PEANUTS, POPCORN, TROPHIES...

A pissing contest has to begin somewhere. When we were kids, a pissing contest was something the boys did to see who could piss the farthest. Now if we miss the seat it's a good day. These are the pissing contests that pertained to piss.

Today's rant is directed at a recent posting found at HOTKARZ.COM and the Car Show scene in general, but mostly at the ongoing battle with trophy hunters.

All through last years season of Shows the call for changes in the format of voting and judging was predominant at most of the post show Blogs posted at HOTKARZ.COM as well as any discussion at the following weeks show or Cruise Night. HOT KARZ is a force in the Hobby to be dealt with cautiously as they have been known to bite certain aspects of this hobby without first finding all the different opinions on that aspect or if you will allow me, a consensus.

The consensus says that participant voting at any car show is fixed by the participants in such a way you can virtually pick the winners without ever seeing the cars. Its called the BUDDY SYSTEM, I vote for you you vote for me YA DA YA DA YA DA. There are ways to bring this system under control but somehow the winners remain the same or very close to the same. Judging at any show is a crime and should be banned unless a qualified panel of PRO Judges can be found. Just because a person built a car does not qualify him to be a judge, just because I pounded a nail in a plank doesn't qualify me to be a carpenter.

In order to fight against this onslaught of unfairness one needs to stop enabling the system. HOTKARZ.COM has enabled the buddy system to all new heights rather than stopping it, or slowing it down. With the Implementation of the new awards that they want to bring to the BEST OF THE BEST (as they put it ), they will bring the ONLINE buddy system so far into play you will never see the end of it. Lets face it Facebook and My Space are just the venue for some up and comer to glean more votes from than your web space can handle.

You allow them to vote for their buddies at the show, set them up to get a first, then allow the masses to put their buddy list from Facebook and My Space on alert to vote on line at their leisure. AREN'T WE JUST A LITTLE BEAM OF BRILLIANCE!!!

In the circles I travel in, the people that get awards and trophies deserve the awards and trophies either because of the vehicle that they built and maintain or because of who they are and what they have done to and for the hobby. I have yet to give out an award to one person who campaigned for it. I have yet to hand a person a trophy that behaved like an asshole or gave a bad image to the hobby. I do not claim to be a judge of people or of vehicles but I am a good judge of the entire package and think that what HOTKARZ.COM is proposing will only enable more ASSHOLES to prove that they are ASSHOLES and that they hang around with hemorrhoids.

I think HOTKARZ.COM needs to stop trying to be leader in the hobby and just try to be part of the hobby.