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Now it gets interesting

August 19, 2006

This year's autocross season is going to finish with a bang. I'm in the lead, but this year my competition made me work uncomfortably hard for it, and fling even more money at my car to stay ahead. Chief amongst my PITAs is Paul, who is a really fun guy, a pleasure to compete against, and (I am convinced) is the fastest Taurus driver in the known Universe. Lord knows what he'd do to us if he had an actually good car. He's one of only two people who I haven't beaten in their own cars, so I know he's at least a better driver than me.

So with one event left in the championship season, here are the point standings:

Competitors are scored by the best 11 out of 15 events, 1st=200, 2nd=160, 3rd=110, etc. And yes, I am the leader, but here's the twist: because of a scheduling change, I'm going to be on vacation for the final event. So I'll need to win on my best 10 (1620), but Paul could still improve his best 11 if he can beat one of his previous scores (like the 5th place finish he got in Round 13.) So here's what could happen:

If Paul can win round 15, he'll replace one of his 70s with a 200, netting him 130 points. That's enough to beat me to first place, and he would be the season champion.
If Paul gets second place, he'll replace one of his 70s with a 160, netting him 90 points. That would tie me exactly in points, and we would share the season championship.
If Paul gets anything lower than second place in round 15, he will take second place for the season. Again.

I want to win, because I'll get a neat trophy and another snazzy jacket that boosts my ego with a big "CHAMPION" patch on the back. (Remember, I've never won anything in my life other than Autocross, so my ego wants all the boosting it can get.)

But in a way I would be happy if Paul won--- he's been doing this a long time, he's shown up every event, he drives the wheels off of his car, and he hasn't won a championship season yet. (And I think he would really, really like to beat me. I'm honored.) But to get it, he's got to finish first in the final round, which he's only done once so far this season.

No pressure, Paul.

Posted by rus at 11:37 PM

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