Hello all,

I'd like to start by thanking everyone who participated in the MOTD Car Show this year, either as an entrant, or by coming by to ogle the entrants & cast a balllot. I'd also like to acknowledge Aaron at Outmotoring and thank him for his continued sponsorship, providing the trophies, prizes, and some insight along the way.

And of course, I want to thank the volunteers who helped park the cars in an organized manner, and also helped count the ballots in a totally disorganized and frantic manner... which is becoming an unsettling tradition.

I had no time to wander the show & take pics, but if anyone wants to post a photo-log of the winners, I'd be awfully grateful!

We had 38 entrants in the show, and approximately 125 ballots turned in. (Hard to say for sure, because many ballots were not completely filled in, so counting by the final vote tabulation was not accurate)

Results are below, with notes of any interesting tidbits/factoids...

LIMITED CLASSES:

MKI MINI Hardtop, 10 entrants
1st Place: #104, Karen Bowes
2nd Place: #106, Steven Langenfeld
1st/2nd separated by only 2 votes-closest win in the Limited classes

MKII MINI Hardtop, 9 entrants
1st Place: #304, Herb Cooke
2nd Place: #303, Celia Seminerio
1st/2nd separated by only 4 votes

MKI MINI Cabrio, 4 entrants
1st Place: #202 Alicyn Drew
2nd Place: #201 April Fieno
Car #203, Josh Hamman was just 1 vote out of 2nd place

MKII MINI Cabrio, 3 entrants
1st Place: #402, Gary McDonald
2nd Place: #403, Michael Burkett Crist
Largest margin of victory in the limited classes here- over 60 votes

MINI Clubman, 8 entrants
1st Place: #507, Steve Shell
Let's hear it for the Clubbie Crowd for outnumbering the Cabrios! What's the story there, Ragtoppers???

MINI Countryman, 2 entrants
1st Place: #601, Jill Raymer
2nd largest margin of victory in the limited classes here- over 50 votes


Classic Mini, 2 entrants
1st Place: #701, Luther Shields

OPEN CLASSES:

Dirty Dog (Dirtiest MINI/Mini): #501, Cameron McCormick
No surprise to anyone who browsed the field of entrants, largest overall margin of victory was in this race, 113 votes for the winner, and 11 combined votes for the other 3 who received any at all!

Blink King (Best chrome/bling mods): #201, April Fieno

Costume Queen (Best temporary costume/decorations): #301, Kellie Creighton
Whose "costume" wasn't actually temporary, but the people spoke!

Ninja Warrior (Best blackout/stealth mods): #106, Steve Langenfeld

Fine China (The engine bay you'd eat from): #507, Steve Shell
33 entrants received votes in this category

Best in Show: #402, Gary McDonald/#303 Celia Seminerio (TIE). Audience re-vote went to #303, Celia Seminerio
32 of the 38 entrants received votes in the Best in Show category, with 8 different MINIs receiving at least 5 votes. It only took 11 to tie for the lead. 3rd place had 8.
Also interesting to note that Celia only took 2nd in her own Limited class, but still pulled out the Best in Show trophy. Way to go, Celia!

Another tidbit... David Dietz, whose wife entered the show in the MKII Hardtop category, was jealous and pouted at the registration table because there was no "Non-MINI" class. So I let him enter as car #901 with his Saturn Sky. Or was it a Pontiac Solstice? I never had time to walk around & check the badge! Not surprisingly, he did not challenge for any of the Open class trophies. This crowd is too MINI-centric for that! But I applaud him for having the stones to enter & thank him for showing up & showing off what was actually a very sweet little roadster, complete with Lambo doors & a custom skull-faced helmet!

What do you think.... should we have an official Non-MINI category, or maybe a Counterfeit MINI category next year? (I had folks last year suggesting that my Maszdaspeed3 should have entered and gotten a trophy for its Counterfieting. I did not repeat the Counterfeit effort this year, as I lost the stripes)

And while I'm at it, I'd love to hear your suggestions for ways to improve participation. 38 entrants out of 500+ cars seems a bit sparse. Aaron and I already discussed possibly offering more substantial prizes in addition to the trophies, and varying the trophy sizes based on 1st/2nd place, etc. Would you rather see the show on the first or last full day (Thursday/Saturday) instead of Friday? Earlier in the day, perhaps? Got an idea for a trophy we need to consider adding (or deleting)?

I am also considering encouraging pre-registration for next year by only offering nice, printed entry placards to those who pre-register. Those who "walk in" on the day of the show would get a hand written placard, like the one David Ortiz got for his Sky/Solstice this year. This is mostly to cut down on printing costs, as more than half of the money I spent on printing this year was essentially wasted. (I printed almost pre-numbered 200 entry placards, just to be sure I didn't run short, as well as 400 ballots)

 

Would love to see pics!

 

I like the idea of a non-mini category. People with rentals could slap some masking tape on it and have fun.

I like the idea of pre-registering for the car show. Registrants could get a number in their bag to display all weekend. All attendees get a ballot (to be turned in at/before the Farewell Dinner. There could still be a designated time on Saturday to view all the cars together... Or maybe a designated car show parking area? Then announce winners at the farewell dinner and lump it in with all the other big prizes? I don't know. Just a few thoughts.

Michael

 

I think I got them all, please let me know if I am missing something or have something in the incorrect spot!

MKI MINI Hardtop, 10 entrants
1st Place: #104, Karen Bowes

2nd Place: #106, Steven Langenfeld

1st/2nd separated by only 2 votes-closest win in the Limited classes

MKII MINI Hardtop, 9 entrants
1st Place: #304, Herb Cooke

2nd Place: #303, Celia Seminerio

1st/2nd separated by only 4 votes

MKI MINI Cabrio, 4 entrants
1st Place: #202 Alicyn Drew

2nd Place: #201 April Fieno

Car #203, Josh Hamman was just 1 vote out of 2nd place

MKII MINI Cabrio, 3 entrants
1st Place: #402, Gary McDonald

2nd Place: #403, Michael Burkett Crist

Largest margin of victory in the limited classes here- over 60 votes

MINI Clubman, 8 entrants
1st Place: #507, Steve Shell

Let's hear it for the Clubbie Crowd for outnumbering the Cabrios! What's the story there, Ragtoppers???

MINI Countryman, 2 entrants
1st Place: #601, Jill Raymer

2nd largest margin of victory in the limited classes here- over 50 votes


Classic Mini, 2 entrants
1st Place: #701, Luther Shields



Dirty Dog (Dirtiest MINI/Mini): #501, Cameron McCormick

No surprise to anyone who browsed the field of entrants, largest overall margin of victory was in this race, 113 votes for the winner, and 11 combined votes for the other 3 who received any at all!

Blink King (Best chrome/bling mods): #201, April Fieno


Costume Queen (Best temporary costume/decorations): #301, Kellie Creighton

Whose "costume" wasn't actually temporary, but the people spoke!

Ninja Warrior (Best blackout/stealth mods): #106, Steve Langenfeld


Fine China (The engine bay you'd eat from): #507, Steve Shell
33 entrants received votes in this category

 

I had a blast at the show, even losing out by one vote! (all my Detroit people were working the tent :( )

I personally don't like the idea of a non-mini category. It's a MINI car show at a MINI event.

My only suggestion would be to put the description of the clever category names underneat on the ballots (ie; Fine China = Cleanest Engine Bay) I heard a lot of people wondering what the categories meant.

Cheers! See you next year with fresh new mods

 

Glad you enjoyed it, Josh! By the time I had handed out a few dozen ballots, it had become clear to me that the categories needed descriptions. I had tried to fit all of that on there, but it made the layout difficult to fit on one page. I'm going to get to work on next year's ballots earlier, and if I can't make it fit, I will print the descriptions and voting instructions on the back.

I'm also not necessarily in favor of a non-MINI category. Even a Counterfeit category would be stretching it for me. But if people really want either of them, I'm open to suggestion.

Smurfette, thanks for all of the photos!!! You rock! I didn't even know what the winning MINIs looked like, since I was at the registration table the whole time. Now I have a clue!

 

I hadn't thought about distributing the entry placards in the event registration bags, but that's not a half-bad idea! Let the entrants pimp the show a little by displaying their placards all week.

Putting the ballots in the bags might be a little expensive, though. We had 823 registrations this year, and less than 130 people voted in the show. But it's worth considering. Could increase participation.

As for having this event run into the Farewell Dinner, that's unfortunately too complicated. Not everyone attends the Farewell Dinner, so we'd be requiring folks to show up even if they're not eating- or we'd have to try to track them down, ship their trophies to them, etc. All that adds up. That alone could double the cost of the show, and drive me or Aaron over the edge. LOL

I wish there was a paved parking area large enough to hold the car show, but for convenience, visibility, etc., the baseball field wins out. Not sure if that's what you meant about a designated car show parking area. During the rest of the event, you'd see the placards all over, but it wouldn't be very convenient for entrants to try & park together, or for anyone to try & reserve parking for them.

Another benefit of pre-registration that has occurred to me is that entrants could easily plan to pimp their rides, make promotional materials, etc. Heck, I'd probably have a shirt made with my entry #, and hand out flyers all week. Maybe do some "Xiek" style stickers or window clings, etc.

 

Fun again this year (even if I was robbed ) Actually Luke's classic looked fantastic.

 

I was more thinking the baseball field could be open for the gathering prior to car show. But I don't know if Fontana would want that traffic on it for that long. Definitely like the promoting car idea.

Michael

 

I actually had some promotional materials made up for Smurfette and the car show. I had intended to put them on car windshields but in the mornings when I would have had time to tag MINIs all the MINIs were wet with morning dew. Since I didnt know if the paper would leave a residue if the MINI was wet when I put it on, I opted to not leave them. We joked that if I didnt win this year, we would bring window cleaning kits to clean the windshields and leave a curtsey of Smurfette/ vote for Smurfette paper on each window! Thankfully I dont have to do that next year but feel free to steal the idea anyone

 

Dude! That was a perfect Cabrio weather day, we were all out driving twisties, not parked in a lot! (personally, I was on the Brewery run).

 

+1

 

I am planning on entering my car next year.
I know there wasn't a lot of people who entered this year and I don't know if this had anything to do with it but I kinda felt intimidated to enter because you see everyone driving around in there fully modded cars with all the bells and whistles and you feel like your stock car doesn't really belong in a car show.
So having the wide variety of categories and after seeing the other cars that joined I know I felt more comfortable in having the courage to decorate my car up and join.
So I really think next year more people would join if ahead of time they knew they didn't have to have tons of work under the hood to join. Just a good attitude and maybe some swag..or in this case lots of mud on your car :p

 

I entered but got my days crossed up and was out on a long drive at the same time Next year!

 

I was going to enter also but I thought the show was on Saturday, not Friday. Hopefully next year, I can enter.

Mark