Saturday 10/3 (full gallery here)
The rain stopped around 8pm Friday night, and sweepstakes was brave enough to bet on the course drying in 11 hours. It pretty much did. I wouldn’t have called it dry, but with a little extra caution from the orgs and drivers, things went pretty smoothly. Only 6 teams really rolled (SDC also sent one buggy down one time), so maybe the others called it a drinking night without checking the radar first.

Orgs (7) and buggies (15):
SigEp – Pandora and Barracuda
DTD – Bethany
AEPi – Kamikaze and Camo
SDC – Envy
Spirit – Seraph and Haraka
PiKA – Zeus, Knightfall, and Chimera
Fringe – Blizzard, Bantam, Banyan, Bedlam

Observations

• DTD has officially gotten off the ground, had a successful first day of rolls, and rejoined buggy!  Good work to them!  The buggy they bought from Pioneers had been called Quicksilver, but it came with the name Bethany painted on the side since Pioneers was painting driver names on their buggies for a while.  It just so happens that DTD was founded at Bethany College in 1858 so the name was too fortuitous to change.  Bethany made a real racket its first time down the hill, and needed a couple of pushes to get to the chute.  On later rolls it got far enough that it became the hill 3’s responsibility, and that sounds like a fair enough definition of success for a new team’s first day.  Glad to see you out, guys!
• The sun was nice and warm, but it caused problems on the back hills.  Pandora took a line so close to the right curb on the back hills that the hill 3 had to duck some tree branches as he pushed.  Not to be outdone, Zeus took the turn into hill 3 so tight that she dropped a wheel into the sewer grate and got stuck.  The hill 3 pusher thought to solve the problem by 1) pushing really hard, and then when the buggy didn’t budge 2) walking away.
• SigEp’s Pandora spun into the bales on the first roll of the day, and the hatch reportedly flew off in the process.  The buggy was rolling again on the next time through the order, so it couldn’t have been too bad.

Sunday 10/4 (full gallery here)

Now this is what a day of rolls is supposed to look like!  12 orgs made it out for the good weather and nobody was shy about brining out their full fleet of buggies.  Sweepstakes seems to have things well under control and running like clockwork, getting through the order 3+ times even with 29 buggies rolling.  Full attendance records …

Orgs (12) and Buggies (29):
AEPi – Kamikaze and Zephyrus
SigEp – Pandora and Barracuda
DTD – Bethany
Pioneers – Chaos
Spirit – Haraka and Seraph
SigNu – Krait and Skua
PhiKap – Svengali and Schadenfreud
SDC – Psychosis, Envy, Malice, Rage
PiKA – Zeus, Chimera, Nemesis, Cyclone
Fringe – Blizzard, Bedlam, Banyan, Bantam
CIA – Quasar, Firebird, Conquest, Renaissance
SAE – Rubicon

Observations

• PiKA has a whimsical side?  Who knew?  They brought out and rolled Cyclone (please correct us if we’re wrong on the ID), which was built and last raced 17 years ago in 1992.  Maybe they felt the need to keep up with the independents who are brining out 4 buggies to rolls?  Maybe they have a driver with a penchant for early 90’s throwback style?
• CIA treated buggy fans with a rare fall debut of a new buggy: their build from (mostly) last year – Renaissance.  Judging from the outside, Renaissance represents CIA’s long anticipated, long rumored, even longer planned move into monocoque construction.  The successfully completed build is a strong statement that CIA is as healthy and active as ever which is good to see after a 5 year gap in buggies and the near-demise of their old neighbor, Pioneers.  Rolling four buggies today only underscores the point.
• Speaking of which, Pioneers is not dead!  I’m not even referring to the memory of Pioneers that lives on through Bethany in DTD’s control, but that they actually showed up and rolled with the rest of the living orgs.  They’ll need to find a few more people to push before raceday though as it was all Ironmen on the backhills today.
• The only notable incident of the day was Chimera’s rear wheel attachment failing on hill 3, seemingly the same way it failed on hill 2 last year.  The wheel pushed up into the buggy, dislodged the hatch, and brought things to a stop as the tail dragged up the hill.
• Sweepstakes seems to have done a good job emphasizing the importance of manning the barricades that keep cars away from the buggies.  The new daily meeting with all of the people doing that chore makes sure everyone is taking it seriously.  From what we’ve seen so far, the difference is significant.  Instead of drunk and/or sleeping, these kids are out there wearing reflective vests, looking alert, and being polite and helpful to the bikers and joggers that wander into the way.

Thanks to Katherine Crawford and Carsen Kline for Sunday’s observations.