This week, we set the clocks back and the buggies forward, as Saturday was Mini-Raceday! The shortest day of Rolls of the year saw a lot of excitement, as 8 orgs were out doing full Hill 1s and getting some times. Sunday saw a smaller crowd, as several orgs decided to get the extra hour of sleep instead of more Fall rolls, leading to a Rolls session that actually ended early.
Red sky in the morning, Buggy drivers take warning… that it’s Mini-Raceday!
It was Halloween weekend at the corner of Tech & Frew, which meant a very important thing: Buggy Costumes! Of course, it also meant that there were Halloween parties Saturday night, and as is pretty common, party nights mean tired* students that don’t want to wake up for Rolls at 4am the next day. Because of that, there was no quorum for Sunday rolls, leaving us with just 1 day of Rolls this weekend.
It’s a short rolls report this week, and it’s not because we didn’t have people out there (though you should still help us out by signing up to take notes/photos). Saturday’s rolls were cancelled early in the week due to a lack of quorum. But Sunday was still on, and with decent weather things were looking up…Until Sweepstakes got to the course. It didn’t take long before they discovered an Excavator parked on the shoulder of Schenley Drive just past Westinghouse Pond. Even worse, it was parked on the Flagstaff side of the road, leaving the construction equipment directly in the line of the drivers. Particularly with some new drivers out at rolls, the placement of the equipment was considered to be far too great a risk to buggies and drivers. Therefore, Sweepstakes was left with no choice but to cancel rolls.
The BAA History Committee will neither confirm nor deny that it is following up on a tip it received on the whereabouts of DU’s King Eider.
A few upcoming reminders to close this report out:
There are no Rolls for the next 2 weekends, as we’re coming up on CMU’s Fall Break. But stick around, as we should be back before Halloween (we’ll see if any teams dress up their buggies this year).
Next weekend may not have Rolls, but it’s Family Weekend at CMU (why they scheduled Family Weekend during the Fall Break is a good question, but neither the BAA nor Sweepstakes had anything to do with it). If you’re on campus, make sure to check out Tom Wood’s History of Buggy Presentation – Family Edition, at Noon on Saturday, October 14 in Connan Room – CUC.
Mini-Raceday is currently scheduled for the weekend of November 4-5, and we’ll need LOTS of help, especially when it comes to timing. If you’re in Pittsburgh or considering going back for that weekend, please let us know.
CMU Homecoming is the weekend of November 11-12, and there should be Rolls. If you’ll be back that weekend, make sure to come out and join us!
Last but not least, if you’ve submitted a BAA Endowed Fund Grant Proposal, reminder that your feedback responses are due this week!
Heavy fog rolled in to Pittsburgh this weekend, but even that wasn’t enough to stop CMU students from showing up for both days of rolls. Overall, it was a pretty quiet weekend of rolls, with teams that have been out taking it a bit easier this weekend. But it did include the return to the course for a couple of teams, and one new “organization”?
I’m pretty sure I remember the Cathedral being taller than that
If rain on your wedding day is a sign of good luck, what does it mean if there’s Buggy on your wedding day? With the Great Race on Sunday, there was only 1 day of Rolls this weekend. But with 6 teams on the course, even some more wildlife and vehicular traffic couldn’t stop rolls for too long and teams got a fair number of clean rolls in.
Shana Tova to those who celebrate! This weekend marked the start of not only Year 5784 on the Hebrew calendar, but Year 103 on the Buggy calendar! That’s right – We’re back for the 2023-2024 Buggy Season! And what a weekend it was. It was a mix of new and returning this weekend – new and returning students, new and returning teams, new and returning wildlife, and new and returning road hazards.
As we get ready for freerolls to begin, the BAA needs the help of folks local to Pittsburgh. We don’t currently have a rolls reporter, but want to continue to bring updates to the rest of our community. To that end, we’re hoping to get notes and photos/videos from anyone local who can show up to Rolls.
So, if you are local a few things you can do to help:
First, join our buggy-watchers mailing list — this will get updates about when rolls are and are not happening.
Second, in the #assignteam channel on our Discord, claim the Pittsburgh Local rank by sending a message of “!rank Pittsburgh Local“
Finally, sign up for days on which you can provide notes and/or photos on this sheet.
We’re hoping to have at least 1 notetaker and 1 photographer out each day that students are rolling. You don’t have to create Rolls Reports themselves or anything extensive — we’ll handle that. We just need your insight into anything interesting that is happening on a given day.
The Finals Lead Truck Auction is now live! You can click the below link to bid. Please note that this auction will close at the end of tonight’s Buggy Bash at 9pm, so get your bids in quickly.
This auction has closed. Look forward to our finals auction after prelims.
The BAA is once again holding our lead truck auction this year! It’s the one chance you (or a, parent, a spouse, a friend, or any buggy fanatic in your life) have of being right in the middle of the action on Raceday. You’ll sit in the back of the lead truck for whatever race(s) you can win! Proceeds help with all the costs of putting on such a spectacular Raceday, including the BAA’s sponsorship and various broadcast and other improvements.
The auction will go live on Monday at Noon ET. Most things are the same as 2019 (and a description of how it works is below), but with one main change – the auction for the Prelims Heats and the auction for the Finals Heats will be two separate online auctions. The auction for Prelims Heats will open Monday at Noon ET and close Wednesday at 8pm ET. The auction for Finals Heats will be much shorter – it will open after Finals Heats are selected on Friday afternoon, and will close at the end of the Buggy100 Buggy Bash on Friday at 9pm ET. Come join your fellow buggy alumni at the Buggy Bash to share your Raceday experiences, enjoy some refreshments, play some trivia, win prizes, and more! The Buggy Bash begins at 7:00 p.m. ET on Friday, and requires advanced registration. More details will be posted to cmubuggy.org.
But don’t worry – if you’re at the Buggy Bash and you want to participate in the auction, the auction site is mobile-friendly and we’ll have plenty of reminders throughout the night. And unlike the past couple of years, the Finals Auction is being held online, not in person. So you do not have to attend the Buggy Bash in order to participate in the auction.
Click on the button below to access the auction site:
We’ve made it to (Mini-)Raceday! COVID has dealt a number of blows to Buggy over the past year, but Sweepstakes worked incredibly hard to get buggies back on the course this Spring and now it’s time to crown a champion.
For the first time in 50 years, Raceday returns to its roots; the month of May. We’ll be live-streaming Mini-Raceday on both Saturday, May 1 and Sunday, May 2, beginning at ~6:15AM ET. You can watch along at http://tinyurl.com/BuggyLive2021, and of course, the Discord is always open for alumni and students to watch and talk together (and based on past experience, there might even be additional camera angles).
