Thanks to the 15 of you who took the time to express your opinion, the results are unanimous! Please help me to welcome the new BAA officers for the Raceday 2019 season –

• Jeremy Tuttle – Vice President, re-elected for second term
• Ethan Gladding – Graphics specialist *New*
• Rachael Schmitt – Secretary *New*
• Will Weiner – Broadcast Coordinator *New*

I couldn’t be happier to add these names to our outstanding roster of officers, and we’ve got a number of exciting meetings already in the works for the summer. Thank you for being involved Alumni volunteers and BAA members, we would not be able to do the things we do without your time and support!

Quick Plug: If you know a buggy fanatic who needs an outlet, send ’em our way and we’ll make them feel at home: https://goo.gl/forms/gzSbl4bomNfebFyy2 Nominations will be open until June 8th! Continue reading →

Now that we’ve finally been able to recover from Raceday, we here at BAA HQ have had a chance to look back on the year and make some notes for next year, but we would also love to hear your thoughts on the year, and ways we can continue to improve this sport we all love and devote our time and energy to.

First of all, CONGRATS TO ALL GRADUATES, and welcome to the CMU and Buggy Alumni family! As a special offer, all 2018 graduates are offered their first year membership for free! All you have to do is tell us who you are via this link!

Second up, it’s time for the 2018 BAA Elections. We currently only have one position up for re-election, but we are also looking to fill in some additional positions to align with our bylaws as well as a couple new positions we think would help us further the mission of the BAA. Here are a few more details

• Vice President – Jeremy Tuttle has reached the end of his first 2-year term and is up for re election. He is automatically nominated and is interested in running for a second term. The Vice President helps manage the internal projects of the BAA, as well as assist the President as needed in discussions with CMU Staff.
• Secretary – Listed in the BAA By-laws as the person to coordinate distribution of meeting minutes to general membership as well as handle and maintain the membership list in partnership with the treasurer.
• Graphics Specialist – Given the increased desire we have for making awesome newsletters, guides, and engaging info, we’re looking to bring on someone specifically for this role rather than frantically seek someone out last minute.
• General Officer – A lighter-weight new role that we’re looking to test out. We have a number of small tasks ranging from general alumni outreach, to tracking down specific information, or assisting with our numerous events throughout the year. If you’ve wanted to help out, but never thought you fit into a specific position, or you only have time sporadically, this is the perfect role for you!

You can of course also nominate for any of the other, currently filled, positions if you would like. For reference, here are the current officers:

President – Ben Matzke (Middle of second term)
Vice President – Jeremy Tuttle (End of first term)
Communications – Aileen Dinin (Middle of second term)
Reporting – Natalie McGuier (Middle of second term)
Treasurer – Bryan Arsham (Middle of first term)
Webmaster – Krishan Taylor (Middle of first term)

Lastly, since the summer has officially kicked off, the conversation has been getting going on our Discord chat, the same one we use during raceday! Feel free to jump and share your thoughts. We’ve got some discussions going around cutting up and uploading all of the missing footage from past racedays, and also updating and fleshing out our history database with awards and winners from recent and past years.

Preliminary Races

7:30am – 12:30pm on the buggy course | Stream live on cmuTV or listen on wrct.org

By the time you read this, the races have likely already begun SO GET TO THE COURSE ALREADY, or if you’re not in pittsburgh, check out the live stream put on by cmuTV! We have 10 women’s heats and 12 men’s for this year’s races with 25 and 27 entries respectively. It may be a bit chilly, but these races will be hot.

Buggy Books will be available at the BAA tent by the Finish Line for purchase or Pre-order pickup.

Lead Truck Auction winners MUST check in at the BAA tent with a signed waiver at least 1 full heat before your designated race.

History of Buggy with focus on ’68 and ’93 with Tom Wood

1:30pm in Danforth Conference Room in the CUC

Our regular can’t miss event is back as Tom Wood shares a history of buggy focused on the class of ‘93 and ’68. There will be plenty of show and tell with buggies, slides, wheels, and photos of the days of old with insight into the changing landscape of the competition.

Buggy Meetup and Finals Lead Truck Auction

7:30pm at Hough’s Taproom in Greenfield – 563 Greenfield Ave.

For the first time ever, bid live on the finals heats’ lead truck rides after the heats have been decided, and stick around to share your Raceday experiences at Hough’s taproom, the original bar with a buggy! Light hors d’oeuvres provided courtesy of the BAA.

Buggy Showcase and Alumni Panel

Showcase: 12-2pm in Wiegand Gym | Panel begins at 12:30

Come on over to the UC gymnasium and check out all the buggies that will be competing on raceday up close and personal as well as vote on your favorite for Peoples choice! While you’re there, stick around for what will be a fantastic alumni panel where our group of panelists will recount their favorite Buggy Myths and Legends moderated by our own VP, Jeremy Tuttle. On stage we will have:

• Conrad Zapanta – CIA ’91
• Adam McCue – KDR ’07 & Sweepstakes
• Hayley Dalzell – Robobuggy ’15 & Sweepstakes
• Aiton Goldman – CIA ’98
• Connor Hayes – Apex ’19

Buggy books will be available at the sweepstakes Swag table for Purchase or pre-order Pickup.

Welcome Back Happy Hour

7:30pm at Fuel and Fuddle – 212 Oakland Ave

If you’ve made it back to Pittsburgh, join us at the second bar with a buggy to recount past years, share your predictions and just generally get ready for the Prelim races on Friday! We will be in the basement of the restaurant.

WELCOME TO RACEDAY WEEK KICKOFF

The BAA is once again holding our lead truck auction this year, and the auction for the Preliminary Heats is now LIVE, and closes at 11:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 18! You can start bidding here.  It’s the one chance you (or a 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!

Continue reading →

Welcome to a new season of rolls! We’re excited to see buggies on the course again, and to that end, we’ve got the 2017-2018 Buggy Kickoff Newsletter (including 2017 Raceday Recap) to share with you here.

See you on the course!