Most years in buggy see the birth, rebirth, or death of an organization but the transition from 2009 to 2010 is looking busier than usual. We hate to see anyone go, but it looks like the net migration might come out even or positive this year, so hopefully we can stay right around 50 teams on raceday. The more the merrier. Here’s the breakdown …
Out
- KDR (4 teams in ’09) – The only definitive exit of the year, and it was against their will. KDR was kicked off campus this summer with the option to apply to return in two years. They are prohibited from participating in booth or buggy, apparently even if they enter as the independent Kool Dudes Racing (or similar). With nothing but top 10 finishes and 3 new buggies in the past 6 years, it’s definitely unfortunate to lose a strong and stable organization, especially from the greek side of the balance. Don’t drink and get caught kids.
Not Out
- Beta (2 teams in ’09) – One of the bigger tabloid headlines of raceday last year was Beta’s two year suspension for “Safety Violation” having to do with their excessive amounts of flammable solvents in the truck. Through some combination of being likable and clueless enough to plead ignorance of the rules, Beta is back in. They have signed a contract with sweepstakes to participate responsibly and are on some sort of short leash with respect to rules and chores. So long as it doesn’t set too much of a precedent and threaten sweepstakes’ ability to enforce important rules, it seems like a positive move. Beta has always had more potential than they know how to squander in buggy, and keeping them on their own team will cut down on the roster arguments spawned by everyone fighting for their best pushers.
- Pioneers (1 team in ’09) – Just when everyone had said their goodbyes and come to peace with the idea of Pioneers settling peacefully into buggy history, they show up on the roll order. As of last raceday, the report was that there were no non-graduating members left in the organization. If they make it out to rolls and back to the top of the hill, that would suggest they’re back up to at least 3 or 4 people which would be one hell of a successful recruiting season in percentage terms.
In
- KKG / ZBT – Kappa last raced in 2006 after 3 years of enthusiastically breaking the gender barrier in buggy. ZBT last raced in 1976 according to our records. Can anyone comment on how accurate that is? There were short term rumors of a KKG / SAE alliance last fall, but the relationship didn’t last long. I think the historical record shows less success for co-ed greek partnerships in buggy than it does in greek sing, but the fact that Kappa has been expressing interest for years now suggests they have the drive to make it work. The challenge will be getting a reliable buggy together, as their last horse in the race – Ursula – gave them a lot of trouble.
- DTD – Coming back from a 7 year absence from buggy (5 of which DTD was not on campus), these guys seem to be enthusiastic about the large learning curve that faces a team with very little internal information to work from. They’ve already bought Quicksilver from Pioneers’ liquidation sale, and hopefully we’ll see them out on the course soon.
Bryan says:
To add a couple of unofficial rumors that I’ve heard about some of these issues from being around Pittsburgh…
Pioneers supposedly has something along the lines of 1 driver, 1 mechanic, and 5 pushers…Which is just enough to field a team.
Also, I’ve heard rumors that KKG/ZBT will be rolling on Ursula, at least at the beginning.
I’m not sure as to the accuracy of these 2 statements, but I have heard them from various people.
The one thing I am sure of is that the DTD team is actually a DTD/KapSig combination team. KapSig has a little bit of buggy experience, so hopefully this combo will work out well for both orgs.
JT says:
DTD was originally planning on working with KapSig, but that is no longer the case.
lemuroid says:
I remember ZBT rolling in the 82 and 83 but I think they were out in 84 and beyond. I think their buggy ended up over at Spirit but I think that about every defunct org of that era.
lemuroid says:
I posted their buggy book entry from 83 in the 80s gallery.
the cook says:
Yes ZBT rolled my freshman year at least some. Not sure they made race day. I remember seeing buggy stuff when I was there stealing furniture after their departure from campus. Apparently they invested in high nuclear density furnishings as I still have some of this furniture.
v says:
it’ll be impressive if kkg/zbt manage to roll on ursula because i might recall seeing that buggy spend an entire pittsburgh summer on the kkg uncoverd patio. unless that was a different internal frame buggy with a paper mache shell that i watched disintegrate a little more after every rainstorm…