Though it took a little longer than usual to get his first win of the "Speedweek"
period in Florida, Batesville, Arkansas veteran Billy Moyer has been a consistent top performer in
the Sunshine State. The record he has compiled there, combined with a successful three wins in six
races during the "Wild West Shootout" in Tucson, make him the top performer in the country to date,
and still the odds-on favorite to ace one of the remaining Volusia Speedway Park events on any
given night. He is trailed in the rankings by Kentucky's Darrell Lanigan, with two wins and a
perfect top five record. Wisconsin's Jimmy Mars, though he remains winless, has finished in the top
five in five out of six events against an average of more competitors per event than any other
driver, and sits in third.(Mike Ruefer)
Since 1996, the Behind the Wheel / Late Model America "A- Team" has served as the most
reliable ranking of the nation's top dirt Late Model drivers across all sanctions and geographical regions, and the
most accurate assessment of how America's drivers can be expected to perform against each other at
any event, whether "regional", "national", or where a cross-section of both can be expected.
Theoretically, the order of the top 25 would be the most likely field of entries and the
most plausible order of finish in a hypothetical 25-car feature event in which all American Late Model racers
competed together at a neutral racing venue, based on each driver's season-to-date record.
Performance criteria is based on mathematical equations that reflect real-life scenarios
in order to predict how a driver can be expected to perform, with consideration to average finishes, average car
counts, highest car counts, and best finishes (the last two calculated on a progessive sliding scale as the racing
season advances).
Using that data collected from the top-ranked driver, a standard is set by which all other
drivers are measured on a points "curve", rather than a cumulative points system that erroneously rewards the more
active drivers. From week to week, points and ranking position may fluctuate up or down according to a driver's
performance relative to other drivers on the curve, using all of the aforementioned criteria.
