Rules screw up, what should they have done?

[Pacfanweb]

Powder Puff rules SNAFU:

There was an apparent discrepancy in the rules that either most, or all of the troops were given this year, with regards to whether all 4 wheels had to touch or not.

The rules WE were given, (along with many others I witnessed) said nothing about needing 4 wheels touching. This is different from last year, where the rules specifically said that all 4 must touch.

We checked in tonight and were told we needed 4 wheels touching. I obviously said "not what our rules said", so they told us to see the head lady, and we did. I told her (NICELY) that our rules didn't say that. She was very rude (immediately, not after awhile) and pointed at her book of rules, which DID say 4 had to touch. Loudly stated "I AM THE EVENT DIRECTOR AND THESE ARE RULES". This was like from the get-go....I was never, ever rude to her, I merely was trying to tell her these are the rules WE were given. I even went to my cell phone and pulled them up and showed her our rules didn't say that....no luck.

So we altered the car.

In the meantime, I noticed parent after parent from other troops going to her and questioning this, and some of them even had copies of the rules they were given....same as ours. Nothing about 4 wheels touching.

So I'm assuming she was being rude to everyone because she had already been hearing this long before we ever got there and was tired of it. One dad I saw she absolutely yelled at, and slammed the table. I walked over to tell him that lots of other people got the same rules (he had a copy in his hand) and there was an apparent mess-up somewhere. She looked me and said "You've been arguing with me (I never did, nor was I ever rude to her) for two hours".

I had been there maybe 30 minutes at that point, and had probably a total of 2 minutes of talk with her previously.

I walked away. Don't know what ended up happening with that Dad, lol. He was pretty hot, but only after the event director yelled at him and slammed the table.

Miscommunications and mistakes happen. It's a human trait. I think in this case, some allowances should have been made for people who built their cars to the rules they were given. If they were going to stick with what amounted to essentially changing the rules at the absolute last minute, they could have at least been nice and professional about it. The rules state that parents and Girl Scouts must exhibit good sportsmanship or they could be disqualified. I think that should also apply to the event personnel.

Sorry for what is somewhat of a rant, but what should have been done here? Allow the 3 wheeled cars since those were obviously the rules everyone had, or make everyone alter their cars at check-in?

 

[Kinser Racing]

Did you video the incident with your smart phone? If not someone you know may have, contact everyone you know. I would then email the video to her director and demand that she be fired or you will take it to a higher level. People that work with kids should not be acting like that.

 

[Pacfanweb]

No, I was standing right next to her and the other Dad was trying to talk to her when she went off and slammed the table.

I understand that she had been hearing that all evening....our check-in wasn't until 8pm. They have the girls divided into different groups and check-in had been going on for 3hrs or so by that point. And I probably didn't help by going over and telling him that everyone else apparently had the same set of rules he had in his hand. But I was always nice about it, and she was rude from the start.

Still, it should have been obvious by that point that if not everyone, a LOT of troops were given the incorrect rules. They were followed, then when we got to check-in and inspection, we were told we weren't legal.

I personally think they should have just relaxed the rule once they realized everyone didn't have the same set. Admit there's been a screw-up, and get it right next year.

We have to use the slots, and people were breaking the wood on a regular basis when trying to push the wheels down a bit. They always have a "tweaking" table, with tools and such so people can add weight, take out weight, etc, to get the cars right.

I usually show up with a drill and a box of weights, graphite and other stuff to help people out. I personally "fixed" 3 other cars besides my daughter's that had one wheel not touching. Two I'm pretty sure were just inadvertant because of using the slots.

 

[Papa V Racing]

Pac -

You were allot nicer than I would have been I would have been told to leave ... I can see why the other father was upset as well as you and everyone else.. Sounds like she might have been Mad that it got messed up and did not want to eat humble pie.. She definitely could not think on her own and do as you stated make a compromise and let everyone race ...

The father the went crazy .. sounds like a total race nut himself not his kids ...LOL ... but you spend so much time prepping and then they say NO ...

I feel your pain brother ................

V

 

[Kinser Racing]

I know it's not what you want to hear but what if you got the other set of rules? Do you think it would be fair to relax the rules for some giving them a free pass, so to speak? The only fair thing to do is adhere to the stricter set of rules. That's just my opinion. She still deserves to be removed for her behavior.

 

[GravityX]

That is a major SNAFU.

I think what I may have done here, after realizing that there was more than one set of rules were sent out, would have been to quickly tailor the event to accommodate the 3 wheel and 4 wheel cars. Basically run 2 separate classes. I know this would have been a major undertaking, but less people would have been angry. Race officials would have been scrambling.

Another thing I may have done would have been to take a poll of the people and asked what they would like to do. Either way, confusion and upset people would have ensued.

This is a tough call and certainly could have been handled differently to make all parties somewhat happy.

 

[Pacfanweb]

I know it's not what you want to hear but what if you got the other set of rules? Do you think it would be fair to relax the rules for some giving them a free pass, so to speak? The only fair thing to do is adhere to the stricter set of rules. That's just my opinion. She still deserves to be removed for her behavior.

I'm not sure that ANYONE got the other set of rules. The district site doesn't make the first mention anywhere about the Derby, so no "official" rules anyone can find there. That's not the case with the local Boy Scouts....the Derby dates and official rules are easily found on their site.

I googled this area for Powder Puff Derby, and found sites for two other troops, and both of them had the same rules we did. I was shown these rules by 3 other people that had them in had at the check-in, and was told by 3-4 others that they had the same rules, also.

If just a few people showed up with 3 wheelers, you could write that off as someone trying to slide it by....but when you have this amount, with nearly all of them protesting, I think the "official's" response was wrong.

 

[Kinser Racing]

I kind of got the impression that it was like half and half. If not you're right on that call.

I know it's not what you want to hear but what if you got the other set of rules? Do you think it would be fair to relax the rules for some giving them a free pass, so to speak? The only fair thing to do is adhere to the stricter set of rules. That's just my opinion. She still deserves to be removed for her behavior.

I'm not sure that ANYONE got the other set of rules. The district site doesn't make the first mention anywhere about the Derby, so no "official" rules anyone can find there. That's not the case with the local Boy Scouts....the Derby dates and official rules are easily found on their site.

I googled this area for Powder Puff Derby, and found sites for two other troops, and both of them had the same rules we did. I was shown these rules by 3 other people that had them in had at the check-in, and was told by 3-4 others that they had the same rules, also.

If just a few people showed up with 3 wheelers, you could write that off as someone trying to slide it by....but when you have this amount, with nearly all of them protesting, I think the "official's" response was wrong.

 

[Pacfanweb]

I do not know for sure. She had the rules in a notebook, and claimed that she gave all the troop leaders copies of that actual sheet, and did not email them....which seems to be how everyone got theirs. One Mom had a copy that she said she was handed by her daughter's troop leader.
I don't know. It's an unfortunate situation that should have been handled a LOT better. I'm guessing she doesn't work in customer service anywhere.

I also try and take into account that these people run one race a year, so it's not like these are pros we're dealing with here.

I kind of got the impression that it was like half and half. If not you're right on that call.

I know it's not what you want to hear but what if you got the other set of rules? Do you think it would be fair to relax the rules for some giving them a free pass, so to speak? The only fair thing to do is adhere to the stricter set of rules. That's just my opinion. She still deserves to be removed for her behavior.

I'm not sure that ANYONE got the other set of rules. The district site doesn't make the first mention anywhere about the Derby, so no "official" rules anyone can find there. That's not the case with the local Boy Scouts....the Derby dates and official rules are easily found on their site.

I googled this area for Powder Puff Derby, and found sites for two other troops, and both of them had the same rules we did. I was shown these rules by 3 other people that had them in had at the check-in, and was told by 3-4 others that they had the same rules, also.

If just a few people showed up with 3 wheelers, you could write that off as someone trying to slide it by....but when you have this amount, with nearly all of them protesting, I think the "official's" response was wrong.

 

[IAE Racing]

These kind of things take the fun out of a race in a big hurry. Rules aside, How'd the race go?

 

[Pacfanweb]

These kind of things take the fun out of a race in a big hurry. Rules aside, How'd the race go?

Will find out this afternoon. The check in was last night, and the race today. We tested the car Thursday night and it was pretty fast. I was feeling pretty good about it until I had to rig it and make the 4th wheel touch.
It's a Plug and Play 3 wheel rail rider. Worked with DD4H by email to tune it a bit. I have a track with an order of finish indicator, but no timer. We were trying to beat my son's Cub car, which was second at District by .003 over a 6 run average. It is faster than my daughter's car from last year, which was 3rd at the Powder Puff, so I figured if we beat the Cub car we would be in good shape.

And we did. After the tweaking, her new car was running away from it, by a car to 1.5 cars.

Now, I don't know. We'll see.

 

[Chief]

We had a similar problem with our scout races and we fixed it by taking it over...My bride volunteered to take over the races and she basically was the one in charge of the PWD event. She made it so much better. She made a PWD committee and everyone had to agree on the rules and times and dates etc. then she emailed everything to the parents and we had a build clinic the weekend before and then the race was the following weekend but check in started on Thursday night from like 6 to 8 in case there were issues with any car that way they had time to fix anything with out being in a big rush. She really made it easy and it made it so much more fun. I cant give her all the credit though...I gave her TONS of information from how things are done right here at the NPWDRL and if it wasnt for that it would not have been so easy, so for that I thank EVERYONE here and I mean EVERYONE. All were in some way a help because of things that have happened to folks it was easy to know how to recognize a problem and get it resolved without people getting hostile! THANX to ALL!!!!!!!!!! Good luck on your race

 

[Pacfanweb]

Finished 2nd. Very close between 1st and 2nd.

Oddly, I thought her car was faster than last year's, but the time didn't indicate that.

It's an aluminium Best track, I guess 32 ft. Last year's car had a best ET of 2.48. This year's best was 2.62. We we're beating the old car like a drum in testing. I wouldn't think barely touching one wheel would slow it that much.

Oh well, lessons learned. We'll build a 4 wheeled car next year regardless of the rules, and I'm thinking it's going to be DD4H equipped all around, not just the block.