Is there a United Finals in the near future!

These are my questions peoples: Where will Finals be next year (Im getting the impression that it will be in LA again) and will we see a United Finals sometimes soon. I mean between...USACI/IASCA or USACI/MECA or maybe even all three...USACI/IASCA/MECA! Could this become a reality.

I would doubt seriously you would see a USACi/Iasca unified finals. IASCA likes having there finals at Spring break, and it makes it easy for them. But Maybe MECA?

LMAO

That might be true...BUT! If this is what the competitors really want then that ish HAS to happen. Niether org would be what it is without the competitor. So thats why Im asking...IS THIS WHAT WE REALLY WANT. Or not. We all have friends that compete in different orgs and this is the age of technology and communication. We could talk and approch the heads of these orgs. I may take some time but damn...LOL!

No offense Bramouse but the orgs would rather die out than play nicely with one another. Don't care how many competitors would want it to happen.

Sketoe,

The only reason I was told why Ralph wasn't having Kittens two weeks ago was because the hotel was paying for the hall rental. And that would make sense because I was also told that there was no local promotion of the show. (I am just passing on info I was told and I have no way to know weither these two "facts" are true or not)

Now if you got the IASCA Newsleter last week you saw a new Exec. Com. was formed. The people on it are current industry people and past/present competitors. Every one of them are involved, own companies that still support SQ. I don't know what will happen because of this but I do know(assume) IASCA has a leg up to get support from these companies.

Eldridge has (assuming again) thrown his hat in the ring with MECA.

So now it would look like USAC is the odd man out. ( once again this is only my opinion based on the developments of the past couple of weeks) What other national companies, persons of intrest are left to approach?

Take away Team TCA, The Blues Group and the Tex/Mex guys; how many other competitors were at Finals two weeks ago? I'll estimate about 10 others (including me in that ten). Ralph is correct in trying to get Teams going with discounts and perks, but is it too late? The heyday of Sq was fueled by national companies sponsoring teams. But the seed of those teams were the same type that TCA has now. So maybe history can repeat itself.

How do we in the near term have an uptick of competitors at national level shows? In my opinion We have to have some type of combined shows or at least the powers to be talk and not have big shows on the same weekend. Now, I may never compete in a MECA contest, but I would want others to be able to make a MECA or a USAC or an IASCA national level show without having to deside either or.

opinions? nasty/sinde retorts?

Markey Dietrich

Since 1995 USACi Competitor, judge and general pain in the ass

Since 1998 IASCA Competitor and general pain in the ass

I would love to see USACi and IASCA together. I just don't see it happening.

We had db drag and usaci last year and I thought it worked out great. There is no reason why we can't all get along. Just because they are competing orgs doesn't mean they can't work together to help improve the sport as a whole. Maybe everyone needs to let down a little pride and do what it takes to keep the sport alive.

See!...thats just my point. The competitors need to determine if thats what WE really want. These orgs dont exist independantly of the competitor. Hell we have the say so! If competitors from these orgs discussed with eachother and we present to the org presidents that this is what we want they should respect the wishes of the ones who make it possible for these orgs to exist. And I understand what your saying John...but I say let them die out then! We can start a competitor based org. Idk...Im just saying! It just really outrages me that given the present condition of car audio we still have this kind of bulls**t! And Im not pointing any fingers but the way I see it...if this sport is gonna survive there needs to be some unitin! Again Id like to see what the people on this IASACA panel would say!

I would love to see it !! But .....

No buts...only one way to find out. And that's to start asking questions. But I'll tell you guys...it'll never happen unless we press for it. It makes no sense to have all of these great competitors and they just pass to the way side for whatever reason!

I will tell you all this, I booked Finals not Ralph. When I booked Finals in Shreveport, LA and the hotel (which was booked separate and we did pay for BOTH separate - I don't know how you heard the hotel paid for anything since I saw the checks and was in on the whole thing) never the less, I did not check to see what other organizations had for dates on their Finals, which was wrong of me but then again it was my first time setting up ALL of the Finals details. When I told Ralph the dates I picked he told me I booked the Convention Center on the same date at MECA's Finals, but it was to late. It was the only date available and I was stuck. Ralph then called Steve and told Steve would he like to move his date for his Finals, Ralph said he would pay MECA for doing so. Steve declined the offer so Ralph then asked him if he wanted to move his finals to our venue and make it Unified, Steve refused again. This was my first time putting together Finals and I did my best, but if you want to blame anyone on booking USACi Finals on MECA Finals date then I am stepping up and telling you all it was me. I am sorry for doing so and won't make that mistake again, but I am still learning the Finals thing. Dangit at least I got the SQ show thing down, somewhat or try! ....lol

Jenissa,

Thanks for setting the record straight. Too many times "facts" such as the two that were spread two weeks ago are accepted as the truth. Without an offical story being told, "facts" get told that hurt an organization and help keep assumtions out there.

Markey Dietrich

Since 1995 USAC competitor, judge and general pain in the ass

Since 1998 IASCA competitor and general pain in the ass

F the bs jenissa...you did a great job. If people feel they can do better they can step up. But like Mark said thanks for setting the record straight. Those thing happen. We just want the sport to survive.

ah MECA...the grass is NOT greener there...lol

Never been to MECA, or IASCA for that matter.

Guys,

WE the competitors are at fault also.

Back when I started competing I was doing USAC only. When I joined the KCG and was asked to also compete in IASCA, boy did I see the bias between competitors in the two organizations. If you were from USAC you were seen as inferior. USAC was seen as redneck,knucledraging spl loud guys. Eventhough IASCA had SQ+ (install, sq, rta and uncapped spl) which was basically the same format as USAC, WE were lower class guys then them. Then the IASCA crowd said "their" cars were about the sound. USAC cars were install first over built cars with sound second. The funny thing about my experence back then was when IGGY was first built, the schedule for me dictated that IGGY goto IASCA shows first, Perry and their finals.

If any of you were on the Carsound Forums back then I was always the "USAC guy", never the guy who brought a new car out and competed in both IASCA and USAC at the highest level.

If WE the customers of IASCA,MECA and USACi can't be equal in our own eyes, how the hell do WE expect Paul, Steve and Ralph to work togeather?

Now lets be honest about today.. what group today is screeming SOUND is their thing over install???


Markey Dietrich

Since 1996 USAC supporter, competitor, judge and general pain in the ass

Since 1998 IASCA supporter, competitor and general pain in the ass

Well...it seems to me Mark that you hit this ish on the head. And I say were still partly at fault. Ive competed in USACI since 2000 and Ive done some IASCA shows and a couple MECA show. The common thing is that we all love sound quality and SPL. So as far as I see it its still on US...the competitor. If the competitor WANTS to be united then hell thats what we tell Paul, Ralph, Steve or whoever. The times are dictating thats what we do. We dont have the F'n luxury to all be doing our own damn thing! Just in the past 10 yrs Ive seen how low the membership has gone down and if we dont do something new and different we face the possibility of not even having a national/international org anymore! Im sure individual people have done that but WE (the competitors) need to present a united front...I guess again!

"ah MECA...the grass is NOT greener there...lol"
LOL.Totaly true .
But , this year as I said before the USACI competitors did a great job in supporting the sport and saw what unity can do.
I think USACI has a great group of people that support the sport and all it wants is for the sport to grow back and we should continue to demand and expect more .If a unify finals is what we think is best perhaps we should demand it and if the other organizations turns it down let it be..............at least we are working to keep this sport going and if it works great !!!!

See that's why we need to network with OUR friends that compete in other orgs. If they demand it from IASCA and from MECA they can't turn that down. The same if we demand that from Ralph. It has to happen. It's just an issue of how much WE (competitors) want it. I'm sure there may be some drawbacks (can't think of any) but it seems to me that the benefits would outweigh those draw backs. Let's keep in mind...all of these orgs are dwindling down. And we can't expect a rush of new competitors to come rushing in. We have to work with what we have and who we got!

We pulled off a united USACi and IASCA unified finals in 2005. For whatever reason it hasn't been done again since. IMO a USACi/MECA finals is not in our near future. Just don't see it happening unless you can show the powers that be a real profit from it. Maybe not even then.

IMO USACi and Meca should, for the time being schedule finals dates apart from one another. Both orgs are almost guaranteed to have more attandance in both SQ and SPL if the dates are seperated by a decent amount of time.

I would be nice to see some separation in the dates, if they will not hold them together.
There must be more going on that just profits, common sense would say that if finals for both were held together, you'd get competitors for both orgs making the effort to qualify for both org's finals and compete in both. I'm sure there are some competitors that would only compete in one organization due to $$$'s, but I think that most would try to do both.

Well Jenissa already went down that road as to why the USACi and MECA finals were on the same date...ish happens. But as to these orgs...this is my position: THE POWER REALLY IS IN THE COMPETITORS! Point blank. There is no reason why we cant present what WE want and then go from there. I dont know how many times I have to say this. Maybe Im just not deep enough into the workings of these orgs...but then again I DO know that without the competitors these orgs would be dead. Im starting to think that the real issue is not so much the org presidents....ITS US! WILL WE PRESS THE F'N ISSUE! And it cant just be one or two of us...it needs to be a large number of us from IASCA, MECA, and USACI. The door will open if we know hard enough.

My personal opinion is as it has always been...the two REAL finals are on either end of the calendar year...no harm no foul.

Understood...but I know somewhere in the year we can get in a UNITED FINALS! For the sake of competitors, retailers, shops, consumers, etc. Even if its biannually!

Ok. So Im wondering how many competitors are in agreement with haveing some type of united Finals...and if not please say why not?

I am in agreement. I might even come out of retirement with some sort of radical design....oooo...yea, that I might do.

Getting you outta retirement should be enough alone to have a United Finals!