Race Car Numbers...How?
 

A few dumb questions regarding race car numbers. Are the numbers random? Can a team pick their numbers? Do the numbers have any relation to overall driver/team ranking or standing? Just curious, as Porsche has 911 and 912 on their current GT LM cars, which seems convenient. However, the Corvette and BMW teams in the same GT LM class run single and double digit numbers. Yet in F1, Vettel is running a number 1, which seems indicative of being the defending champion.

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Every racing organization has their own rules so it varies a lot. With some groups you can choose your own number and get it approved by the officials for the season. In other groups your number is assigned, often as your ranking in the prior season. I have raced under both.

I know in NASCAR (yes nobody cares) the number are sort of "owned" by the teams until released. Hence why #3 didn't make an appearance until this season. Childress still had control/ownership of it.

Dibs on Lucky 13

And thanks for the responses. Been following various types of motorsport most of my life, and just now decided to ask.

The last two race organizations that I was licensed with reserved numbers 1-10 for last seasons' winners (if they wanted the plate number that the had earned).

Above that, they assigned them sequentially in the order that people sent in their entry forms. You did have an option to request any number above 10 if it had not already been assigned.

For events that I was a sometimes participant in, I would bring number 88 with me because with those two digits I could trim them to create whatever number that they assigned to me.:D