds in Brazil will be when you cruise to 10th to secure your championship...

Races are for the money. Championships are for sitting around the bar bragging rights.

Depends on the races. If I was doing the Le Mans Series, I would want to win Le Mans over the Championship or the Indy 500 over the IRL Championship. Otherwise I would take the Championship.

Javelin wrote:

Osterkraut wrote: Which one gets me more skrilla?

The birds in Monaco are going to be far more impressed with your victory there than the birds in Brazil will be when you cruise to 10th to secure your championship...

You may be confused as to what skrilla is...

Osterkraut wrote:

Javelin wrote:

Osterkraut wrote: Which one gets me more skrilla?

The birds in Monaco are going to be far more impressed with your victory there than the birds in Brazil will be when you cruise to 10th to secure your championship...

You may be confused as to what skrilla is...

Get off my lawn!

Usually the races get you more moolah than the championship. The endorsement deals are chalked full of more simolians usually, as well (cue Milk at Indy, Rolex at Daytona and Lemans, etc). Don't forget the all-star races like what NASCAR has (had?) worth up to a million smackers. The NHRA has a 5-day drag-a-thon that pays insane amounts of dough as well.

depends on what gets me the most $ if i were doing it professionally. if i could come in 2nd every week but be consistent and win millions of dollars for the championship, and it would more than make up for not winning a few during the season i'd rather do that.

I once heard it summed up this way:

Winning races gets you laid. Winning championships gets you paid.

Both make a strong argument.

jg

JG Pasterjak wrote: I once heard it summed up this way: Winning races gets you laid. Winning championships gets you paid. Both make a strong argument. jg

Getting paid also gets you laid, I think I found my choice!