cmubuggy.org turns 1!

Posted on | by Sam Swift | 3 Comments on cmubuggy.org turns 1!

That’s right, it seems like an institution already, but it was only a year ago that cmubuggy.org got started and gave the buggy lovers of the world a place to congregate.  The year-round trash talk, the authoritative source to resolve buggy trivia disputes, and the weekly updates of pictures and news all seemed to have been well received, so they are here to stay.  We want to thank all the alumni and current students that have visited and contributed to the site in the first year. It wouldn’t be any fun without you guys!

For everyone out there that gets a kick out of  quantifying their fun, here are some stats from cmubuggy.org’s first year:

  • 43,000+ visits by 11,900+ “unique” visitors
  • 553,000+ page-views
  • 300+ registered users
  • 1,400+ posts in 72 threads in the forum
  • 1,300+ pictures in the gallery
  • 100+ contributions to the history database (most of which were really many contributions)

Most popular pictures (according to google analytics, not the craptastic view counter in the gallery): Continue reading →

Wanted: Pictures and Seniors

Posted on | by Sam Swift

Now that the real hangovers have worn off, the buggy hangover is in full swing, and we want to help you deal with the emptiest time of year: post-raceday.

Pictures
Share your pictures from raceday with the rest of the cmubuggy.org community.  So far we have a decent start with 250 pictures from 4 or 5 people, but there are a lot parts of raceday that aren’t covered at all.  We are especially short on pictures of the back hills (not unusual) and the chute (very unusual!).   So please, upload some of your favorites from this year.  I know I saw lots of cameras out there and there was no shortage of exciting moments to capture.

Check out the 2009 albums

If you have any questions about how to upload, or have so many pictures to upload that it’s arduous to use the web interface, please let us know at admin@cmubuggy.org

Seniors
Well seniors, you had a hell of an exciting year to go out on, and not a bad 4 year stretch at that.  It’s going to be tough next year being away from things.  Take our word from it, we’ve been there.  Let us help by offering you a year of Dues-Paying-Member benefits for free.  Those benefits include:

  • Fall 2009 Report – get in depth details about the fall semester
  • Spring 2010 Raceday Preview – get the comprehensive coverage of each and every team so that you’re in the loop when you come back to your first raceday as an alum
  • Raceday 2010 Reception – mingle with other alumni after the races
  • Raceday 2010 Wrap-up – a look back on everything that happened

All you have to do is sign up before graduation:

Seniors Sign Up Now

Members-Only Raceday Preview is out

Posted on | by Sam Swift | 2 Comments on Members-Only Raceday Preview is out

The Buggy Alumni Association has distributed its first ever Members-Only Raceday Preview, an action packed, full color, team-by-team low down of the buggy scene just a few days before the races.  Check out these real quotes from satisfied members:

  • “the sweetest thing that has ever come out for buggy ever”
  • “who even needs compubookie now anyway?”
  • “Balanced, nuanced, and – my God – Useful!”
  • “It’s almost as though I’m already there.”

If you are a dues paying member and you have not received your copy, please let us know at admin@cmubuggy.org.

If you aren’t a member yet, there’s still time.  If you become a dues paying member before raceday, we’ll send you a copy of the Raceday Preview right away.   Just make sure that you indicate “Display my name in the list of attendees for this event. ” so that we can quickly confirm things, and then send us an e-mail at admin@cmubuggy.org so that we know to check.

Major history data upgrade

Posted on | by Sam Swift

Just in time for our first raceday, the Buggy Alumni Association’s database of buggy history has been seriously upgraded over the lat couple of weeks.  Major accomplishments include:

  • The entire backlog of history contributions has now been processed and added to the database.  Thanks so much for your contributions so far, and sorry that it took us so long to add them into the system.
  • Additional data from past buggy books, the History of Buggy presentation, and old Tartan records has been added such that we now have full records of times and places going back through the 80’s and times and places for the top 5 or 6 going back through the 60’s
  • Having more complete data allowed us to add more data to the organization pages.  You’ll now see a summary of the last 20 years of places and times for each organization
  • Similar improvements to the Person and Buggy pages reflect more of their individual histories

So check it all out in the History section

Having this much more data in the system opens the doors for you to help us find errors and fill in holes in the data.   To streamline things a bit more, we’ve added standardized forms for Race, Organization, and Buggy data.  Check those out on the Contribute Data page

Huge thanks to Scott Ziolko for doing the hard dirty work with all of the data for this update.  We never would have been able to work through the backlog without him.

22 hours left. Bid Now!

Posted on | by Sam Swift | 4 Comments on 22 hours left. Bid Now!

It’s less than 24 hours until the first ever lead truck auction will close.  Don’t miss your chance to get right up in the action this raceday.

Detailed Auction Info |   Live Auction –> Bid Now

Anyone (Alumni, current buggy folks, other students, anyone else) can get in on the action, and there are still some heat without bidders meaning you can take a wild ride for only $10.  Show support for your team by bidding on their heats!  Don’t wait until the last minute to enter your bids, there is no system for extending the deadline if there is a flurry of last minute action.  Enter max bids to make sure you don’t miss out.

Here are the current (11:45 pm)  high bids: Continue reading →

Heats are selected and the Auction is on!

Posted on | by Sam Swift | 5 Comments on Heats are selected and the Auction is on!

The heat selection meeting happened tonight, and we’ve got a raceday schedule to work with.  There are 40 50 teams entering the race this year (18 Womens and 32 Men’s) which is down 9 from last year even though SAE and Beta are joining the fray this year.  Maybe it’s the bad economy. up 1 from last year!

The heats being released also means that our Lead Truck Auction will be underway at 9am this morning.  Get in on the bidding action early and tell all the other alumni (and current students) about this new opportunity.

The heats are: Continue reading →

Lead Truck Auction 2009

Posted on | by Sam Swift

If you haven’t already heard, the Buggy Alumni Association will be auctioning off the chance to ride in the lead truck on raceday for each and every heat. What was previously only the territory of Head Judges and cameramen can now be yours.  In exchange for a charitable contribution to the Buggy Alumni Association, you can see the entire heat of your choice first hand.

The details of the auction go like this:

  • General
    • All heats will be auctioned simultaneously
    • The bidding will start at 9am EDT Friday April 10th
    • Bidding will end at 10pm EDT Monday April 13th
    • Each heat will have a $10 minimum bid
    • The minimum bidding increment is $1
    • You may specify a maximum amount you wish to bid for any heat.  The site will automatically increase your bid in $2 increments as needed until your maximum is exceeded by someone else.
  • Prelim Heat specifics
    • If any person wins the auctions for more than one heat, they will have the option of retracting their winning bids for all but the highest priced heat.  If they decide to withdraw their winning bid for one of the lower priced heats, the 2nd highest bidder will become the winner.
  • Finals Heat specifics
    • Because the specifics of the finals heats are unknown, bidders will be bidding for the right to have first pick of the finals heats.  Runners up will have 2nd, 3rd pick, etc.
    • There will be only two things to bid on for finals: Men’s Finals and Women’s Finals
    • The top 5 bidders for the Men’s Finals will have the opportunity to select a heat in order of their bids
    • The top 3 bidders for the Women’s Finals will have the opportunity to select a heat in order of their bids

Finer details, rules, and on Friday bids all at
http://cmubuggy.org/Auction

Suggestions, discussion, requests for clarification in the forum

We are, of course extremely thankful to sweepstakes for giving us the opportunity to use a spot in the lead truck to create this opportunity and to raise some money so that the Buggy Alumni Association can pursue its mission to support buggy.

Buggy on TV in 1983

Posted on | by Sam Swift | 5 Comments on Buggy on TV in 1983

In 1983, the TV series Evening Magazine (the first US show to introduce the Magazine format to TV says wikipedia) did a feature story on buggy.  Buggy Alumni Association member and 2009 Raceday announcer Mark Estes found the clip while reviewing old tapes in preparation for this year’s broadcast and put it online.

We need help from you identifying the people featured in the clip.  We’ve posted screen captures of most of the folks here in a new album in the gallery.  If you know any of the people, leave a comment on their picture, and help us out by spreading the word to other alumni that might know them.  If we get enough good info, we might be able to put together a little retrospective piece for inclusion in this year’s broadcast.

Thanks members #50 and #200!

Posted on | by Sam Swift

We’re hard at work here at Buggy Alumni Association headquarters getting ready for raceday, and we just wanted to thank everyone for their support so far.

Today, we happened to reach two membership milestones on the same day, and that seems post-worthy.   Thanks to Thomas Felmley and Michael Preysman we now have 200 website members and 50 dues paying members!  (note: the online dues paying member list is incomplete, we have separate records of people that signed up and paid in person at homecoming).

We’re not even 6 months old, so it means a lot that we’ve been able to connect with so many people out there.  Other evidence that we’ve got a good thing going here is that all winter we were averaging a couple of hundred visits to the website each week.  Last week’s rolls report, pictures, and buggy books drove in over 1,700 visits.

If you haven’t registered on the site or become a dues paying member yet, do it now.  Dues paying members will get our Raceday Preview by e-mail (which will be worlds more informative than the rolls reports) plus admission to the raceday reception, and a raceday wrap-up report.

Join Now!

Buggy Times, 3/21/09

Posted on | by carsenkline | 7 Comments on Buggy Times, 3/21/09

Aside from the Rolls Report, here at Buggy Alumni HQ we’re coming up with ways to feed your inner gambler. One way we’re doing this is by taking times at various spots on the course to give a cross section of team performance. Today we give you times from down in the chute: transistion to chute flag, chute flag to window 0, and a ratio of the first time over the second time. We recorded as many times as our crude stopwatches would let us. Here’s today’s sampling. It was a pretty slow day overall, with SDC and PiKA well off the pace.

The ratio is a number we’re throwing out there to give some idea of how well the buggy maintains its speed in the turn. For example, Mirage came into the chute flag nearly 0.8 s faster than Psychosis, yet Mirage had only a 0.3 s advantage after the chute. Where’d the half second go?

Tomorrow we’ll be looking at a different part of the course.