Interesting

That is the best word for the Art of Transportation show at Shaw's Ridge - interesting.

As stated in a previous post, this was more an art show than a car show, so the format and classing was different than most folks are used to. But if you read HotKarz regularly, you already knew what to expect in that regard.

The weather was simply great, and the location and facilities were excellent. Couldn't be much better. And the hosts went out of their way to be gracious and friendly.

But there were some difficulties, and some not-so-great "mistakes". Most of the difficulties arose from a lack of volunteer help. Many volunteered, but few showed up. This left the organizers "unorganized" early on, through no real fault of their own. Frank assures me that next year they will try to get everything set up in advance. Good idea!

Another difficulty was the very lengthy awards ceremony - 90 minutes! What made this a bigger issue was the fact that it did not begin until 3pm, so many folks are getting home late tonight. Hopefully, next year the organizers will realize that not all participants are "locals", and have a long way to travel to get home for dinner, or to pay the baby-sitter so she can get home for dinner. Then perhaps they will schedule the awards ceremoney for 2:00, and have the door prizes out of the way before that, so folks can start for home by 3:00.

So much for the difficulties. Now for the "mistakes" that they will hopefully avoid next year.

1) The lengthy award ceremony was a difficulty. But the late hour was a mistake, as many folks travel a long distance. This is an easy fix.

2) When you go with the "must be present to win" idea, then you really must start each class with the 1st place, and work down from that. In this way, if someone is not present and forfeits, the next person in line gets that award. But in the case of Best of Show, they did not do that. They awarded the lesser awards first, and when the 1st place winner was not present, they had to issue the 1st place trophy to the THIRD (or fourth) place winner, because the second place person had already been awarded second place. This was not fair to the second place winner - to end up in second place while the 3rd place winner got the top award. In the future, if they are going to use the "must be present to win" structure, then they need to award 1st place FIRST.

3) All ballots were identical, which meant that participants could vote their own class. The problem with this lies in the fact that too many people will vote their own vehicle, which may not be the best in the class, but more importantly, it allows people to abuse the "buddy system" of voting. Normally, in a peer judged show, no one should be allowed to vote their class. And to help break up the "buddy system", ballots should be split - if there are 21 classes, for example, then there should be three different ballot forms, each with 7 classes. Each participant gets to vote only in 7 classes, which would not include his own. In this way, it is unlikely that buddies will be able to vote for one another. This decreases the chance of abuse.

That last "mistake" touches upon another, huge problem at this show, but it is something that the show organizers have little control over, so I will address this serious issue - which afflicts many shows - in a later blog. It is not so much a problem of the show - it is a problem created by participants who abuse their power to vote.

Overall, although this show was designed to be different, I would give this show a high rating. Personally, I did not care much for the "artistic" classing structure, but that is simply a personal preference, and does not detract from the show. Each show's organizers are entitled to choose whatever method of classing they choose. As long as they stick to it, and keep the classes honest, I do not find a problem with it. And this show did, indeed, keep it honest.

HotKarz wishes to than Frank Svatek, Tom Bannen and the folks of Shaw's Ridge for such an enjoyable experience. We'll be back next year - and we'll bring more friends!