What should classify you as a "rookie" for a race?

A goose egg in the win column seems to be the most common (and easiest to police) criteria. I think there's an argument that pick your ride and maybe even stock races shouldn't count.  I could also make a case for rookie status up until twelve months after joining RLD or after your first race regardless of stats.  Some rookies are better than most. Some of us veterans...aren't that good.  At the end of the day it's your track, your event, and your rules.  Just keep an eye on the ability to and amount of effort required to enforce whatever criteria you decide on.  My experience with you is that you're here to have a good time and not to take things ultra seriously. Just be consistent with the enforcement decisions that you make and do whatever you want with your rules.  It's your house.

I would say a year and the rookie stripe comes off wins aside. I just started and have a lot to learn but I am also not afraid to put my builds up against the vets of the racing world as well. It is cool for a track host to have races for the ones still getting their feet wet as well. That is why I love this community. 

Why not make the Porsche event open on an invitational basis? Either through first hand at your own events or keeping an eye in the larger scene, I think you have a feel for who you want at the track so the INTENT is satisfied. If the intent fails to get executed, I don't see good things happening. It's going to be difficult to properly throw open the doors publicly AND have the right "bouncer" via the rules set behind the velvet rope. Lots of "fuzzy logic" that you describe yourself in this post

For me, I started the hobby around August of 2025, so have used this as my rookie season ...... But with an exception I have in my head for RacerGnome and his co-hort Gnomeo.  This Crew-Of-Two consider the time off for real life issues with family and even a couple of hospital stays myself this past year, that RacerGnome is given a 6-month FMLA reason to allow his Rookie label to be on his uniform.:-)

Upon January 1st, I will take off the Rookie badge from my uniform and replace it with a new patch of some sort.  IE: My rookie year is over.  Win or lose any event, the rookie year for me is over.

For entry into races that are hosted, it really has to be the host dictating the rules and what race the host would think fun and entertaining to them as it is their race criteria that set the stage to have all come forth to race on their track.

I agree with another above that rip/roll or pick-em type races probably shouldn't count as a WIN in being a rookie win, but if they crack the package and even apply graphite, then it is race and should count if the host is defining your wins by whether or not you made a podium visit.

I being scared to even tear open a car not knowing what I will find, polishing axles, adding weights, and all that goes into preparing a race ready car; I do not believe I am a rookie after a reasonably first year showing.  But if a race event says that as long as you haven't showed up in the podium, and they allow someone who has been learning to get better after the first year, sure I will sign up for it. lol

I may not have won anything this past rookie year, but I still have a couple races coming up before the end of the year where I might get it right.  Either way, I have liked the way I have done in my first rookie year.

As a first year racer, I consider myself a rookie. My inconsitsncy of building has proven that. I do make mistakes, still learning, and can compete with some and have my tail handed to my by others. I classify rookies by time, rather than stats. It is your choice, and will respect that. Some rookies get it right off, while others, 'Hand raised' struggle. Ha ha 

I will no longer be a rookie in my eyes in February when I started racing modded cars. 

I used to host a rookie race every year as a way to give noobs a way to compete without getting their asses kicked by the vets - a more level playing field, right? It's a great way to get people engaged with your channel/club/track and giving them a fun way to learn. It's hard enough to learn from the trial-and-error on someone else's track let alone when you're going up against hardcore veterans. My last rookie race from 2021

And basically it was an honor system to determine if you're a rookie...as I put it back then, "Are you a novice? You know if you are and if you feel like one...If you're a veteran of modding and racing, please sit this one out and enjoy the show. Lets level the playing field a bit by letting rookies race other rookies."

That's the only way you can do it unless you want to make up hard rules/numbers and verify everyone, which is not something I wanted to do. But if I had to...I would look at number of races under their belt and the number of podiums. Although any first-year racer is instantly a rookie IMO. 

Goose egg? Rookie.
First year? Rookie.
Haven't drilled a car? Rookie.

Every rookie has to start somewhere. That's why you are given a year to see what you can do. Generally the goose egg doesn't matter as much as your rookie stats for the year. You might have a good year, you might have a bad year, but if it's your first year, you're a rookie

I agree with those who have stated 12 months.   

12 months from the date of your first win.   This gives you 12 months to polish up the skills and practice the techniques that will help you when running against the fast guys.   

A win with a first time host and a field of 10 cars seems like an entirely different metric to a first win at Red Pill and a field of 64.

As I understand it, both make winners ineligible for Amateur events.

If you wanted to argue the point, obviously the first time winner at Red Pill is going to be capable.of building a fast car.

Should they be allowed to race Amateur?   If it was their first win, why not? Building one fast car is not the same as always building fast cars. Worst thing that could happen is Amateurs have a Flip/R-Lo/Zizzer/RedPill/etc for 12 months pushing them to be faster, which they are going to need if they choose to race, because unless you are building to be slow  that first win is going to happen sooner rather than later.

A one win and done Amateur class seems excessively harsh.

Fair question........

But, I am going to go into bat.

Firstly when is a win a win, and does a win at one event equal a win at another? In general no. Look at horse racing, or similar. When a horse starts racing, they enter a maiden event...For horses that have never won an event. If the horse wins that, you don't suddenly run in a group 1 event, Kentucky Derby, Melboune Cup or Grand National!!! Its the first rung of a ladder!

Now, To try and support the almost non existant Australian and NZ diecast race scene, earlier this year I ran an event, that limited the entries to those countries. In the main it was new people, no mainstay winners, no Flip, Zizzer, DCR, Rlo, Numbskull etc.  (Thought they probably wish they were Aussie!) Actually a very "maiden event." It was designed to encourage people and was clearly advertised as such.

I was greatly pleased for the winner and all who had a go. The winning time was a creditable 2.244 on my drag track. I think it was the second event that Fast Enuff Racing had entered. Well done!

I did not enter my own event, though had worked on some eligable cars to test myself behind closed doors,  and achieved a time of 2.226. I apologise to those who entered as it is not my intention to "big note"myself. I would imagine, if Flip had built a car it probably would have run est 2.213. My current understanding is that Fast Enuff Racing, due to winning my limited event is suddenly considered a Pro? Fair dinkum, what BS ! There are many racers who I would consider Pro, that may not have had a RLD win, but have done wonderfully well, over many years running against the best of the best. Well I guess I wont be running that event next year, at least on RLD.

There are many different ways to categorise, Rookies or Novices, etc. Either by time, ie 1 year, some sort of podium count, or number of events entered. (Who is counting?) But to base "Pro"  on a maiden win, in a maiden restricted field event, does our hobby no favours.

Take care all and goodluck out on the track!

Cheers

Marc D

Unfortunately within the current system I dont think there is a good way to determine someone's rookie status. I'll use myself as an example. I have 0 wins currently, therefore under that metric I am a rookie. If you peel back a layer though I have actually had a pretty good year. Top qualified at GTRs Thunder Country Grand Prix. Qualified 2nd at Custom Carnage 7. Qualified in the top 5 of other races against all the fastest guys and have managed several top 5 finishes during this year. This has really only been possible because I have a family member who had been in the hobby for awhile and gave me all the tips and tricks to building a fast car. Plus I had a local die-cast club to race at before I ever did a mail in race. I was able to hit the ground running. I skipped the normal crawling and walking phase of the hobby l. 

Now compare that to "Rookie Joe" who started out the same time but at a baseline 0. They would have to figure everything out for themselves. Yes there are a ton of good resources on the website to help a new person out, however its not the same as being shown in person. It would still take dozens of builds for "Rookie Joe" to dial it in. So if they only has a few hours a week or even month then it would take them quite awhile before they could reach a "pro" level of racing. Not to mention if they dont have the space for a test track or a local club to race with. They may not even get a top 16 finish within their first year simply due to the time it takes to compete at a high level for the majority of people.

Now if you compare me and "Rookie Joe" it would be kind of unfair in my mind to classify us both as a rookie under the 0 wins rule. We are at different levels simply because of the head start I was fortunate enough to get. This same example can also be used to argue against no longer calling someone a rookie after a year of racing. Sure it would work in my case but "Rookie Joe" would now only compete against the veterans as well. 

Piggybacking off Cut Rocks point it would be awesome if there could be a way to have a sort of a pro circuit and amateur circuit. Maybe some sort of point system that scores wins and top placement on a track with a large entry pool higher than a track with only 10 entries. You would have to be able to reward points as far down as 10th or even 16th place on the big races. That could more easily show who's a rookie and who isn't. Obviously that would be a much more complicated system and would require a ton of work to reward points for the previous years. So as cool as that would be I would never think RLD should do all that work. 

Ultimately I think it just needs to be up to the host to decide what they consider a rookie. Even if its not a strict guideline and a more case by case method. I basically just argued against myself as being considered a rookie. So if you told me that eventhough i have 0 wins I don't fit into what youre going for in a rookie race I would completely understand. Sure some people might get upset but a host is never going to be able to please everyone. 

Apologies for the novel. Looking forward to your race!

Short answer: in most sports and competitions, one is regarded as a rookie during their first season. As we have no season, I believe that someone should be considered a rookie for the duration of their first year regardless of whether or not they have a win.

When I was deciding what type of race to host next year I thought, "What type of race have I not offered yet? A rookie race!"

"What can I do to make it a little different? Offer different class options so that more people can participate!"

I thought that since rookie races have been done in the past that it would be just another race offering and rather simple. Oh boy was I wrong lol. A classic example of, "you don't know what you don't know." As we have read, there are several different ways to classify someone as a "rookie." Some answers are simple for ease of hosting, some are more complicated to try and gauge performance qualifications. Some require a governing body that oversees competition across all races. 

All forms of racing have graduated tiers of competition that you work through based on performance in the lower tiers. In all of the discussion I have had, Abbynormal proposed a idea that I think is both easy to follow and can be measured. A proposed 3 tier system:

Stock Class - unmodified, everyone can compete no matter experience.

Sportsman Class - Modified set of rules to compete in that specific race. Example: weight restriction, casting being used, type of wheel allowed, the usual stuff in the rules sections of a modified race.

Open Class - Anything goes within reason. You would be able to race in the Open Class once you scored enough wins and/or podiums in Sportsman Class races.

I like this option because there is a structure to it and there are things that can be measured to easily identify what Class you can or can not race your car in. After my Porsche race I will be using this 3 tier system for races when it applies specifically to drag races next year.