Has this ever happened to you? You have a great vehicle. Maybe you restored it yourself or maybe you spent big bucks paying an expert to restore it for you. You know its perfect (except for a few items the judges will never find). Now, you are taking it to an AACA National Meet and you know that it will receive a First Junior award, or maybe you have already won your First Junior Trophy and are now going for a Senior, or a Grand National First. In any event you have invested a lot of time and money, including vacation time, to travel to the meet. You have to win!

At the evening Awards Banquet you name is never called, or it’s called for a Second Junior Award. That can’t be! You stride boldly up to the awards table and demand to see the printout of the awards. Your name is missing. You are upset and angry and insist on talking with the National Vice President of Class Judging. He tells you that he will review your judging sheet next week and, if there is a mistake, he will notify you and your award will be sent to you.

“That is not good enough,” you reply as you loudly explain to everyone waiting behind you in line to pick up their awards. Let everything stop until this “mistake” is corrected! You are sure it must be the judge’s fault. They must have deducted points from your vehicle and did not make the same deductions on the highest scoring vehicle. Maybe, it’s that ##$##% computer. It can’t add right and computers should never have been invented, anyway.

Well, let’s take a look at this scenario. There were 400 vehicles on the judging field today and 200 of the vehicle owners and their guests are at the banquet. Is it reasonable to expect the VP of Class Judging to stop in the middle of the awards presentation to turn his full attention to your irate demands? Even if there is a mistake, which experience shows is unlikely, shouldn’t you give some consideration to the other 199 vehicle owners? Waiting a few days to get your answer really isn’t so bad. Your vehicle still gets its award and that is what really counts. After all, this is supposed to be fun. The judges and even the VP of Class Judging are all volunteers and pay their own way to the National Meets. They are all trying to do the best job possible for you. They want to see you receive an award if you are entitled to it. Did you take into consideration the element of competition when you rushed the awards table? Were your expectations really realistic?

While we are at it, let’s take a look at those judges who you assume are at fault. AACA has more than 3000 active judges who work in teams composed of a Team Captain and 4 Team Members. Each Team Member judges one of the four vehicle areas: interior, exterior, engine and chassis. AACA has an excellent training program for its judges including Judging Schools (which are open to all AACA members) and Continuing Judges Education at almost every meet plus the Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.

Beginning in 2004 judges will be required to attend at least one school each year in order to continue judging at National Meets. Judges are trained to be objective, fair and consistent. Authenticity (the way the vehicle looked when it was delivered from the factory) and condition are the most important considerations. Judging guidelines provide that no deductions are to be made unless the judge is certain that a component is incorrect or condition is unsatisfactory. If there is some question about the component, the Team Captain is trained to ask the vehicle owner for documentation. Documentation, to be acceptable, must conform to the requirements set forth in the published “Official Judging Rules and Guidelines manual available from AACA Headquarters. So, what do you think? Are the Judges the likely culprits?

Could it be my vehicle? You probably know of some components that are non-authentic or in less than new condition. Most vehicles have a few. But you don’t believe that you could lose enough points to fail to qualify for the award you are seeking. Let’s talk about scoring at AACA National Meets. Each vehicle begins the meet with 400 points. To win a First Junior, the minimum score is 365 points, but you must also be within 10 points of the highest point vehicle. If you win, you become eligible to compete for a Senior Award. To win a Senior, the minimum score is 375, but you still have to be within ten points of the highest point vehicle. If you win you are eligible to participate in a Grand National Meet. To win a Grand National First Award you must score a minimum of 385 and be within five points of the highest point vehicle. If you achieve that you can go one notch higher. To win a Grand National Senior Award you have to score 390 points or higher. Think about this for a minute. Vehicles that have never won compete only with other vehicles that have never won that award. In order to win in that category, your vehicle must score within ten points of the highest scoring vehicle in the class. That means that there is an element of competition that we often overlook or forget about. A perfect scoring vehicle, or one that loses very few points can skew the entire class. The First that you were certain was yours becomes a Second. If you are going for a Senior, you may have scored the minimum 375 points, but may still fail to win at that particular meet. At the next meet you attend, the high point vehicle may not be present and you may achieve your goal that time.

Is it the computer? Over the past few years, AACA has moved from a manual judging administration system to a computerized system. Today’s state-of-the-art software system performs extremely well and removes much of the element of human error from the process. It’s unlikely to be the computer.

Is it fair? Sure it is. Almost everything in life involves an element of competition and AACA National Meets are no different. Your vehicle is just as good as it has always been, but at this meet you competed against a vehicle that scored more than ten points higher than your vehicle. And that is what good sportsmanship is all about. Just as in football, we don’t win every time, but we accept the referees’ (or judges’ decision) and try again at the next game (or meet).

Have fun! Don’t take it so seriously!

RAMBLINGS OF ENZO THE CAT