May 2020 “Five Year Rating Edition”

Hello race fans! To say I have a little extra time on my hands right now is an understatement. With racing locked down since the middle of March the 2020 SLMP Ranking has been dormant. The off time has given me the opportunity to work during the evenings and weekends on my historical ranking project.

Since I had saved Sam’s previous A-Team rankings from 1996-2012, I thought it would be interesting to go back to 2013 and work my way forward and thus filling in the missing years when I started with my own version and formula for the ranking in 2018. Wow was I in for time consuming and data collection experience. After two years of working on the project I finished last weekend.

The fun part was reliving the past races and remembering some of the outstanding victories and seasons that many drivers had. The tedious part was the data collection, organization and time to get everything right. I wanted it to be accurate, utilizing the same data points I use for the current ranking. Race by race, month by month and year by year, I went. It was mind numbing and to be finished now is exciting but now what? I have to share some of my information.

The first thing I thought was going back five years and merging the Top 100 of each year to see who finished where. In this analysis a driver had to have qualified for the ranking during each year. I found it very interesting to say the least and I think you’ll agree that over the last 5 years these drivers listed below are the Best of the Best during this time period.

This driver rank is by their average yearly rate which is different from the normal criteria ranking that you see that takes into account the number of races and logic rules. It’s also the first glance into the numerical rate that you’ve seen. As you can see the margin of difference between drivers is very close.

I think you’ll enjoy this little trip down memory lane. In the days and weeks to come please support the races that take place. The sport needs us more than ever before.

Top 25 2015-2019

What is the Super Late Model Performance Ranking? The SLM Performance Ranking has its origins from the A-Team Ranking developed by Sam Holbrooks in 1996 and printed in “Behind the Wheel” and Late Model America.” The SLM Performance Ranking is a national ranking for Open Motor events that pay a minimum $2000 to win. Each driver who makes a feature event will earn a mathematical formula based rate built on performance, competition and durability. The final ranking is based on rate and logic rules that reward racing more. Nothing in the rate, rank or logic is subjective. It’s just all numbers, math and rules. The SLM Performance Ranking isn’t about who is best but who is having the best year. If you think that makes the driver “The Best” that’s ok with me.Mike Ruefer’s

Super Late Model Performance “Top 25” 2015-2019

May 2020 “Five Year Rating Edition”

Hello race fans! To say I have a little extra time on my hands right now is an understatement. With racing locked down since the middle of March the 2020 SLMP Ranking has been dormant. The off time has given me the opportunity to work during the evenings and weekends on my historical ranking project.

Since I had saved Sam’s previous A-Team rankings from 1996-2012, I thought it would be interesting to go back to 2013 and work my way forward and thus filling in the missing years when I started with my own version and formula for the ranking in 2018. Wow was I in for time consuming and data collection experience. After two years of working on the project I finished last weekend.

The fun part was reliving the past races and remembering some of the outstanding victories and seasons that many drivers had. The tedious part was the data collection, organization and time to get everything right. I wanted it to be accurate, utilizing the same data points I use for the current ranking. Race by race, month by month and year by year, I went. It was mind numbing and to be finished now is exciting but now what? I have to share some of my information.

The first thing I thought was going back five years and merging the Top 100 of each year to see who finished where. In this analysis a driver had to have qualified for the ranking during each year. I found it very interesting to say the least and I think you’ll agree that over the last 5 years these drivers listed below are the Best of the Best during this time period.

This driver rank is by their average yearly rate which is different from the normal criteria ranking that you see that takes into account the number of races and logic rules. It’s also the first glance into the numerical rate that you’ve seen. As you can see the margin of difference between drivers is very close.

I think you’ll enjoy this little trip down memory lane. In the days and weeks to come please support the races that take place. The sport needs us more than ever before.

Top 25 1995-1999

What is the Super Late Model Performance Ranking? The SLM Performance Ranking has its origins from the A-Team Ranking developed by Sam Holbrooks in 1996 and printed in “Behind the Wheel” and Late Model America.” The SLM Performance Ranking is a national ranking for Open Motor events that pay a minimum $2000 to win. Each driver who makes a feature event will earn a mathematical formula based rate built on performance, competition and durability. The final ranking is based on rate and logic rules that reward racing more. Nothing in the rate, rank or logic is subjective. It’s just all numbers, math and rules. The SLM Performance Ranking isn’t about who is best but who is having the best year. If you think that makes the driver “The Best” that’s ok with me.

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Mike Ruefer

Photographer & Writer