MrSideways

Could be either or, But I'm siding with the fact that they used the SWAG (simple wild ass guess) method for determining the pax numbers for STU for this year because they had no data. But rather then choose to error low, they choose to error HIGH. Obviously I would have much preferred them error LOW.

nunyo

As the chair of the event I can sympathize with a lot of the frustration expressed in this thread. I acknowledge that each class SHOULD have been gridded together. The simple fact of the matter is that we did not set it up to be that way. If a grid worker for a certain heat managed to get it right then kudos to the grid worker because as organizers we didn't even address it.

Part of the reason that things like this slip through is that we are simply overloaded. There are far too many things to keep track of in a given day, especially when you more than double the average turnout and add a lot of other factors to the running of an event. If you want to see events getting better, then get up off your ass and get involved in running them. It's far too easy to criticize what we're doing when you aren't responsible for anything more than getting to the track, showing up for your work heat and driving.

Obviously there are those in this thread to whom my rant does not apply, you know who you are.

Muddy

JFWY.
I think the STS pax is too low. I used to PAX in the top 10 in my shitty Cavalier.

PseudoRealityX

STS pax has since bumped CONSIDERABLY...it's close DS I believe... whereas before, it was between GS and HS.

OversteerS2K

Well I guess I didn't lift a finger to help. I did offer to be there Friday afternoon but I had a lot to do over the weekend.

Just file my gripe in the "things to do in 4 years" folder.

And 7 entries only trophies 2. I'm not sure why the software spit it out like that. I wasn't up there to get one because I shouldn't have. A couple other classes had 7 too. You're supposed to go to 8 entries to hand out 3 trophies.


__________________________________________________ __
STU seems to get paxed differently in different regions, this is from a Florida region event:

27m STU 123 Gordon Sabga 03 EVO 41.519 *0.813 33.754 0.074 2.538

tom2000

Todd,

I started one minute after you. There was only one car between us.

Aaron did have at least eight looks at the course. Four as a rider-- one before fourth heat and three during; and four as a driver.
I'd have loved that and I'm sure you too.

I would have liked a fourth run also like you and Aaron.

Toma







Onward to Tom Austin. Preface this all with the fact that he wouldn't have been there either if it wasn't for me. O.K., he did nothing wrong. Should he have taken his last run immediately after mine? If it were a Divisional or National event than yes. CFR didn't break any rules since the event isn't of the calibur requiring rules like that to be in place. But when the times are falling on every run due to the course drying quickly a few minutes between cars in a single class can really be an advantage for the later driver. Tom's run was 0.5 faster, I don't know if the extra time allowed conditions to be a half second faster but we shouldn't need to guess. All the cars in class should have been run as close together as reasonably possible.

nunyo

That may be true for the event day Todd, but you were there two weeks prior killing weeds. My rant was not really directed at you so I guess the "you know who you are" statement wasn't particularly accurate.

No gripe from anyone is being ignored. Running these events is a process of continuous improvement. I spend additional energy on the areas that get highlighted. Usually this means that something doesn't go particularly well at an event and for the next I focus on making it better. When we've been doing this for a while I expect it will all go very smoothly. As it is, I've chaired maybe half a dozen events, so I need a little more time before I can "get it right".

I knew immediately upon hearing CSP's protest that we had screwed up by not gridding the cars together, it just hadn't occurred to me until it was protested. I also agree that it should have been expressed that ride along's should at the veruy least be ok'ed by the rest of your class if they were going to be done at all. Again it didn't occur to me to do that until someone mentioned that it was a problem.

I mentioned that the oversight was only partly attributable to being overwhelmed. The rest of it comes from my relative lack of experience. I know that other people could probably do a better job, but they aren't stepping up to do it, so until someone better comes along or I get entirely sick of it, CFR West is stuck with me. I like to think that it's not going to be a bad thing for anyone, I am sincerely trying to make this club the best I can. As I'm sure you know Todd, to bust your ass at something only to have it shot full of holes and criticized after the fact is frustrating in the extreme. In fact, unless I've misunderstood, it is exactly why you aren't doing courses for us these days. I'm pretty thick skinned so I'll be hangin in there, but I do reserve the right to fire back at those that aren't providing anything useful at all.

Onto other things, I too was a bit put off by the software tabulation, things were definitely out of whack in some of the classes. If I remember right, Jesse was marked as being in fifth place with a trophy despite there being only five cars in the class and that he had the fastest time after penalties. I manually checked through the list before the trophy presentation; had I been around the block a few more times I probably would have caught that the list was awarding more trophies than it should. I did stop from awarding a third place in a four car class.

Despite all of the things we've found to gripe about, I consider this years championship event to have been a success. The vast majority of people seemed to have a good time. I know I did. On event day I received lots of positive feedback, and very little negative. So I acknowledge that it wasn't perfect, and we have sufficiently highlighted a couple of areas for improvement. You can rest assured that for any event where there's a high likelihood of people taking the results pretty seriously, we'll be sure to cover those bases. And I'd also bet that there will be some other thing that happens at that event that will become the focus for improving the one after it.

Leonard

On to a more positive note, I'd like offer a HUGE thank you to all of the people in run group 2 who worked the course in the rain for those of use in heat 4. All these guys bitching about things being unfair because their runs were not all dry while they sat all dry and toasty in their cars with the windows up need a reality check. Getting wet sucks and your effort is appreciated (especially by those of us without luxuries like tops and windows....)

w0rd

I heard someone announce over the PA during the first heat that there were no ride-alongs permitted.

I thought Aaron would know better than to do that anyway.
Even at a regular local event I think this is grounds for disqualification (had he won the class, and had it been brought up at the event).

Didn't any of his competitors say anything to him in grid? I would have said something the first time I saw him stepping out of a passengers seat.

platinum703

i remember hearing at the drivers meeting sunday morning that ride alongs were OK... as long as the driver and passenger werent both noobies. but that was all i heard, nothing about waiting till all of your runs were over.

i can honestly say that i remember this, because being in a 2 driver car and with a co-driver that usually wants me along to help him put together the course, it meant that i could get a few extra looks (and yes... OF COURSE it helped, but hey, i thought it was legal)

all in all, besides for my 4th group self proclaimed (and self-inflicted) 'grid debacle'- mostly reffering to not noticing the impending downpour (doh!) as the grid worker and not running all classes together (guess when i mentioned that earlier i opened pandoras box), i felt good about the day and the way things ran.

trey