Update

In regard to the many emails received about the Belgrade show - none of them flattering - I received this comment from the show coordinator (below). He had posted it as a comment to the Belgrade post, and I felt it probably would not get seen by anyone, so in all fairness I am posting it here, in its entirety and unedited. Hopefully, this will shed some light on some of the issues. As for me, I would still be asking Scott one question: if Roy is your friend - enough so you ask him to assist you in the judging - and you are the judge for his car, does that not look like the "good ol' boy's network" at work when you award Roy 1st place? It may be a coincidence. But judges should avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Someone other than a friend should have judged Roy's class.

And Scott's letter does not address other problems noted in the emails, either. In the end, the folks who attended the show will be the final judge. HotKarz only asks that you consider both sides.

Bill

Scott said...
From The Show Coordinator:First I want to thank all of you for coming out. I know It was a big weekend, with the 4th and all, and I am happy about our turn out. Before I say too much about the judging let me say, I have been going to, and putting on shows for 15 years so I have an idea of what it takes to make a car show run smooth. Now With that said I have never been ripped more then I have since doing this Belgrade show. The Reason, it is a judged show. I for one am tierd of old rust cars beating out nice show cars. It has happened to me a few times. So when We scrapped the Sidney show and started in Belgrade, I decide this was the year to go judged. Last year I had 5 judges, Myself one of them, and 3 of us had our cars in the show. Well, none of those cars were judge by the owners, and I got ripped on that big time. This year I decided that My cars aswell as any of the other judges cars would NOT be allowed to be judged, however they could park them in the show. This is what happened. Roy(Yellow Cuda) walked around with (Judge)Mark and assisted him on judging, I asked him if he could help Mark so I could assisgn them more catagories. I would have never asked him to help but we were in a real pinch. I had 2 judges go down sick, and I found that out on FRIDAY before the show. The other called me SATURDAY and said he may not be able to make it. That left us with only 3 judges. So that is why I asked Roy to Help, But again he was not a judge. And also for the record, I judged his class, He had nothing to do with it. Also I heard that some people were saying this was a good old boys system, and the judges were mickey mouse judges. First All of us have many years around cars, Building them caring for them, and JUDGING them at Larger shows then this one. And I would love for just one of you folks to tell Bo Condon that he is a Mickey Mouse Judge! All of us, Especially Bo know cars very well, and take this task of judging VERY seriously. Now for next year there will be some changes to the judging system. We will be adding 3 more judges, and they will go around in Pairs to judge, I will be the head judge, and I will go around after they are thru and re check the results. If there are any questions, We will go over them together, and make any changes as needed. So with all that said I hope I cleared up any confussion, and I hope to see you all back again next year. We will be adding alot of fun stuff to the show next year. Feel fre to contact me via e-mail @ chevyshowtrucks@yahoo.com, or call @ 207-215-6142. Thanks again- Scott
July 11, 2008 4:40 PM

(NOTE): Scott added yet another comment under this post, and again it appears that when simple truths are stated, someone can't handle it. All I said was, in a judged show, it is inappropriate for a friend to judge a friend's car - and it is. Scott took offense. Sorry, Scott, but the truth is the truth. That is why a court judge has to recuse himself when he is on good terms with anyone facing him in court. He is not permitted to judge a friend. It's what is called a "conflict of interest".

Perhaps Roy's car was the best. That is not the point. The point is that it APPEARS to be the "good ol' boys network" in full swing. And judges absolutely must avoid such appearances. If you do not, then you can fully expect folks to think what they think.

And if your answer to this is, "If you don't like it, don't come", then you obviously do not understand what makes a good car show a good car show. 15 years experience? Or maybe one year experience repeated 15 times? If you are unwilling to learn from the thoughts and criticisms of others, then the latter is more likely the case. The FIRST thing you should realize is that the participants are your CUSTOMERS. The money you make comes from THEM. You can treat them right and prosper, or you can brush them off, ignore their comments, and lose.