SEBRING, Fla. – Item: Five Huracan teams were given post-race time penalties after the Rolex 24 at Daytona, plus Lamborghini was stripped of its GTD manufacturer points and fined $25,000. It is the first time IMSA used the so-called sandbagging rule designed to penalize teams that do not cooperate in the Balance of Performance (BoP).

“Competitors and manufacturers are expected to provide valid data upon request to assist IMSA in the BoP process,” said the media release announcing the penalties, which scrambled the results in the GTD class weeks after the 24-hour race.

In the interest of how outcomes might be affected in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida, here is a quiz on Balance of Performance.

First: What is the primary goal of BoP?
A. The sport needed a new acronym.
B. No good deed, like winning, goes unpunished.
C. Manufacturers pay in advance to participate in IMSA and the BoP guarantees them a chance to win races. (Or lose if they don’t mind their b’s and p’s.)
D. The BoP helps keep fans completely in the dark.

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2. What other types of racing does the BoP most resemble?
A. Formula 1 – because BoP creates constant turmoil in the paddock
B. NASCAR – the original rule-of-the-week club.
C. Supercross – because racing really should be about ups and downs.
D. All of the above.

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3. Does BoP make sports car racing more authentic?
A. Well, it’s better than fuel rules.
B. No, because the dog and pony are missing.
C. Yes, because making equivalency rules and enforcing them is a thankless task and how would you like to do it?

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4. BoP must be a legit system, because:
A. Five to seven guys decide on the BoP rules. They can’t all be wrong.

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5. What is the correct way to use the verb “to Bop” in a sentence?
A. Bop until you drop a valve or have a hernia.
B. We were about to win the championship and Bop!
C. I would like to thank my parents, my wife, our children, our Pomeranian and my little buddy Bop for this trophy.
D. Create your own Bop sentence and we’ll ask IMSA to give it a dyno test. (Expect results in two or three weeks.)

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6. Fans in the Green Park at Sebring are most likely to think BoP is:
A. A new craft beer.
B. Rap music with a jazz influence.
C. A type of motor oil.
D. The band that gave the infield concert on Friday night.

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7. True or False?
Teams provide BoP data to IMSA in tests and then show up at the race with different bodywork.

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8. Put the following BoP items in the proper sequential order.
A. Fuel capacity.
B. Gear shift knob.
C. Air restrictor.
D. Weight of car.
E. Weight of driver.
F. Weight of driver’s dog (unless it’s a Pomeranian, which counts as 10 lbs.)

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9. Two fans discussing the merits of BoP could be described as:
A. Rare.
B. Extremely rare.
C. Extraordinarily rare.
D. Extinct.

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10. If the members of the committee who decide on the BoP were a musical group, they would be:
A. A quintet.
B. A sextet.
C. A small orchestra.
D. It depends on who’s available.

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