All,
Seems that with the exception of Jeff Cushing, everyone else thought the
social/historical aspect of this event was at least OK. But for a few it
seems, the concour was a disaster.
As you may remember from my first posting , I wasn't crazy about it either.
Hell, I'm in the business of restoring these cars and had a couple of my cars
in the show also. Of course, I'd like to see them PROFESSIONALLY judged too.
But I've learned not to have high expectations, because I feel I'm being
realistic. Simply put, we don't have enough qualified judges and until this
problem is solved the situation is not going to get any better. In fact, I
believe the problem will only get worse as more and more owners spend more
and more money on their cars. From my earlier posting, I'd hoped to ignite a
discussion on how we might be able to find an adequate number of willing and
qualified judges, but little of value was presented. All I kept seeing was
the same individuals calling the TUXXII concour an OUTRAGE with no viable
solutions. I'll bet Steve and Jane Sage of CAT would love to have that list
of 27 OUTRAGED TUXXII concour participants; maybe they'll all become willing
professional judges by the time TUXXIII rolls around. I don't think so.
And since Mr. harde keeps bringing it up, I thought maybe I should say a few
words about the switched judging forms. Yes, the forms were changed a few
weeks before the event and I'm the "extreme power" responsible. Why? Because
a few weeks before the event I began receiving calls from people complaining
that the judging forms posted on the Web page were unfair to the entrants in
the personalized and modified classes. I felt I had to make a decision and I
choose to make a decision that would piss off the least number of people by
using forms that had been used in the past. Just for the record, the rest of
the TUXXII committee disaggreed with me, but for some reason they gave in. Of
course, I knew some were going to be OUTRAGED, and I knew exactly who they
were going to be.
Funny thing though, I figure I'm probably a qualified judge. And before the
concour I went around and looked at all the top stock class contenders and
ranked them the way I thought they should come out in the concour. Funny
thing, when I saw the official results, I was supprised. With one exception,
I had the same results the "judges" had come up with. Certainly, none of the
persons complaining on the net would have been moved up.
The way I see it, the best way for these folks to win those trophies they
feel they so rightfully deserve is to go to the event chairman of the event
they're interested in and lobby to have the rules changed to their
advantage.You know, get rid of that Harrington, and while we're at it, let's
get rid of those green Mk2s also. Hey, some people I know have been doing it
for years.
In closing, Frick and Frack of Tiger Technologies need not worry about my
involvement in any future Tigers Uniteds. As I see it, these events have over
the years moved away from what I thought were more social to what I feel have
become far to competitive. TUXXII was an attempt to bring to a Tigers United
interesting personalities and interesting cars to a pleasant location to
promote social interaction. In most peoples minds, I think we did just that.
But when I read comments like those from Mr. Cushing, it just pisses me off
and I start looking for where else I can put energies.
Comments welcome and 'til next time
Paul Reisentz
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