Comment- Fire One

Someone commented that it does not matter what class a vehicle registers in, as long as there is some sort of "loose" interpretation. He specifically mentioned a stock foreign vehicle that registered in Special Interest.

WRONG!

First, every entrant is supposed to register in the MOST APPROPRIATE class for their vehicle, regardless of how many others he may loosely fit into. A foreign car belongs in Foreign if the show has that class. GENRE COMES FIRST.

Next comes make and model, if there is no appropriate genre. Then comes year. As detailed in the "Complete Car Show" book, and also mentioned in many of the national sites, there really is a methodology to classing, and every class has a very distinct definition.

So, one more time for those who simply have a hard time with this:

If a show has your GENRE (Muscle, Custom, Foreign etc.), that is supposed to be the class you register in. If your car does not have a genre (as in a stock vehicle of the 80's, for example) or the show does not have your genre as a class, then you are supposed to register in the class that mirrors your make and model (i.e. Nova, Chevelle, Mopar etc.). And if the show has no class for your make and model, then your final choice should be YEAR (i.e. Best of 70's).

In the event your vehicle fits two GENRE classes (i.e. Muscle and Custom), then you may take your choice.

So, if you have a Muscle Car (by definition) and it is a 70's Chevelle, the most appropriate class is Muscle, followed by Chevelle class, followed by 70's class, in that order. The reason? Think about it - if the show has both a Muscle and Chevelle class, they are obviously trying to separate MUSCLE Chevelles from other Chevelles, in the spirit of fairness.

However, for some reason, folks in this neck of the woods buck the system and feel that GENRE and MAKE/MODEL are interchangeable. So be it. A Muscle Mopar can register in either, although Muscle SHOULD take precedence. This is because many organizers in this neck of the woods do not give enough thought to their class structure, and often overlap. And that makes it difficult for the car owners to choose.

In many of the big shows, they are more thoughtful of classing, and if there is overlap, they specify. For example, if they have both a Foreign class and a VW class, their registration might say something like "All Foreign EXCEPT VW", and "All VW's MUST enter VW". The organizers are supposed to be setting the classing structure in a way that removes the guesswork. But here, they do not. So, it seems acceptable to mix and match classes.

HOWEVER... regardless of what the organizers do or do not do, NEVER, EVER should a rather stock VW truck be in Special Interest. It is neither uniquely distinguishable from others of its kind, nor does it have a theme. It should never have been allowed in Special Interest. Not ever. And most especially when the show had a Foreign Class.

Show organizers need to stop shirking their responsibility for the classing of vehicles. If the organizers do not know the class definitions, they need to learn them. And enforce them. They need to use some thought in choosing classes for their show, and eliminate overlapping wherever possible.

Yes, some vehicles can legitimately register in more than one class. But there are rules to this. Rule number one, it actually needs to fit the definition of the class - a Mustang cannot register in Camaros. So, a rather stock Nova with a nice paint job does not belong in Special Interest, nor does the VW truck.

The second rule has already been made clear - each entry should be registered in the MOST APPROPRIATE class, not just ANY appropriate class. A custom 2x4 truck, at a show where there are Custom Trucks and 2x4 Truck classes should register in the CUSTOM division. Genre comes before anything else. NOTE: The objective is FAIR PLAY. There is nothing fair about a custom truck competing against stock trucks, for example. and that is precisely why each entrant should make an effort to show in his or her most appropriate class. Because it is not about winning at any cost. It is about winning fairly.

The poster also seems to believe that poaching trophies is fine, that it is OK to take trophies in a class you should not even be in. That is positively, absolutely wrong. If you cannot win in the most appropriate class for your vehicle, then you simply do not deserve to win. Either make your vehicle more deserving of winning in your class, or prepare for defeat. But don't steal trophies, or votes, from vehicles in another class simply because you think it might be easier to compete there.

You cannot register a Mustang in with Foreigns. So don't register your foreign in another class it does not belong in. The VW did not, and never will, belong in Special Interest, because - and here's a clue - it does not fit the definition! The definition of a class is not a matter of opinion, as some believe. If you have to stretch the imagination to get it to fit, it doesn't fit. Period.

But some people will just never get it. Mostly because they do not want to get it. They like being able to cheat others out of their rightful win, and get angry with me because I catch them at cheating and shame them for it. Too bad. But as my Daddy used to say, stealing a dollar or stealing a million makes no difference, as a thief is still a thief. In that vein, a cheat is still a cheat.

And it never ceases to amaze me what lengths they will go to in order to try and excuse bad behavior.

So, let me make it plain: according to the standards (bear in mind, I did not write the standards), a VW truck belongs FIRST in Foreign (or VW if there is a VW class), SECOND in Trucks, and THIRD in the year class. But it never belongs, under any circumstances, in Special Interest.

And for the record, the same is true of a particular Nova that is not unique and has no theme, and a certain Lincoln Street Rod that muscles its way into Special Interest when it should be in Street Rods, and a certain custom 51 red Ford led sled that often registers in Special Interest. And it goes for a certain 65 Buick Riviera that registers in with the '40's. And a very nice Pontiac with minor blemishes really should not be poaching in Works In Progress. If that is Work In progress, then so is every vehicle on the field. He just saw it as an easy win.

None of them belong in those classes.

Yes, the 51 "Merc" led sled does belong in Special Interest, because it actually is unique - it is not really a 51 Merc, and it is not a Buick, either. But even so, it only belongs in Special Interest when the show does not have a class for Customs, which is what it is, first and foremost.

And, yes, I fully realize that a lot of "old timers" of Maine's shows have their own way of doing things, what with the "Good Ol' Boys" network of voting, and making shows into a personality contest instead of a competition between the vehicles. But that is not how it is done in real shows - the shows that make the news and we would all LOVE to be able to go to, and we sometimes do (Hemmings would be appalled at what goes on in many of our shows). In those shows, the organizers know exactly where your vehicle belongs, and that is exactly where it will go if you want to participate. This is because they want the trophies that they give out to actually be worth something. They know that people come to their shows because their trophies are coveted exactly for that reason.

Maybe some folks around here don't want that sort of legitimacy, and would rather keep shows a "hit or miss" sort of thing where winning depends upon who cheats better, or who knows more people. If so, do nothing, because that is what we have.

But if you want shows that have some value, and awards that actually mean something, then it is time to stand up and MAKE it happen. Because sure as God made little green apples, it ain't gonna happen by itself.

And, yes, you could say that you only go to shows for the "gathering of friends", but you can gather with friends almost anywhere. The purpose of shows is competition. And competition needs to be fair and honest if it is to have a penny's worth of value.

For the record: yesterday I lost, and that is OK because I lost to better vehicles in my class that deserved to be in my class. Today, again, I lost. And again it was OK because I lost to better vehicles that deserved to be in the class (2000's).

But the fellow who owned the Zimmer in Special Interest today has every right to be angry and feel cheated, because he was cheated. He was cheated by vehicles that did not belong in his class (Special Interest), and he was cheated by judges who apparently do not understand that a vehicle out of its class is not supposed to even be considered - they were judging SPECIAL INTEREST - any vehicle in that class that did not fit the definition should not have received any consideration or points. Yet, the judges awarded trophies to TWO vehicles that were not even supposed to be there. In other words, the judges awarded trophies to people who cheated.

And that is why people cheat - they are allowed to get away with it, and can even be rewarded for cheating.

If the people selected as judges do not understand the judging process, do not understand a standard points system, and have not even bothered to learn the definitions of classes, then they have no business being a judge. And if they have personal bias, it must be kept out of their judging.

And for those few "anonymous" folks who always try to turn it around and make it sound like my opinions don't matter because I threaten their cheating, take a note: it is not my opinon. It is fact. If you do not believe it, look it up yourself. Start with looking up the definition of "JUDGE". Any judge, from the little old guy judging pies at the fair, all the way to Supreme Court justices is by definition supposed to 1) understand the process, 2) leave their bias at home, and 3) learn the subject (i.e. the law, car show rules, or whatever they are judging). Not opinion. Fact.

Which raises a question: how does a person with a BICYCLE win first place in the MOTORCYCLE class? A motorcycle, by definition, must have a motor. This was yet another case of improper enforcement of classes, and poor judging. What's next - some old man's walker winning in Customs?

I would take this time to also apologize for a web error on one of my other websites, which included a link to an incorrect page. I do not know who spotted this, but I am glad they brought it to my attention. It seems I had a link that was supposed to go to HotKarz but instead went to someone's Super Garage in HotKarz. That's what happens when too much is done with "copy & paste" in creating HTML. I am always hearing from folks telling me a link doesn't work, or goes to the wrong place, or pix are not coming up. My only excuse is that it takes a lot of time and work to build and update hundreds of web pages, and mistakes get made. Especially at 2 am. I apologize for them all, and any that I am certain will occur in the future. And I apologize for earlier complaints about the link to the Litchfield Best of going, instead, to the Standish Best of. This, too, has been fixed.

Although the owner of that garage wishes anonymity, I will apologize to him personally when next I see him.


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