judging

[gruberv8]

Are judges allowed to look at the cars before the judging starts and use the judging manual as a reference book before the juding actually starts? This happened to me at hershey this year. I finally asked the man, who was wearing his judges hat and carrying the clipboard, Are you judging? which he indicated no, but they were about to start.

I don't want to sound like sour grapes because I didn't get my senior. I kind of feel like my car was "pre judged" before using the rulebook as a checklist. Wondering what other peoples feelings about this is.

[Shop Rat]

As judges and Team Captains we are constantly warned to be mindful of the owner/owners, especially the ones there for the first time. That they "are sweating bullets" and we need to put them at ease during the process.

As an example of that we are warned to not point because what might be an innocent indication of an outstanding element of the vehicle can be taken wrong by the owner/owners that see that point. As humans we tend to think the worst from time to time.

The judge in question might very well have never seen a vehicle like yours and was verifying something and found that it was correct and as such had no negative impact on the score your vehicle received.

On Saturday an owner from the next class across the way from mine introduced himself, told me it was his first AACA Meet and asked me to look at his car and tell him if there was anything more he needed to do to be ready for the judging team. I walked all around his car and the only thing I suggested was that he remove to a safe location the items he had in the trunk. He was grateful for the advice. I was happy to help.

As the owner you are permitted to talk to the Team Captain and they can talk to you. The rest of the team of judges are to field any questions about the vehicle through the Team Captain and they do not talk with the owner/owners directly.

I hope this helps.

[Steve Moskowitz]

Furthermore, there is nothing to stop a judge from "looking" at a car prior to actual judging. This includes the national awards team. Some times, members of the team like to check out the class prior to actually judging the car so they can see the whole car instead of looking for the part they are to judge.

Judges come in all shapes and sizes and experience. If a judge refers to his manual that is a GOOD thing as he is trying to get it RIGHT. In fact, the case could be made if he checked his rule book he saved you points!

Sorry about the Senior but get the highlighted judging sheet from our VP of Class Judging (listed on web and in magazine) and bring the car to the show in Reading and try again! At least it will be a short drive for you!

[Ron Green]

Are judges allowed to look at the cars before the judging starts and use the judging manual as a reference book before the juding actually starts? This happened to me at hershey this year. I finally asked the man, who was wearing his judges hat and carrying the clipboard, Are you judging? which he indicated no, but they were about to start.

From my observations; on occasion I see them walking around checking out the cars and owners (seeing whose there and who is missing), verifying fire extinguishers, etc prior to the official judging. The judge may have just opened the manual to make sure he or she was in the correct class they were assigned to that day. Hershey is a big show field.

[Jay Wolf]

I think what you have to remember are the judges are car people, and Hershey is a hectic place on show day for the judges, many like me start our 12 hour drive home as soon as we are done judging, so most likely the judge was just admiring and looking at your car as a spectator, not prejudging it. Most judge have a special interests in the type car they are judging and during judging at Hershey you really don't have time to look and any part of the car other than the part you are judging. Relax the judges aren't out to get you. I would venture to say every judge has been in your shoes showing a car.

[gruberv8]

thanks guys for your input. I'll likely get the information & see what I can correct.

[Jay Wolf]

thanks guys for your input. I'll likely get the information & see what I can correct.

The best way to do that is to have a judge look over the before or after a meet or have them stop by some other time and look at it. AACA judging is done so fast a judge never catches all the deductions. so let a judge look the car for an hour and they can tell you what they would suggest you fix.