What are the rules for the sportsman class
 

Before people start saying there shouldn't be pro/sportsman classes this is not that topic!!
I have run sportsman for the past 2 years and I'm on the edge of going pro. In the last couple months I've seen things that I've questioned and I've never said a word. The question I ask to racers, track owners, and rule makers is. What are the OFFICAL rules for racing sportsman/intermidiate 1/8 scale buggy?? I've always understood it was .21 motor limit, 1/8 tire size only, 125cc gas tank, and NO sponsorships, plus a few more that are small details. Yet I know of people running 150cc truggy fuel tanks, and sponsored drivers running sportsman (no matter the sponsorship) I've asked a time or two and all I get is "well it's only sponsored for this or that and it's not much". Or "there sponsored for this type of racing not that" sponsored is sponsored! I just want the rules to be clarified so that I know what I can do. If rules arn't posted and followed then why have them?? I guess if there's no rules I'll be putting a monster truck fuel tank and put a large motor on it with every sponsor I can get. LOL, 20 minute fuel stops here I come!! I'm not calling anyone out and I'm not calling to get anyone In trouble. I just wanna know the rules so I can follow them. If y'all can't supply a over all rule like from ROAR then I'd like the track owners to say the rules there going to follow per track.

This is a great question and I've also wondered myself. We get told one thing then it's followed by contradicting actions. Any one have an answer?

I totally agree with "XRAY"!! Why have rules if they aren't enforced? Fair is fair! Also, if someone is obviously "sand bagging", then they should be forced to bump up to pro class! We have all seen it and nothing is done about it.

I totally agree. I have not ran in a while. But one thing that had kept me from running wad there was no point other than just for fun which is fun but let's be real this is not cheap. I am in no way close to being pro, yet I find myself racing with them. Example he's in pro at local tracks but at other places he's sportsman. I have said for years now there needs to be some kind of way to keep up with each driver's record. And it should be transferable to any track local or out of state. If a racer has any sponsor then guess what your a pro. Or if you have won a championship your a pro. Also it doesn't matter if your pro in truggy you are pro in all classes. But I get it nobody wants to loose or beaten badly so you stay down. Imagine how I feel a rookie in this sport competing in sportsman racing against people with sponsors who let's face it you don't get sponsored for sucking. Every track should adopt rules and stand by it no exceptions. And post theses rules. The sad part is no matter how much we complain I doubt it will be changed. I support you xrayvision. Not that it helps any.

I wish they had enough room in the program for an open buggy class but i know it would add way too much time to the allready long race day. I haven't raced in close to a year but when i was racing regular i could win sportsman pretty often but only at my local track. At other tracks i would usually finish around the top 5. I know a couple others that are in the same situation and we are not sponsored. If we run pro at our local track and sportsman at the others would that be fair? Just wondering what your opinion is. I know i for one can police myself and i would move up when i needed to, i'm not hunting trophy's, i just like to have fun racing my toy car LOL. As far as the rules on the buggy i thought it was 125cc tank, .21 engine 1/8 wheels etc. even though they don't tech the cars i stay within the rules and i thought most people i raced with did as well.

good question
 

There is a great thread in the Off Road section on about the 3rd page called When to go from Sportsman to Pro??? Looks like some tracks out west run everyone together then after the 2nd qualifer they split the field up by times. Some weeks you could make pro sometimes not and be in the B main.

lots of good points brought out here. are we talking series races or are we talking club races? there will always be home track advantage when racing different tracks. but that is racing.

Lots of talk but no definate answers.
 

Good reading here. Hope the link works.

http://www.rctech.net/forum/nitro-of...tsman-pro.html

DELETED.

Check out this video on YouTube:<br/><br/>http://youtu.be/URPBSwW4_a4

I like this approach.. but there are some that can run one qualifier / make the A main because of there times and then finish with a win or second place.

Rocket rounds allow this to happen. And the rest of us "Sportsman" drivers that have been fighting to get to the A main are shorted positions. I like the idea of running them all and shaking them out into classes.. In addition, I think that it's up to the race director / track owner to move up racers when setting up the mains. I know this will cause extra work, but in the end, it would make for closer racing and more aligned classes.

For example -

At our local track the sportsman racers can run 9 laps in 5 minutes.. This is 80 percent of the Sportsman racers. There are the few 4 to 5 that can easily run 10 laps in 5 minutes.. and they are 2 mph faster then the rest of "All" of the Sportsman drivers.

So, for us true "Sportsman" drivers - we do not consider the top 5 drivers as sportsman.. if you place 5th in the A main - then you are the top sportsman driver. (Amongst us sportsman drivers)

In my opinion -
This is unfair to the 5 spots that are being taken away from the true sportsman drivers. It also drives away new "Sportsman" and "New" racers. It's okay to run a B main for the Pro drivers!!

And of course, you hear "In this series I'm running sportsman, but at other races I'm pro" Also "This is my first series race, I'm going to race Pro next series"

Good points and ideas
 

I have another good question maybe someone will chime in one. I havent raced RC in a year and a half. Im going to come back soon hopefully before the years end. I had moved my way up to Pro after running sportsman for over a year. When i come back i know im going to be rusty,wrecking and not fast so will if be ok if i run sportsman a while? If i run pro i know i will be in their way... Heck when i did run pro I was in the way alot LOL

I like the idea of running all together and then seperating after times are posted 20 min Amain ,20 min Bmain doesnt really matter heck if you win the Bmain buggy race you get to run with the pros thats a bonus right

Honestly I'd say it would depend on how you did the first race back. If you easily win or place top 5 there's your answer. Running multiple races in sportsman most likely isn't as necessary as you think. Besides why sell yourself short of your accomplishments.

Still no answers
 

Almost 300 views and a dozen comments and not a single answer! Of coarse if I asked the same question about any electric class there would be pages of people with answers. Why not nitro?!? The GCS has rules posted up clearly. PNB post rules, the pro series has them and there's even ROAR rules that are posted. Seems to easy to just adopt any of those sets of rules And actually follow them ,but instead we follow "UNWRITTEN" rules that are made up as we go. It shouldn't matter how small or large the event is or club race to a series race. Electrics have the same rules at every race but not nitro. So I ask again to track owners and race sponsors. What are the rules for sportsman at each track???

ok
 

let me set the world straight. the way i was taught growing up is once you win three sportsman races, you go to pro. or if any of your times beat a pros in the main then you go to pro. and yes the .21 125cc 1/8th tires are all correct. now for the sponsorship if you even have a 10% deal with avid or jconcepts it is still a sponsorship. you run pro no exceptions. obviously if the sponsor gave you that 10 percent deal then they had enough belief in you that you would one day be at the top. when i was 10 i used to race 1/10 gas truck and i always finished 2nd to paul conway boy was he fast lol. but i never had an 8th scale. money got hard and at the time my mom told me i could get sponsored and keep racing or quit. well i searched for someone to sponsor me for months , until i came across a company called cen racing. this is before losi ever came out with a 8th scale buggy. i had no resume and simply told them my story and asked for a chance. my first ever 8th scale race was in nashville at thunder. this was a big race too there was over 250 racers and probably around 80 prodrivers. guess what i finished dead last. i refused to race sportsman simply because i had a little 50 percent deal. but by the way i was taught if you have any kind of sponsor and very little experience you still need to enter pro. take the last series race we had the ngsns
-- SPORTSMAN BUGGY - A Main --
Pos Car Laps time name
1 1 36 20:31.78 Derrick Rather
2 2 35 20:26.92 ALAN FUNDORA
3 3 33 20:06.20 Austin Hughes

okay now the pro times

-- PRO BUGGY - A Main --
Pos Car Laps time name
1 1 39 20:09.32 Coty Ingram
2 2 39 20:25.24 Dustin Bunch
3 3 38 20:10.71 Paul Conway
4 4 37 20:08.50 Ed Weaver
5 5 35 20:18.21 Matt Bevil
6 8 35 20:21.28 Keith Wilikins
7 7 34 20:17.19 Heywood Barton
before you read iam just using these people as examples. iam friends with these two guys.
derrick had 36 laps and alan had 35 derrick would of finished 5th in pro and alan would of finished 7th in the pro class. now i watched the sportman amian and alan is fast but he just wrecked a little more than derrick, alan could of won it too. now im not saying that these are the only two people that should bump. austin is moving on up in this rc world too. there are about 5 or 6 people who should really bump to pro but wont because they say we are too fast. guys you get faster by trying to run down the faster guys. you find there lines you figure out how hard you can run into that corner and you also push the boundaries of an rc car. two years ago i went to the pnb with not one sponsor. i still entered pro because i know where i stand. in the entire protruggy amian i was the only person completely un sponsored. so what happened i brought back 4th place and a podium finish. even if you dont have a single sponsor you are going to spend the same amount of money running sportsman as you would running pro. just bump already stop procrastinating. heywould bumped knowing it was his time. let the other guys who are the real sportsman have their class back.