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I don't follow any kind of car racing, but I've always wondered this.
When I ran track we would all get numbers assigned by the meet organizers, which ensured that there would never be any duplication of numbers.
People who participate in sports, like baseball, football, and basketball, have numbers assigned by their teams, again preventing the awkward situation of having two guys on the same team with the same number.
I get the impression that car racers just pick their own numbers. Is that right? How do they prevent duplication?
It varies from series to series. If I recall correctly, NASCAR "controls" the numbers and the owners request them from year to year. I'm sure there's a fee involved. Typically, if an owner had a number one season, they will have priority on that number the next.
I'm not sure how Indycar and F1 allocate theirs, but the previous years champ usually gets #1.
On the local level, there's really no "control". You'll often see duplicate numbers. Sometimes there will be a letter next to it...especially in big events where drivers who don't typically race together compete.
F-1 used to dole the numbers out based on a team's finishing position in the previous year's points - with the champ getting #1, but that changes next year.
Starting in 2014, a driver will be allowed to pick any number between 2 and 99 and keep it his entire career. If he wins the championship he can run the #1 or his own number.
in nascar the numbers are assigned by the sanctioning body, and the car owners pay nascar a fee to rent the numbers each year. the teams can request a particular number, if it is available. for instance phillips 66 sponsored a team in the 80s i think, and they got nascar to give the the car number 66. and as long as the team keeps paying the fee for the car number, they can either use or not use the number. for instance when dale earnhardt died, childress put the number on ice, and bought the number 29 to use with kevin harvick in the car. he maintained the rent on the number 3 though mostly to prevent anyone else from using it, until now as austin dillon will run that car number in 2014.
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