USACI R&E Decision RE: Stereo West v Charles Estes

Response to Protest filed By Mr. Bill Gass on Behalf of Stereo West Auto Toys.


Mr. Bill Gass

Having received and reviewed your letter dated 11 November 2009 the USACI Rules and Ethics Board responds as follows:

Issue #1

Mr. Gas wrote:
Herein lies my first question for consideration. What defines a competitor as a ‘pro’ in the Street Beat Division and how do you arrive at that answer?
I am aware that many (or better) of you feel that the Street Beat rules are independent of the general rules of USACI. However, without the general rules the term Pro is only defined in the Street Beat Rules as “Industry Professionals.” This is vague and left to interpretation. Which is fine according to Rule 14 of the Street Beat rules which states:
14. In the event an issue arises that is not covered above, the final ruling will rest with the on site event director.

It is the opinion of the Committee that;

Determining if a competitors is a “pro” or “consumer” is left to the interpretation of the on site event director. In the case of the Sound Off event at World Finals Mr. Don DeRose is the SPL Event Director referred to as the “Head Judge”. Don DeRose made the decision that Mr. Estes was in fact “PRO” due to his previous competition history as a pro competitor in USACI and other competition organizations. As per the Street Beet rules the decision of Mr. DeRose is binding.

Issue #2:

Mr. Gass Wrote:
At the 2008 USACI World Finals the Event Director (Ralph Randall) ruled that the general rules of USACI apply to Street Beat. This ruling was made moments before Ralph took the stage for the awards presentation. With this ruling in place multiple rules were violated that I attempted to point out. When I got notice to Ralph that I had a list of rule violations he sent Mike Darville to field my concerns and, I assume, take them to a panel from the Rules and Ethics Board. The rule violations that I addressed are as follows:

It is the opinion of the Committee that;

Ralph Randall is not the SPL Event director at USACI World Finals. Mr. Randall voiced his opinion to committee members and the SPL Event Director at World Finals that he feels the Street Beat Rules should be a part of the USACI rulebook. Mr. Randall then deferred the matter to the SPL Event Director and other members of the Rules and Ethics committee who were in attendance for their review. The Committee disagreed with Mr. Randall’s opinion and allowed the competitors score to stand.

This committee affirms the decision made at the event and concludes that the USACI SPL rules did not apply to the Street Beat rules at the Word Finals in 2008. This committee further finds that any protest in regards to Street Beat that are based on rules contained within the USACI SPL Rulebook are invalid.


Issue #3:
Mr. Gas Wrote:

Should the Rules and Ethics Committee rule that the decisions of the Event Director were not valid and that the general rules of USACI CANNOT apply to Street Beat, which I wouldn’t understand as per the power vested in him by Street Beat Rule #14, then there is no definition for the term PRO and the Event Director truly doesn’t have the ability to make a final ruling. As such there were no grounds for the competitor to be removed from the SB4 division. This would make his run on Sunday, that was, by those running the lanes, the Event Director, the registration desk and the competitor, deemed to be the first run of the entry into SB5 created from the removal or bump from SB4, null and void as he should have been allowed to stay in SB4.

It is the opinion of the Committee that;

Street Beat rules state
14. In the event an issue arises that is not covered above, the final ruling will rest with the on site event director.

The on site event director has the final decision in rules interpretation for Street Beat. The on site director is expected to draw upon his/her personal knowledge and experience to make the best decision possible to maintain the integrity of the event. In the case noted Mr. Donald DeRose made his decision based upon all information available to him at the time and the members of the ethics committee in attendance concurred. After a review of information available to this committee we have determined that the decision to move the competitor in question to the Pro division was in fact correct.


Exception noted by Ralph Randal, USACI President;

Mr. Randall wrote:

While I prefer not to intervene in issues with the Rules and Ethics Committee I feel the need to voice my opinion in this matter. I feel that allowing a competitor to compete in any competition with a vehicle that did not belong to him is ethically improper. I also feel that the Street Beat rules should be integrated into the USACI rules so as to avoid possible unfair and potentially damaging situations like this in the future. It is my opinion that conducting events at USACI that are not governed by USACI rules create an atmosphere where misunderstandings and hard feeling towards the association may arise. I feel that this protest supports my contention. It is my wish that the committee reviews this matter and decides to include Street Beat in the USACI SPL rules.

It is the opinion of the Committee that;

This committee welcomes Mr. Randall’s opinion.

This board agrees with Mr. Randall in regard to vehicle ownership. This board requested and received documentation from Mr. Charles Estes that clearly shows Mr. Estes was one of two individuals listed on the title as owners of the vehicle in question during the time of the USACI World Finals. The issue of including Street Beat in the USACI SPL rules will be taken up by the committee and acted upon at a later time.


In Conclusion;

This committee would like to thank Mr. Gass for his time and effort in bringing this issue to the attention of the committee. In our decision-making we many times would like to make decisions based on our feelings on an issue but we ultimately must make the final decision based on the rules as they are written. Sometimes our decisions do not agree with our opinions on what is right or wrong on the issue and these are the issues that concern us the most. This committee relies on the support of individuals like Mr. Gass to bring these issues to our attention so we may make future changes that can prevent them for re-occurring. Since this incident several rules in the USACI SPL rules have been modified to prevent such an occurrence there. The committee expects changes will be made the Street Beat rules as well.

We the members of the Rules and Ethics committee are unable to reverse the on site decision of the SPL Event director in this matter based on the information we have at this time.

USACI Rules and Ethics










The protest as presented by Mr. Gass


Selfless members of the USACi Rules and Ethics Committee:

I am writing to contest the ‘official’ results of SB4/5 at the 2008 USACi World Finals. I will, to the best of my ability and recollection, describe the incidents as they occurred as well as my reasoning for contesting the results. My intent is to cite the incidents, quote the rules and analyze possible scenarios. I will be available for questions or clarifications virtually any time at 402.612.8736 should the need arise.

Saturday November 15, 2008 Charles Estes, hereafter referred to as the ‘competitor’, entered into and made first runs in both SB4 and SB5 with his van. The competitor achieved a score of 15x.x in both classes. By the competitor’s admission both runs on Saturday were done with 1 amplifier and 2-12volt batteries. The competitor did his first runs with only one amplifier because his other amplifiers had not arrived yet. These amplifiers were delivered at about 6pm on Saturday by an unauthorized spectator at the 2008 USACi Finals, who is also the owner of the manufacturer of the amplifiers used. (This part is only mentioned to let you know that the side door near Jim Pitcher’s pit stall was unsecured and people entered here all weekend without paying, this person included.) On Sunday when the competitor went for his re-runs in both classes he was bumped from SB4 to SB5 based on his pro standing in his MOD competition vehicle. The competitor stated that the equipment in his SB van was all purchased equipment and he could prove it so he didn’t feel that he should be Pro simply because his other van was sponsored by a manufacturer. Don can probably shed some light on what happened next. Someone, I believe the competitor said that it was Don, told him that he needed to put his equipment into another vehicle for his 2nd? SB5 entry. The competitor placed ‘his’ amplifiers into the van (hereafter referred to as 2nd van and the van ran on Saturday will be 1st van) that John Davidson was competing with in a MOD class. I cannot confirm nor dispute this, however the competitor claims that this van is registered in both of their names.

The competitor had the amplifiers installed into the 2nd van, changing nothing else in this 2nd van, then did the ‘first run’ of the vehicle on his entry into SB5 that he had because of being bumped from SB4 into SB5. The van did a VERY impressive 162.x. From here everyone gathered together to find out exactly what was going on. How can someone make their first run in a class late Sunday afternoon? Nothing seemed right. Ralph shed some light on the situation clarifying the reason that the competitor was removed from SB4 and placed into SB5 was due to his ‘pro’ standing. As such his run Sunday evening would be his first run with that entry into SB5 as he was just bumped from SB4 to SB5. Ralph ruled that a ‘pro’ status follows the competitor not the vehicle and the competitor had thought.

Herein lies my first question for consideration. What defines a competitor as a ‘pro’ in the Street Beat Division and how do you arrive at that answer?

I am aware that many (or better) of you feel that the Street Beat rules are independent of the general rules of USACi. However, without the general rules the term Pro is only defined in the Street Beat Rules as “Industry Professionals.” This is vague and left to interpretation. Which is fine according to Rule 14 of the Street Beat rules which states:

14. In the event an issue arises that is not covered above, the final ruling will rest with the on site event director.

At the 2008 USACi World Finals the Event Director (Ralph Randall) ruled that the general rules of USACi apply to Street Beat. This ruling was made moments before Ralph took the stage for the awards presentation. With this ruling in place multiple rules were violated that I attempted to point out. When I got notice to Ralph that I had a list of rule violations he sent Mike Darville to field my concerns and, I assume, take them to a panel from the Rules and Ethics Board. The rule violations that I addressed are as follows:

DEFINING THE TERM “COMPETITOR”:
The term “competitor” applies to the vehicle’s owner, an employee of its owner, an immediate
family member, or a person bearing a power of attorney for the vehicle’s owner. If a competitor is
unable to attend an event, he or she may designate someone to drive the vehicle through the
judging line. The designated person will be considered a competitor and will assume all
responsibilities of such.

This rule was debatably violated. The competitor is allegedly on the title of the vehicle as the current owner, however it has always been said that the 2nd van was ‘SOLD’ to John Davidson by the competitor. If the competitor is indeed not on title the 162.xdb run with this vehicle on Sunday would be nullified.


EVENT REGISTRATION:

Each vehicle can be entered and judged in only one power class but in as many divisions as it
may qualify to compete in. A separate registration is required for each division’s judging. A
competitor may enter more than one vehicle in the same event but only in different power
classes. Vehicles may reenter that same power class as many times as the event schedule will
allow. (Retries)

When the competitor was bumped from SB4 to SB5 this gave the competitor a second entry into SB5, which by this rule is a violation. As such the 2nd entry into SB5, which was ran on Sunday obtaining the 162.xdb score, was not legitimate.


RERUNS:
If a competitor chooses to rerun his or her vehicle, the sound system must be made up
of the same size speakers, the same number of speakers, and the same number of amplifiers as
was in the vehicle on its first SPL attempt. Competitors may change equipment in case of malfunction, but entire systems and enclosures may not be swapped.

As was previously stated the competitor qualified with 1 amplifier and re-ran with more than 1 amplifier, clearly violating this rule. Additionally the competitor re-ran with a completely different vehicle and as such swapped enclosures as well. Both of these facts would nullify the run on Sunday which produced the SB5 winning score of 162.xdb.

Based on the facts provided, the rules of Street Beat and the on site rulings made by the Event Director the competitors SB5 run on Sunday should be nullified and his original run from Saturday of 15x.5db should be considered the official score by the competitor.

Should the Rules and Ethics Committee rule that the decisions of the Event Director were not valid and that the general rules of USACi CANNOT apply to Street Beat, which I wouldn’t understand as per the power vested in him by Street Beat Rule #14, then there is no definition for the term PRO and the Event Director truly doesn’t have the ability to make a final ruling. As such there were no grounds for the competitor to be removed from the SB4 division. This would make his run on Sunday, that was, by those running the lanes, the Event Director, the registration desk and the competitor, deemed to be the first run of the entry into SB5 created from the removal or bump from SB4, null and void as he should have been allowed to stay in SB4.

I certainly hope that this makes sense. I know that it is a convoluted mess and difficult for me to put on paper without taking up 20 pages. I did my best to describe the events as they happened so that you may have as much information as possible to arrive at a sensible, logical and fair decision based on the rules as they are written. I whole heartedly appreciate your time and anxiously await your decision.

Sincerely,
Bill Gass
Stereo West Auto Toys
7425 Dodge Street
Omaha, NE 68114
402-612-8736