USACI off the cuff

Just wanted to drop a note and thank all of the 2007 USACI finals competitors for not only attending finals but for making it the smoothest and most memorable of my 20 years with USACI. This is the first finals I can actually say I enjoyed every minute and 95% of that is the result of good sportsmanship and positive attitudes from our members! You guys made it great this year and for that my most sincere thanks!

thanks Ralph, excellent show, I had a great time for sure....seemed to come off good...good attitudes, sportmanship,weather,etc

Thank you, Ralph for continuing to put this show on and promote car audio across the country despite it's diminishing returns and continued headache for you. I am glad you enjoyed the show and hope you enjoyed Omaha. I heard about your Sunday night entrance to Billy Froggs with a pickup bed full of people. Nice. BTW, that's not legal in Omaha.

Also if you guys thought the weather was descent for the show you should have been in town yesterday, 70 degrees. WOW! Today is a different story. Cold as Fk! That's Nebraska for ya!

Polecat wrote:

thanks Ralph, excellent show, I had a great time for sure....seemed to come off good...good attitudes, sportmanship,weather,etc

x2, great job to all the USACI staff, now can we work on the after party it is one thing we all look forward to every year

If the after party had been at teh host hotel it would have been one hot ticket! .... Lot of people came and left before it got kicking....


Next year it will be back on track and in the hotel lobby!...

and cheaper drinks or maybe byob

BYOB.... i think he has a good point there...

All I can say is that I had a negative view of having finals in Omaha. I hated the longer drive most especially. My view has changed totally. getting to the qwest center from the interstate, hotel distance to the center and the covered walkway.......very user friendly and very convienent! sure there are always some negatives like ralph being an @#@@##$% ...lol...(just kidding Ralph at your expense, you know somebody always seems to have something negative to say, I am just saying it in good humor) and like darren said about the after party, and no extremely close mcdonalds but hey with a little tweaking things will be much better next year like the after party!


Congrats to all of the competitors that made it! you are all champions and some are now new world champions! I know that fuel prices and some other issues may have kept some from being able to make it this year. Hopefully they will get to make it next year.

I saw teams working together and even helping other teams. I saw heart poured into it.

All in all, from my perspective, Omaha ROCKED!

Nick wrote:

All in all, from my perspective, Omaha ROCKED!

AGREED!!

Having to pay for parking [*****] and then if we left to go eat and came back we had to pay for it again. Other than that i thought the center and Omaha all togather was a great place for finals.

My thoughts....

The venue was great and so was Gina
The noise floor was pretty high so we need to work on that. (We measured an average of 115 most of the day on Sat and Sun in the SQ area on the back side of the DB Drive trailer)
After Party?? There was an after party this year??
The town was spotless!!!
Great steaks and Old Chicago's calzones ROCK!!
The sportsmanship in the SQ lanes was great. It was almost dangerous for someone to admit there was a problem in their system. If you did, groups of people descended on the vehicle to fix it. I never thought I would see Mark Eldridge working on a set of Lambo doors but I saw it this weekend!!
Ralph/Mike THANKS FOR THE GOLF CART!!! My feet thank you too.
Could have used some fast food closer to the center but we made do.
Longer drive but not that much longer
No diesel stations within 50 miles of Omaha going home. Almost had a big mess on that one.
Parking at the hotel was non-existent for trailers. If we go back to Omaha, maybe the Hilton can be the host hotel next year and trailers can be parked at the big lot next to the Hilton (hint hint)

Nick wrote:

All in all, from my perspective, Omaha ROCKED!

X2

Great show, excellent venue, clean city, nice people. We enjoyed this years finals better than Bartle Hall.

Sportmanship was wonderful.. City was wonderful, Venue hmmmmmmmmmm almost had to take me out in cuffs sat night cause they wouldn't let me work on my shizzzzzzznit when i needed it for once.. I could rant but overall ppl, place and attitudes where great..


Now being informed of Rules of the Venue before we got there would have been nice.. Hell even some rules when we got there.. NOpe we had to ask the quest center ppl just to get the real answers.. In my eyes this was horrible. on Usaci's part there. Not to mention a must that all cars be out that night and no security to watch your trailor sun night... Anyway besides that S H I T... It was overall a great show.

Only real complaint I have was having to pay for $6 for parking every time we wanted to leave and come back. That's just horrible, I think we spent almost as much on parking as we did on gas money.

All I have to say is thanks you bringing the show to Omaha, even tho i didn't compete, i still i had blast. Nise seeing old faces from shows i have been to and shooting the Sh*t with everybody. Next year is already getting planned in my book, my car is getting a facelift and so is the drivetrain, also system. Once again Thanks for bringing fun to Omaha.

I am glad to hear that pepole enjoyed most every aspect of it being in Omaha. There is a McDonalds within 2 miles of the Qwest center. Maybe for next year we can map things out for visitors and have it online to check out. Things like fast food, Home Depot, gas stations etc. Many people didn't know that the interstate (480) just south of the Qwest led to Broadway in Council Bluffs with plenty of fast food etc. I know the parking fees kinda sucked, however it is better than no parking at all. Bartle offered virtually no parking whatsoever.

Tim what way did you take home that you couldn't get Diesel for 50 miles??? The only way out that I can think of that would cause that is 75 south and there are better ways out of here than 75. 29 South to Nebraska City and then you catch 75 there is faster and than 75 South straight out of Omaha. Also, if that's the route you took you may want to look at 80 West to York and then South to 81 heading toward TX. This way shaves over an hour off a trip to Dallas and about 2 hours off of going through KC via 29.

I parked at the Hilton. $9.00 day. Went in and out anytime. Within the area was lots of places to eat. Like Bill said. McDonalds, Applebeas, chillis, Ihop etc. All this was on my way to home depot.

Hey Bill...we went 480 E to like 29 then down to 435 around KC. We had a chance to stop right outside of Omaha but my co-pilot said no biggee...5 gallons of Off-road diesel later from a small station in the woods...we were good to go. LOL. Pucker factor in full effect.

My opinions. Cleanest town I've been in in a while. Very nice people. Piss on the Dbl Tree...I won't stay there again. I'll freaking stay at the casinos if it's cheaper and cab over. Or, just stay at the Hilton. That works too. The venue was great. The fire marshall thing was crap. There should have been some communication with us up front on that one. On a 87 GN, you can't kill the starter without killing the ignition. I said F it. LOL, roll the dice...gamble away. I did kill power to the fuel pump relay so it would not start though. I was complying to the best of my hooptie's abilities.
The sportsmanship was great. We on Team Hybrids were small this year (next year won't be the case) but I enjoyed the crap out of hanging out with my friends like Nick and everyone from Team Orca/Focal and everyone on Team JBL. It was a pleasant weekend for sure. I think if anyone wouldve had a serious problem, someone from a SQ Team would've been on their heels to help out. That's big kudos to Team Hybrids, Team Focal, and Team JBL. Big Time.
I hated driving to Omaha. The gamble of the weather blows. We missed snow by a few days. I know, I'm shipping buses up there as we speak. Going back there wouldn't be all that bad though. I'd rather go to TX though. That's just me. This freaking trip was expensive. I know...pay to play...but shizz.
For the show itself. Nice...I know nothing about anything outside the world of SQ because I lived there all weekend. It was freaking smooth on our end. Good judges, good friends, good times. Noise floor was horrendous...we had an SPL meter set up next to my car...on John Roberts tailgate. It was hitting 115db while I was judged for sound on Sat. On Sun it was hitting 110 every now and then...for about 20 minutes. Then it was back to 115 dB. We can't have noise floors like this in SQ. There has to be an answer to this for next year. I like Larry P.'s idea of 6am to 10 or noon Sat and Sun for SQ sound judging. Quiet hours...show isn't open...no stereos allowed to play other than the SQ hall. This once again is something no one knew how bad it would be until we got in the hall. I don't fault anyone on this one for this year. We were learning the venue.
Ralph, for sure, all in all, very nice. Thanks for a good time at Finals and a very well managed event. Coming from both sides of the fence bothj judging and competing in the past...Ican tell you. This year was nicely done guys. Very nice. Good job to all the USAC crew...especially the volunteer judges and staff. Without judges like what we had this year, we wouldn't have something to look forward to for next year. I think I can speak on behalf of Hybrid Audio Technologies and Team Hybrids, our thanks go out to all the judges in the SQ hall for an exceptionally smooth weekend.

Nick wrote:

All I can say is that I had a negative view of having finals in Omaha. I hated the longer drive most especially. My view has changed totally. getting to the qwest center from the interstate, hotel distance to the center and the covered walkway.......very user friendly and very convienent! sure there are always some negatives like ralph being an [edited for your safety ]and like darren said [, and no extremely close mcdonalds but hey with a little tweaking things will be much better next year like the after party!


Congrats to all of the competitors that made it! you are all champions and some are now new world champions! I know that fuel prices and some other issues may have kept some from being able to make it this year. Hopefully they will get to make it next year.

I saw teams working together and even helping other teams. I saw heart poured into it.

All in all, from my perspective, Omaha ROCKED!

WELL SAID CONGRATS TOO ALL THE NEW WORLD CHAMPIONS SE U ALL NEXT YEAR

[quote="BillGass"]I am glad to hear that pepole enjoyed most every aspect of it being in Omaha. There is a McDonalds within 2 miles of the Qwest center. Maybe for next year we can map things out for visitors and have it online to check out. Things like fast food, Home Depot, gas stations etc. Many people didn't know that the interstate (480) just south of the Qwest led to Broadway in Council Bluffs with plenty of fast food etc.

[quote]

Yeah, we found the mcdonalds, was just being lazy and looking for fast food within walking distance! Mapping things out would be great, but do include stirp clubs and casinos!!!!!

jsketoe wrote:

I like Larry P.'s idea of 6am to 10 or noon Sat and Sun for SQ sound judging. Quiet hours...show isn't open...no stereos allowed to play other than the SQ hall.

Noise for SQ has always been an issue in the past. I like that idea though, maybe even extending later into the evening after the shows closes to the public. I don't know ho long you have been competing but it used to be hell trying to do RTA with SPL right next to you.

since 97...yeah, I remember not-so-fondly.

The noise floor blew, the after party blew, the drive blew, the convention center rules blew.

But other than that, I LOVED IT!! I was comfortable getting out Friday morning to wash the truck and pick up a few things for the weekend. The Hilton was the shizz with awsome room service food and the skywalk over to the hall. They were great with directions to carwash, hardware store, liquor store and such. Also gave complimentary round trips to the airport and back for the folks that didn't drive.

Very nice clean city. Didn't have that funky smell that downtown KC sometimes has looming in the air.

The showmanship was awsome. I need to thank SWAT for grabbing me an Alpine remote on short notice. And Give props to the folks that helped out a few friends new and old. (you know who you all are).

Which reminds me JIMBO, what in the hell did you need my wax for. SPL cars don't have to be all that shiny. I would like to know what you used a half a bottle on. Were you waxing someones nutz?

i've only been to two... this one definatly better!

jkrob21 wrote:

Didn't have that funky smell that downtown KC sometimes has looming in the air.

LOL Thats probly the Folgers plant that you drive by on your way down the the "Hall".. Blame Bruce for that

I thought this place was much more strict than KC. I got patted down evry time I walked in to make sure I wasnt trying to bring food or drink in so that they could make 6$ a beer!!! And the noise patrol guys at the Hilton almost got me kicked out of the room! You couldnt talk in the hallway at a normal level w/ out being "Warned" that we needed to be quiet
I liked the drive, but we also moved from Missouri to Iowa in the past 6 months so finals moved w/ us really! For the most part it was a good place, but I hope we arent there for the next 5 years.

I have never ever smelt coffee in DT KC. I would have enjoyed that aroma. We had no problems in the hotel or the hall as far as noise or sneeking in beer, snacks, and such. We may have been lucky though. I saw Mickey get into a nice conversation with the sheriffs over his cooler full of beer.

Well it dosent always smell as great as you would imagine coffee smelling...
Exactly "sneeking".. lol. In KC you could walk in w/ a cooler full of whatever! I could have really used a beer at finals this year too

you should have come to see me

Was so busy in the SPL lanes that I didnt even make it over to the SQ side.. now that I know that I wish I would have.

ya i didnt even walk that way,bathroom,food stand,spl lanes..thats it.