STOL Drag Events LLC | Updated 2/1/2022

Event Placing Structure

The new STOL Drag Event Placing Structure has been made after careful thought and extensive discussions by its pilots and event coordinators. The new structure promotes an incentive for pilots to run hard and fly their very best in qualification for their best time that will then place them in the best bracket.  The brackets are labeled Gold, Silver and Bronze.  Your qualifying time will seed you into the brackets and you race in that bracket only. These are brackets, not classes.

The concept is that everyone should want to be in the best bracket possible and everyone should strive to be a Gold Bracket pilot.

• All cash purses are paid top down for the top 16 in order: 1st – 16th

• Banners are awarded to the TOP 5 overall and 1 for the top rookie

• Places 11-24 will get something to show for their STOL Drag Event participation

Pilots will enter the bracket based on their fastest qualification time and the format will be Double-Elimination. A minimum of two runs will be allowed in qualifications. 

• Gold Bracket (1-8)

  • Pilots will never finish less than 8th place in the overall standings

• Silver Bracket (9-16)

  • Pilots who qualify 9th-16th will be placed in this bracket and will receive a seeded placement.  As a result of being in this bracket, the best that can be achieved is 9th place in the overall standings and bragging rights for the bracket amongst your fellow pilots. There is no 1st place recognition for this bracket.  There will be cash prizes through 16th place

• Bronze Bracket (17-24)

  • Same as above however there is no cash award in this class as the best one could do is 17th overall

This structure incentivizes pilots to qualify at their best because it determines not only which bracket you race in but also your placement in that bracket.  Faster qualifying times will have an advantage in each bracket as there will be seeded placement in each bracket.

Caveats

Much of this depends on the total number of participants. Ideally at each event we will strive to always have 24 racers, creating 3 brackets. The Bronze bracket needs at least 4 pilots in order to create this bracket.  At the discretion of the organizers, 3 or less racers in the Bronze bracket may be integrated into the Silver bracket and the bracket will be adjusted.  However, in this case, payouts will still only be through 16th place.  STOL Drag Events will not run an event with less than 16 competitors. 

New Rules

**New Rule:
This one is important: In the event you were to DQ in your bracket in the first race and subsequently DQ in your first race of the loser bracket you will receive a DNF (Did Not Finish) for the overall standings with no money or ranking.  All pilots in lower brackets will move up in the overall standings commensurate with the number of DNF’s.  A DNF is specifically a result of not finishing a single bracket race.  A “runoff” (as described below) does not constitute an official bracket race as you already received a DQ for the race that resulted in the runoff.

Example:  A racer in the Gold bracket receives a DNF.  Racers continue to race in their assigned bracket to its conclusion.  All racers in the Silver and Bronze bracket will move up by one place in the overall standings to fill the void created by the DNF in the higher bracket. 

**New Rule:
In the event there are only 16 pilots at an event and 1 pilot receives a DNF, they are out and only the top 15 would split the pot. The 16th place prize money will be awarded as a bonus to the winner of the bracket in which the DNF exited.

**New Rule:
In the event that both pilots competing head-to-head DQ, we will re-run them to determine the winner.  A DQ by either pilot in this “runoff” will not count as a DQ that triggers a DNF.  Judges will not communicate on the radio if a pilot DQs until after that bracket race is over in order to keep the pilots battling to the finish line.  

**Each bracket is an 8 racer, double-elimination bracket. It takes 14 races to complete a bracket if there are no ties. This basic approach yields placement through 4th (loser of race 12). To properly derive 5/6 and 7/8 places we will add 2 additional races. 

• Race 15 is the loser of race 8 and 9 with the winner placing 5th and the loser placing 6th. 

• Race 16 is the losers of race 5 and 6 with the winner placing 7th and the loser placing 8th. 

This approach uses real racing for all placements. 

There has been discussion about creating a points system in the future in order to qualify for the big show in Reno.  At this time, we simply don’t have the numbers for this.  This system will eventually incentivize pilots to participate in all events in order to win the overall points title, take home some extra money and allow those top 16 to participate in Reno at the National Championship. High Sierra will always be a one-off, World Championship event.

STOL Drag Events LLC Management