As most of our racers know, a new Penalty points system was introduced at Summer Nationals 2025. And while the majority of our supporters welcomed the new system, some expressed concerns with specifics in the rules, and how points are being allocated.
A handful of racers have reached out to the CKNA staff to express these concerns, offering additional ideas or tweaks to make the system work better. Thank you to all that took the time to reach out and have calm, reasoned discussions with us. In the majority of the feedback, there were two consistent themes:
Multiple class runners:
Many comments we received said that we are unfairly holding drivers running multiple classes to a higher standard, because even though they are running twice as many sessions, the points are being accumulated in one single points total.
After much consideration, we agree with that thought. A driver racing in two (or more) classes was taking twice as many opportunities to race and potentially earn penalty points, but the points did not fall off any faster than a driver running a single class. This was in essence holding them to a higher standard than others, which we don’t believe is in the spirit of the new rules.
Separate Divisional penalty points from Nationals:
We also heard multiple comments that the Divisionals and Nationals should be calculated separately. Some drivers/parents believe that by running Divisional races, they are putting themselves in a difficult position if they had to carry penalty points into a National event from previous Divisional races.
To this thought, we disagree. The purpose of this new system was to clean up the racing, and ensure that drivers who habitually committed driving standards infractions received the additional consequences for those offenses regardless of what race they were attending. Clean driving is just as important at a Divisional as it is at a National. On the same token, we do believe that drivers should be given the opportunity to prove that a “bad weekend” was just that, and potentially reduce their penalty score throughout the season.
To accomplish this, we have changed the methodology for how a driver can reduce their points. Penalties will still fall off after 380 days, but drivers will now receive a 2-point deduction from their penalty points total for every subsequent race they participate in. We believe that this will allow a driver who might have had an off weekend, or just didn’t have the calls go their way at a particular race the opportunity to improve upon their score prior to an upcoming big event.
Additional Noteworthy Changes:
Throughout the process of evaluating the first weekend, some other things became apparent that we wanted to adjust. The goal is to ensure we are making as comprehensive a system as possible and still have something that racers can understand AND our officials can enforce efficiently:
Suspension Threshold: Rather than having two different points levels, only the 15-point scale will be used. Once a driver reaches the 15-point threshold the first time, their penalty score will be reset to 7-points after serving the session exclusion penalty. Once they take a green in at the next event, their score will effectively by 5-points, leaving them 10-points before they could run afoul of the 15-point threshold again.
If the driver hits the 15-point threshold a second time within 380days, they will receive the event disqualification for the event they are at as well as be suspended for the next National event. This method closes a potential issue, and we hope also is simple to understand.
Furthermore, as we are determined to root out the negative behavior at the race track, the consequences for retaliation and Unsportsmanlike Conduct have increased.
- Retaliation: increased to 15 points
- Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Automatic DQ & Suspension (Min. 6months)
Lastly, we learned at Summer Nationals that having this system makes the utilization of the Sportsmanship Flag difficult. In a busy race, it is not feasible to make sure every driver gets the opportunity to be presented with the flag.
CKNA will no longer be using this flag at any events. If a driver on their own decides to give position(s) back because they feel they may have gotten a penalty, it will be at the sole discretion of the Race Director to consider that penalty as “served on track” If the Race director makes that decision, the driver still receive penalty points but the amount will be cut in half.
Barring any major developments, we believe we have this dialed in for the remainder of the 2025 season. A re-write of the CKNA rulebook has begun and will include all the above information in a clear and understandable way. We also intend to create a penalty table that can serve as a quick reference guide to competitors and officials that outlines the penalties, the potential in-race consequences and penalty point implications.
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