Tuna!

Surprize! A PT Cruiser won the "Best Tuner" award at Shaw's Ridge today. The PT has dolphins etched on the windows, so I can only assume the voters thought they were tuna, and figured "Best Tuna" was close enough. Oh, well. No accounting for taste, I guess. (I can afford to poke fun at this, 'cuz the PT is my car :o)

OK, so here goes - at least 30 people approached me today to get my take on this show, and each of them offered their own comments. So, I will offer up what appears to be the general consensus. But it seemed most folks were in agreement about most things.

On the upside, the place was roomy - lotsa space for a lotta of cars. The hosts were super, friendly and fun. The food was good, with many amenities - including bathrooms that were actually hooked up to a septic system. A bakery, a restaurant, a DJ - all in all, a great place for a car show. And, of course, they did enough promotion, because a lot of cars showed up, which is always helpful when hosting a car show.

The consensus thu far was: This show, at this location, has huge potential. If they can iron out a few shortcomings, this could easily be one of the biggest and best shows in the region.

Which brings us to those shortcomings I mentioned. And I certainly hope no one takes offense, because I call 'em like I see 'em 'cuz honest criticism can be help something good to evolve into something better.

The Biggee: classifications. The few classes for this show were not distinct - such a generality as "Best Stock", or "Best Custom" is confusing, and makes it very difficult to judge. Since almost every vehicle on the field is competing in several categories, and the vehicles are all spread out, most voters had a tough time deciding what class this or that would be in, and had to walk the field numerous times in order to compare vehicles for a class. The stock '50's were over there. Stock trucks were over there. Stock antiques were somewhere else. In short, the categories were much too vague, and lent themselves to duplication - too many folks winning too many of the awards. It's like what happened at the Oxy show, where the classes were extremely general, and one person took home exactly half the trophies. Of course, he earned them, but that is not the point. The point is that classes should be distinct enough to avoid any one person taking home a bunch of awards. If there is an award for Best Mustang, then you can be sure a Chevelle will not take home that trophy.

So, if the hosts of this show were to revamp their classification system, it would not only be more fair to all, but would encourage more people to return the next year.

Next: Parking. I heard far too many people comment about how there was no system to the parking, and no one seemed to know who should park where. One fellow was directed to park in a certain area, after having asked someone else who said to "park anywhere". When he got there, someone else told him he needed to move to another area. He left the show, a bit steamed. Of course, the simple cure for this haphazard parking system is to have more distinct classes, and assign areas of the field to each class. Then there is no question as to where a car should spend the day. So, by reclassification, both of these problems would be solved.

Finally: The only other complaints I heard more than once revolved around 1) half the trophies going to three people (again, this can easily be cured by a better system of classes for the cars) and 2) the length of the day - most car shows do the awards by around 2 pm, because many entrants have a long drive home, and like to get there for dinner. Most agreed that 8-4 made for a LONG day, and a lot of cars left before the awards. Fortunately, the hosts pushed up the clock a bit and everything was over by around 3-ish. But by then, many had long since left, with the impression it would go on until 4 or after.

Shaw's Ridge, as I stated earlier, has the potential to be a top show. And most of the folks I talked to agreed. But they also agreed it can only get there by offering a more structured environment (classes/parking) and understanding that many folks just cannot stay so late.

Tomorrow I am off to Stratham NH for the Boy Scout Show. Perhaps I will try to etch the word DOLPHIN on the windows, so they don't confuse them with tuna.