RICHARDS, DOTTER & GAUGHAN RECENT CHAMPS?

In NASCAR there is a lot of weight put on consistency, while in Formula 1 you need more than consistency, a driver needs to back it up by a winning performance. A driver not winning, not making the podium or not finishing with a top-six or better receives zip. There are no happy faces or gold stars for finishing a race. Formula 1 is a harsh world, where the winner is rewarded and the loser not recognized, where a driver could finish each race with a top-ten but still not earn a single point.

How would Formula 1 rules affect the standings in the NASCAR Winston West Series? If you review even just the past 3 seasons, it would have been considerable. For starters Brendan Gaughan with 5 wins in the current season would have already clinched the 2001 championship with an astounding 66 points. But the top-five in the standings remain the top-five under both sanctioning body rules with the only the 3rd and 4th place in the standings swapping positions.

But in 2000 Gaughan would have found himself tied for the championship with the final honors going to Bobby Dotter. Dotter and Gaughan each had 47 points under Formula 1 rules, but Dotter having 4 wins versus Gaughan’s 2 wins would have been crowned the champion. Joe Bean and Bill Sedgwick would have been in the top-five under Formula 1 rules and Kevin Richards would have remained in the top-five under either set of rules.

In 1999 the changes would have been significant. The champion would have been Kevin Richards with 38 points. Interestingly enough Austin Cameron finished 2nd under both sanctioning body scoring methods. Sean Woodside, who was the actual champion in '99, would have been third. Bill Sedgwick whose team elected not to compete in the final race at Japan and did not even make the NASCAR Winston West top-ten in 1999 would have finished 4th in the standings under Formula 1 rules, and Butch Gilliland who finished the season 10th under NASCAR rules would have had a top-five season.