Not to steal Jenissa’s thunder but here are a few things that are going to hopefully make finals a little smoother. I’m not trying to be a PITA but there are some simple things that you as a competitor can do to make this show run a lot smoother, get everyone out of there sooner and in turn make your judges a lot happier.
If your car leaks oil or any fluids please bring a piece of plastic or a drip pan to place under your car. This will help us with cleanup after Finals is over. Be careful with the tire dressing also because that stuff is slick and I’ve seen people bust their asses in the past.
Don't forget Registration and Insurance Papers (just in case we check em’)
Don't forget your tank must be at a 1/8 of a tank to move into Finals and please tape your tank before entering the building. You’d be AMAZED at how hard it is to find a roll of tape during setup day and in most cases, I don’t have time to go look anyway. It’s not me that gets the ticket or gets asked to leave so make sure YOU get this done beforehand.
Enter in the right class and division. It is your responsibility as a competitor to make sure you are entered in the right class and division within that class. You would be AMAZED at how many people have forgotten or chosen to ignore this long standing rule. As a reminder, you must have obtained at least 70% of your qualifying points in the division/class that you’ve registered to compete in at this event. As a head judge and line judge at the same time, I don’t really have the time to debate what the office did to screw your points over or debate the reason why your installer told you to harvest a trophy at a regional points event in a division that your car isn’t qualified in. Here are some scenarios that I have dealt with in the past and how I’m likely to deal with them again:
Competitor: “I won 1st place at the TX Heatwave in the Super Modified Class but my car is built for Intro”
Me: “You’re going to compete in Super Mod”
Competitor: “I won the Intro class at a regional event to qualify but rebuilt my car to Modified
Me: “You’re going to compete in Modified”
Competitor: “I’ve didn’t receive an invitation and didn’t get enough points to qualify but I want to compete in modified and my installer knows people at the office and said it would be OK”
Me: “You will compete in Q, Xtreme SQ or Xtreme SQ+”
Competitor: “The office lost all of my points!”
Me: “Show me your scoresheets where you qualified to be here and we’ll put you in the class you qualified in.” If you don’t have your sheets, you will compete in Q, Xtreme SQ or Xtreme SQ+” (Note: Entering in multiple SQ classes at the same show will result in accruing points in the highest division/class that you competed in at that event. That means I’m not going to count 3 first place wins but only the win in the highest division/class when placing you at finals.)
For your reference, the rulebook and classifications are located at
http://www.soundoff.org/rules/usacisqrules2010.pdf. I will be following these classes to the letter and making judgment calls on everything that is not defined in black and white. NONE of the directors were involved in these classifications so if your director has misclassed you throughout the year, I apologize if you get moved to a different class or division. If you’re playing in a gray area, you may get moved up a division. If you’re playing in multiple gray areas, you’ll likely be moved to the Xtreme division and give Chris somebody to compete against.
Get your car in to the show early!! Dealing with trying to get a car in to the show on Saturday morning is a nightmare and as some of you know, will result in you getting your car judged in the SPL hall or even worse, skipped altogether. If you are not parked with all of the other cars in the SQ hall, YOU need to make sure that you latch on to me or one of my staff members and MAKE SURE that we know where you’re at. If it's getting toward the end of the day and you still haven't seen a judge, you need to remind us because we probably got sidetracked and forgot. If you do get there late, there is an above average chance that you’re going to have to move your car multiple times for various reasons so make sure you’re glued to your car at all times just in case. If I have to go page someone, that takes time and that means we all get out of there later.
Make sure that your scoresheets are completely filled out and on your windshield BEFORE you are judged. Putting “On file” for your information is not an acceptable means of filling out your scoresheet. I’m not sure if anyone realizes it or not but for the past few years I’ve been using a competitor’s “5 minute rule” time that is usually used to deal with system failures to allow them to fill out their score sheets if they're not done when I get there. Unfortunately, if you’ve burned that time filling out your sheet, you can’t afford a failure. I also use the “5 minute rule” if we have to come looking for you when we’re ready to judge your car. If we’ve waited 5 minutes and we have to skip you because we still can’t find you to judge the car then it starts costing you points.
If you want to protest, bring $1000 with you. If you can get someone to hear your case for free then good for you but if you want to protest something with me, I’m going to follow the rules and the rules state it's $1000 to protest. (Page 5 in the rule book BTW).
I’m going to be busy to get everything I’ve got assigned to me done in time so I’m going to be making very quick decisions. Getting the office involved to “come talk to me” usually results in a decision that is not in your favor so get all of your issues straightened out BEFORE we judge the car or better yet, before we even get your car in the hall. If you need a “Ralph said” to get your car in the correct division/class, you need to get it BEFORE you are judged and make sure it is noted on your scoresheet as to what happened and why you’re special. Ralph’s signature is required and it’s also a good idea if I’m made aware verbally. You’ve got all day on Friday to get this done because Saturday is going to be too late.
Again guys (and girls) this is all common sense stuff and something that we never used to have to worry about a few years ago. The smoother the show runs, the quicker it goes. The quicker it goes the sooner you (and I) get to leave to go have some fun.
See ya in a few days!!!
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Wed Sep 23, 2020 7:37 pm by big bass joel
Subject: Common Sense Things to Know About Finals 
