=09
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From: Tom Hall[SMTP:modtiger@engravers.com]
Sent: Friday, June 27, 1997 1:32 PM
To: tigers@autox.team.net
Cc: dwhitely@vishnu.corsair.com
Subject: Clearing the Air on TUXXII
Tom,=20
Great seeing you both at United, congratulations on the Trophy...
I understand your feelings regarding the judging etc.
I just think that a lot of us feel that the ""Concourse" could and =
should have been handled differently, we all prejudged our cars, based =
on Norm's posted form, I myself went to tremendous additional expense to =
meet and/or exceed the requirements set forth.
And if this would have been known prior I and many others could have =
saved thousands of $$$$$$$$$$$...
If you are a ""trailer" person or not, should not be looked down upon, I =
came with a trailer for the first time ever, I to believe in driving my =
cars, but wanted to make this a vacation of sorts.
Due to my wife's past broken neck and the fact that she has titanium =
blocks in her spine, as a result of an unfortunate car accident, =
prevents her from extended travel in the little Tiger, and at least I =
came, and happy we did.
The caravan was a once in a lifetime fun event, the people that Norm =
arranged to come were fantastic, and that is what it is all about after =
all.
I just wanted, like others to show off our hard work to get these cars =
ready, for a real "Concourse" event.
I realize the concerns around the Lord Rootes etc. and this was never my =
interest to go for.
The classes do have to be fine tuned, as they are getting to large =
especially the Stock catagory, again a Masters class in most clubs, has =
to do with a person who has trophied 3 times in their class, they then =
move to the masters, this gives them incentives to further fine tune =
their wares, and not to stop improving.
The stock also needs to be broken down, either by year, or by model Mk1, =
Mk1A and Mk2, and the special interest catagory for the gorgeous =
Herrington, as this was never a production vehicle, a one off, and will =
always be special in everyone's minds, and if entered again in the =
future as stock will win, hands down..
The idea is that recognition is great, the more trophies the merrier, =
they are not that expensive, and give people a great feeling too know =
they have done a great job. It will encourage more attendance.
The Auto cross is a great event, and was handled fantastic, but in all =
fairness, I and many others have a small interest in this event compared =
to the concourse event, again Car shows are a plenty, we have 6 or 8 =
here around L.A. every weekend, but not with a great deal of Tigers, to =
be judged along side your peers.
And you are correct the personalized as well as the modified crowd want =
to have a chance and not have the deck stacked against them, maybe the =
Lord Rootes needs to be for Stock class only, as Rootes cars as =
delivered did not come with 15in wide wheels, 302 engines, and 500 Hp =
and other things added, the car delivered from the factory, was a stock =
car.
We might have to add a second trophy, such as the "Shelby super duper =
racer modified to the hilt award" or what ever.
Fact is that our club, just like most clubs out there, are seeing an =
amazing thrust at returning their cars to stock, for the obvious reasons =
of value, and also, just like when I did my Personalized car, it is =
easier to build Personalized or modified than Stock.
This is with every make and club, as the $$$$$$$$$, time and research to =
execute a stocker is much more intense.
This is not to take away from those cars that are not stock ( as I own =
one myself ) but rather to get in to the 21st Century, and fact is =
fact...
Let's work together, and establish, and improve our skills in getting =
our "Concourse" skills down, let's make it fair for all, and most of all =
let's recognize hard work at furthering the Marqe.
Again please do not take my comments as a put down, as I am only trying =
to give some input from my past experience, with at least a dozen or =
more clubs.
Over all Kudos to all involved in this "once in a lifetime event" I am =
looking forwards to a super time in Big Bear, with a much revised and =
improved "Concourse" event, we can do it RIGHT TEAM!!!!
Take care to you and your family, and to all see you in Big Bear...
See Ya' Jan.........................
P.S. By the way Dash Palques are a super keep sake, no you do not put it =
on the dash, I have them all around my garage, from 25 years of car =
shows, Chevy's Deloreans, Mustangs, Volvo etc etc... A must indeed....
=20
As usual in Tigerdom, there is less fact than opinion available for =
general
consumption. To begin with, I want to complement Norm & Company for an
overall very successful event. Breaking new ground in this marque has
always been difficult. He managed to get the special people and =
historic
Tigers to the event together as he dared to project last year. This was
obviously a logistical and political nightmare which was by all measures =
a
total success. Kudos for this effort are warranted for Norm, Margi and
several individuals of whom I can identify only a few. =20
I really had doubts as to Dick Barkers seriousness in putting all of the
pieces of the "LeMans Mule" together particularly after his first =
attempt
several years ago was such a disaster. Dick, Steve Alcala and Dan =
Walters
gave efforts far above what could possibly be expected in order to =
create
this thirty year reunion of LeMans Tigers. Don Whitley acted as liaison
between Norm's Team and STOA. You have no way of knowing (as I do) how
deep his commitment was or the personal and emotional pressures he was
subjected to by historically conflicting factions in our club. There =
are
several other very involved Tiger fanatics which I am unable to credit =
due
to my own lack of participatory knowledge. Un-named (by me) they may be =
in
this document, but they all made significant contributions, and I =
applaud
them all.
Whether it was either appropriate or desirable for the event attendees =
to
help underwrite this logistics effort is a separate question. =
Commercial
sponsorship was sought, but far too late in the planning process to make =
a
viable contribution to the required funding. If in the future, we
collectively want this kind of International Participation, we'd best be
prepared to seek long term commercial sponsorship and give up some of =
our
degrees of freedom. =20
Placing the Concours at the end of the event was bound to cause some bad
vibes, particularly with the trailer crowd, but I personally like it =
better
that way. It tends to level the playing field particularly when
participants have to enter all moving events prior to the concours.
Also as usual for Norm, almost Everything was done HIS WAY. STOA was a
financial sponsor in a minimum sense, but the club did not participate =
in
event planning to any measurable extent. This was Norm's event all the =
way. =20
As to the Concours itself, I will have to accept a major portion of the
blame for last minute changes. It came to my attention very late in the
game that Norm had planned to judge ALL tigers to his newly developed =
STOCK
judging sheet that was on the Internet. Unfortunately, the planners had
misunderstood a seemingly minor point in scoring the Lord Rootes Award.
The system STOA and most clubs have used for many years is class-less =
for
this Top Award. This means that all event scores are entered in order =
of
absolute value without regard to class. In judging every body to STOCK
standards, the most Modified and Personalized cars would tend to get =
the
least concour points, regardless of their preparation. This would have
made the concours scoring substantially skewed in favor of the Stock =
Class
for the Lord Rootes Award. I'm sure that there are several participants
that would be delighted with this circumstance, but it would have been a
major change in our historic recognition of Personalized and Modified
examples of the Marque. I expressed my feelings to Paul Reisentz, the
Event Chairman, and a return to our historic scoring basis was =
thereafter
effected. I have no knowledge as to why the rotating individual judging
system was used other than time and personnel constraints. Both Bette =
and
I found many faults with the judging system used, but we bear some level =
of
responsibility.
Since at any recent TU event only approximately 20 owners are seriously
competing for the Lord Rootes Award, perhaps they should be separately
judged using appropriate class criteria and that could satisfy Jeff's
request for the Masters Class. CAT used a version of this system last =
year
at Bakersfield. The major problem with this is the inferred designation =
to
the rest of the participants of second class citizenship. We already =
have
that problem with owners of conversions. We don't need to make it =
worse,
but we do need to recognize real time and effort constraints at the =
event.
We have discussed a more professional level of judging as a possibility =
for
several years, but applying this criteria and time requirements to 50 or
more cars in a couple of hours is still a solution in search of a viable
technique. =20
I hope that these thoughts give you a little more insight into the kind =
of
problems all TU event organizers face, this one in particular.
Without stealing Paul Reisentz's thunder on the STOA TAC program (he =
will
issue an internet update report next week) we managed to authenticate 15
new Tigers bringing our total to date to 261. In fact we were =
successful
in adding all but TWO of the Tigers that attended the event, and those
particular owners have been long term objectors to our program.
Tom & Bette Hall
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