Alright, now I can sit down and relax a little. I've been thinking about this all day, and I have a few thoughts.
Yes Jason, I was part of the commitee that helped Ben with the scale rules. I've been involved with the scale class at ORCRC for several years, and I believe that I have good insights on what a scale class should be. In fact I took over the scale class for 2009 with help from another club member, and ORCRC implemented the Montana rules at the beginning of this year to see how they played out in the "real word". We wanted a set of simple, straight forward rules that we thought would be easy to follow without being overbearing. These were to be simple guidelines that would allow people to be creative and build great trucks. Unfortunately this hasn't worked out quite as planned. There are so many different definitions of scale that you'd need a 50 page book to cover all the rules.
From day one of the 2009 season, issues have come up about these rules. I've called Ben weekly to discuss problems that have come up in our club. He has had to modify these rules many times hoping to make them clearer and to close some of the loopholes that existed. You guys are saying that they've been changed 9 times but that isn't accurate.
It was modified so that :
1. people couldn't run the same truck in both 1.9 and 2.2 with different tires.
2. Ben added that you could flat fender a body and not just trim the wheelwells.
3. Modified the wording of where the battery can go.
4. Changed scale accessories so you don't get so many points for them.
5. Tailgate and door removal rule modifications.
6. No MOA.
7. Spelling correction.
These changes have been blown way out of proportion. These rule modifications are nowhere near as severe as they've been portrayed, they just correct problems that we encountered in our club that I thought we should iron out before May.
The whole MOA thing came from me overhearing someone talking about building a comp scaler with Berg axles. I told him that Berg, Hot Racing, and Clod axles weren't allowed in the scale class, and they said that there was nothing in the new rules that prohibit MOA axles on scalers. I called Ben that night and he seemed bewildered that anyone would build a scaler without drivelines. He said it was "rediculous" and that MOA wasn't scale in any way, shape, or form and he was amazed that anyone would think that MOA was OK in scale. Shortly after that I believe Ben added the "No MOA" rule. I'll admit that it could have been handled better and that there should have been a discussion, but this whole scale rules thing is an ongoing process.
It's pretty obvious that we are going to need a book of rules to keep everyone on the straight and narrow. Most that I talk to say "we don't need more scale rules, scale is supposed to be fun". Obviously there are too many ultra competitive people for that to be true. There will always be a few people that pick the rules apart and look for any kind af loophole to give themselves an advantage over others. Don't get me wrong, this isn't meant to be a knock on anyone, it's just that some people have more of a competitive nature than others. It's human nature to want to be better in any way than the people you are competing against. Sometimes this can be detrimental to a sport or hobby, and sometimes it helps you get a set of guidelines in place.
Obviously we have a ways to go before we have a set of scale rules that maintain the integrity of scale, but still allow people to be creative.
That's all I have for now. I'm sure I'll think of something else later. Tim.
