Ontario Asphalt Short Track Power Rankings

[blkflagagain]

I like the system he uses and would agree with most of the picks as well.. From my understanding he looks at things like home track consistency and strength of field at said track, invitational performances when racing away from home and the frequency of said appearances, and the ability to battle back from adversity etc... For this reason I do question why Kyle Donaldson was in the top 10 as opposed to a guy like Dave Doucette..Now Kyle was a track champ at KD in 2009, and is a really good racer. To my knowledge he didnt finish out of the top 3 all season long in a feature at Kawartha..But also to my knowledge he didnt race once away from Kawartha either.. Now Doucette finished 3rd at his home track (Barrie) and won 6 features along the way, while also blowing transmissions in week 1&3 or he might of won the Barrie title himself. If that's not battling back from adversity I dont know what is?? Dave also had top 5 results at Sauble, Kawartha and Sunset invitationals and won Autumn Colors at Peterborough in what's argueably the best Thunder field of the year. The numbers and strength of field at both these guys home tracks are eerily similiar in my opinion as well.. So while not being overly critical, I do think Spence's system lacks consistency at times (if I have the correct understanding of the factors he looks at)..I think that maybe a bit of favortism was used for Donaldson in this particular case as Spence is pretty close buddies with him and a few of his team members!! And I'm not meaning to cause a big kerfuffel by saying that either, its his list and idea originally and he's free to do with it as he wishes.. Its always a really good and informative read though and having a variance of opinion makes for a really good and informative discussion piece like this one were having here.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=10964.msg78410#msg78410

[blkflagagain]

And I would agree that James Gray should be there somewhere, but maybe the TQ midget guys are exempt, as I know that is the case with the NCATS drivers as well.. Lots of good competitive racers in the TQ's though and Gray had a whale of a dominant season.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=10964.msg78412#msg78412

[edwinmathews]

 I cant believe you would second guess Spencer Lewis . This guy has been around racing since the early 2000s and once drove a 4 fun car .

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=10964.msg78417#msg78417

[jibbyjebidiah]

He's not going to be able to please everybody, and not everybody can make it into the top ten.  sadly, only 10 can make it into the top 10.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=10964.msg78421#msg78421

[CanadianRacingOnline]

One suggestion would be to send him info why you feel another driver should be in the top ten?

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=10964.msg78423#msg78423

[blkflagagain]

He's not going to be able to please everybody, and not everybody can make it into the top ten.  sadly, only 10 can make it into the top 10.

I agree with your statement whole heartadely JIBBY.. Lets face it you could probably make a legitimate case for another 20-25 guys that didnt make the top 10 to be in there..And I didnt mean to 2nd guess Spence if that's how it indeed came across cause the guy has forgot more about racing than most of us will ever know.. I was just wondering if I had the gist of the criteria correct in the factors he looks upon or of there are others as well??? And upon thinkin about it I dont think he exempts the TQ midgets as I've seen a few Legend drivers make the list before so I dont think that would be the case..My guess might be that Spence didnt see much if any of the TQ races this past season so that might be why a guy like Gray was left off.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=10964.msg78427#msg78427

[Thunder6]

I cant believe you would second guess Spencer Lewis . This guy has been around racing since the early 2000s and once drove a 4 fun car .

If you don't like the rankings don't read them. It's pretty simple to turn the page of Inside Track or not read the thread here.

The man does his homework whether you like him or not. He's probably seen more racing in 7 years than the average fan has in 50. And he asks the right questions if he doesn't know the answer. He doesn't have to have the tech knowledge to do his thing.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=10964.msg78431#msg78431

[polishprince12]

oh shut up tex! LOL no polish prince??? thats it i'm leaving the internet!

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=10964.msg78440#msg78440

[blkflagagain]

You mean you have internet up there in Carthew Bay??? I thought newspapers were the latest break through??LOL

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=10964.msg78446#msg78446

[Thunder6]

oh shut up tex! LOL no polish prince??? thats it i'm leaving the internet!

You threatened us with that before Jimmy and it never happened hahaha!

I'm still disappointed Spencer hasn't done a Power Rankings of short track food items

I'm sure if it was ranking by popularity you'd be top 10 Jim if that's any consolation LOL

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=10964.msg78447#msg78447

[Thunder6]

You mean you have internet up there in Carthew Bay??? I thought newspapers were the latest break through??LOL

Yeah they got the Internet in Carthew Bay. But Jim's computer runs on coal and he has to order glass TV tubes from Russia to keep it going LOL

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=10964.msg78448#msg78448

[racin2]

So here's my opinion of all of this....

It is a good list of names - most of which drive in the late models or limited late model classes...

1) Brandon Watson did a phenominal job this season it whatever he was racing - that kid has some true talent and deserves to be on that list.

2) James Gray - well holy heck - he had the best season I think anyone could have - he won 9 out of 11 races - which is over 70% of the races - and the race he didn't win - he finished right behind the leader. TQ midget or not - he had a fantastic season that any driver would hope to have. Being able to go from the back to the front and then lap almost the entire filed in a 25lap race.. what does that say?

3) Dave Doucette - he proved that he can race just about anywhere this year. He raced at Barrie, sunset, peterborough and other tracks - winning or finishing in the top if he didn't. Why he's not mentioned I'm not sure - but he definately is great racer and one that is respected by many.

4) If we're basing this thing on winnings - why isn't Jason McLellan mentioned? He won almost all the races at Varney this summer. Or what about Tim Tolton? He raced at Varney, Peterborough and Flamboro and dominated at all those tracks!!

5) What about Jason Parker from Sauble? Despite my own opinions about his driving 0 he dominated this year and proved that he could race and be successful at other tracks. He won the Varney Fall Classic and I'm not even sure if he's ever even raced on that track before that weekend... Or how about Scott McTeer - Dominated all season at Sauble and then again at peterborough...


I'm not entirely sure what the basis is that makes you a top 10 rank for Spencer Lewis. And I'm not going to argue that he was wrong in his ranking. I personally think that the list is slightly biased. I mean I travelled to almost every track this summer to watch different races. SAuble, Varney, Barrie, Sunset, Peterborough, Flamboro... There are a lot of guys who deserve to be on that list but aren't and it's unfortunate. But it's not my list to make - it was spencer lewis' and though yes the guy goes to many races - but I don't think there was any series that I didn't go see this summer or a track that I didn't visit once. Not going to lie - people like Jason Parker, Tim Tolton and some others may not be popular amoung the racing communities - but do they have to win the popularity contest before being able to be recognized on the ranking list as having a great and recognizable season or driving abilites?

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=10964.msg78461#msg78461

[Thunder6]

All the drivers you mentioned made the list at some point this year.

Like I said before, I don't even agree with the list or the order.

If you were in Algonquin Park in 1917 would you point out to Tom Thomson that he was painting the wrong rocks and trees? I think people are throwing mud to satisfy their own agendas, whatever they may be.

Also a lot of Spencer's thoughts are contained in the articles in Inside Track. When you read the article it becomes more objective.

You also have to admit that there is a lot of great talent in this province to choose from.

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=10964.msg78462#msg78462

[Paul R. Hooker]

any list is subjective and spencer you do a good job with a lot of reseach and there are a pile of good drivers in ontario.  if you go to speed51 you will see jr. hanley didn't make the list of the top short track racers of the last decade.  but you will also notice after enough people complained he was added in a special tribute with the editors note on why he was left off in the first place

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=10964.msg78463#msg78463

[ernie]

Don't know Spencer. Don't know what he knows. What I do know is he was paid by a magazine to write articles and generate intrest. I think by reading this thread he earned his pay! 

Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=10964.msg78465#msg78465