Summer 2013 #3 – Jumbo-Chute-atron

Posted on | by ben | 8 Comments on Summer 2013 #3 – Jumbo-Chute-atron

Chute JumboTron Viewing

Now that the Jumbotrons have become a mainstay of the races every year there’s been concern about the location in the Chute.  With it facing the road, people on the outside, have made it a habit to stand in the road to watch until the buggies come through. This hasn’t been an issue for a year or two, but we’re reaching a point where there are so many people in the road that clearing it before the buggies come through has gotten tough. This is an issue that will soon need a solution. Continue reading →

Summer 2013 #2 – Ultimate Speed Challenge

Posted on | by ben | 7 Comments on Summer 2013 #2 – Ultimate Speed Challenge

Challenging Ultimate Speed

ALL-AMERICAN SOAP BOX DERBY LOGO Not exactly buggy, but pretty close to it, The Ultimate Speed Challenge is hosted at the All-American Soap Box Derby during the Championship event which is July 27th this year. Because of it’s similarity to Buggy (and lack of “student status” requirement) there are several Buggy Alums that like to go and watch or even enter and race one or two cars.

Continue reading →

Summer 2013 #1 – Raceday Fantasies

Posted on | by ben | 22 Comments on Summer 2013 #1 – Raceday Fantasies

Dreaming of the perfect Raceday

A post over the summer? This is MADNESS! No, like some of you others out there, I miss Buggy. I’ve been getting that itch again but there’s not much happening right now, SO instead of talking about real things, lets fantasize. Hopefully this’ll become a series of posts over the summer, but don’t expect them to be weekly or nearly as in-depth as the rolls reports. Continue reading →

Compubookie’s New Release Strategy

Posted on | by ben | 25 Comments on Compubookie’s New Release Strategy

This is almost too surreal, and I hardly believe it myself, but…  I have found the missing compubookie article…

Before I left work today I received a voicemail from the UC desk. The message told me that there was a letter addressed to me in the Sweepstakes mailbox and though it was addressed to me, I would need someone from sweepstakes with me to pick it up. Curious, I stop by the UC and find Josh in the Student Activities office. The mailbox turned out to already be empty and the letter was attached to some parking passes I had to pick up anyway (thanks Kaycee).


The Envelope was adressed:

To BAA/CMUbuggy

Ben Matzke

Inside was a single page double sided printout with the Compubookie 2013 Article.

I am still trying to figure out if this is actually happening, but here’s what was written on the page: Continue reading →

Midsemester Break – No Rolls, New Rules?

Posted on | by ben | 4 Comments on Midsemester Break – No Rolls, New Rules?

With many students using the break to visit home and see their family, there were no rolls this weekend. The students that stayed on campus got the chance to sleep in, relax, and work more on buggy than they otherwise would.

Since there were no rolls this weekend, it seems like the perfect chance to talk about the other side of Sweepstakes. And while rumors are flying of new buggies being built, that can maybe be better served for when we actually start seeing them on the course. Instead, lets talk about the rules and what’s going on with them.

Next Rules Committee Meeting:

This Wednesday 10/24

From 9pm to 10pm

Location TBD

Continue reading →

Elections! Candidates wanted!

Posted on | by Janice (Golenbock) Schneekloth | 1 Comment on Elections! Candidates wanted!

It’s that time again…BAA committee members are stepping down, and we’re looking for candidates NOW. This is a call to action for serious volunteers who want to see the BAA through the next couple years of growth. The main position open this spring is Chairman, but we’re also looking for new people to join the committee in more task-oriented roles like web master and treasurer.
If you’re interested, please comment on this news post with the position you want and, if you like, a campaign spiel. You can also send email to admin@cmubuggy.org if you’re too modest to speak out here.

Elections will be via an online poll early next week! in the fall

Here are some example criteria:

  • Someone who has been vocal on the forum with good ideas and creative input.
  • Someone who likes what we do and wants to be more involved.
  • Someone who has plenty of time in the Spring to work on BAA stuff.
  • Nominees do NOT have to be Pittsburgh locals.
  • You can nominate someone else if he/she agrees.

Here’s a slice of what we do:

President

  • Act as primary contact with Alumni Relations for deadlines, event coordination, reservations, alumni contacts, membership lists.
  • Attend AIG (Alumni Interest Group) meetings at Alumni House or by conference call.
  • Hold occasional meetings with execs to prioritize and act on projects or new initiatives
  • Find volunteers, increase involvement of members, delegate chunks of projects and follow up or save the day as needed.
  • Work with the Treasurer to keep tabs on income and spending.
  • Have a grasp on the big picture and general scheduling of things. Communicate frequently with other execs and volunteers to get publications out on time, reserve space for events, etc.

Other tasks

  • Work to make sure the lead truck auction is ready to go, including coordinating with Sweepstakes and keeping tabs on winners.
  • Work with Sweepstakes on safety issues where the BAA’s huge knowledge of history can be of service. Be the primary Sweepstakes contact to exchange ideas on how to improve the sport.
  • On-Campus Liaison – someone on campus (or at least in Pittsburgh) to be present at planning meetings, transfer physical stuff from A to B, be in touch with campus and course changes and news
  • News Editor – compile and post rolls reports, always be thinking of content and news to keep people engaged with the site and our org, manage social media presence
  • Rolls Reporter(s) – someone out at rolls to observe and collect info by talking to people, take pictures, make observations about what is going on that is interesting
  • Publications – someone to take primary responsibility for publishing our annual products:  raceday guide, raceday preview, news letters, potentially much more
  • Finances – recording membership and handling membership communications, knowing how much money we have and whether we can afford to do XYZ,  communicating our finances to the rest of the committee and to our members, dealing with the school on financial details
  • Special project leader – the BAA should always be looking to do new and awesome things for buggy, someone to generate and vet new ideas, and then push projects forward
  • Raceday Timing – if we are going to keep doing things (as opposed to hiring someone), someone will have to … do it
  • Web-Development – improve website code, add website features, manage server-type stuff
  • Web-Management – updating content, moderating user-generated content, entering new data, obsessively checking analytics

Prelims awesome; finals waiting on weather

Posted on | by Sam Swift | 17 Comments on Prelims awesome; finals waiting on weather

Prelims were pretty awesome.  We’re hoping Finals will happen and be awesome despite the threat of rain.  Here’s the deal with what happened and what is scheduled to happen.

Prelims Results

Women’s Finals

Heat Lane 1 Lane 3
1 SigEp A SDC C
2 SDC B Spirit A
3 SDC A CIA A

Men’s Finals

Heat Lane 1 Lane 3
1 PiKA A SDC C
2 SigEp A Fringe B
3 SDC B Spirit B
3 Fringe A SigEp B
3 SDC A CIA A

12 hours left in Lead Truck Auction. Bid now!

Posted on | by Sam Swift

Our 4th annual lead truck auction will draw to a close tonight at 9pm, so get your bids in early and often to secure your ride.  We do have a “reserve bid” system if you want to set a maximum and let the computers do the work.

We’ve raised a total of $471.38 so far (all future bids in whole dollars please, wise guys), and here are the current prices.

Women’s Prelims

Heat
1 $1  by yanetut (CIA, '98): SDC C CIA C FringeC 
2 $1  by joe (Beta): Spirit A SDC D Apex A 
3 $0  by nobody: SigEp A Fringe B CIA B 
4 $20 by twood (PiKA): Pika A DF A SigEp B 
5 $0  by nobody: SDC BCIA D Spirit B 
6 $1  by joe (Beta): Fringe A SigEp C SAE A 
7 $5  by CRStengel (SDC): SDC A CIA A Aepi A

Men’s Prelims

Heat
1 $10  by ziolko (Fringe, '00): Fringe B SigEp C Spirit C
2 $25  by twood (PiKA): Pika B SDC D CIA D
3 $26  by joe (Beta): Spirit A Apex AF ringe D
4 $11  by mark_estes (SN): SDC C SigNu A CIA B
5 $1   by ATHundt (Fringe, '09): SigEp A Aepi B Fringe C
6 $2   by lchomas (CIA): SDC B SAE A CIA C
7 $100 by twodd (PiKA): Pika A SigEp D Spirit B
8 $25  by pdesiderio1780 (CIA): Fringe A CIA A DF A
9 $5   by Perrypierce (?): SDC A Aepi A SigEp B

Women’s Finals

Order of selection
1st $10 acharters87
2nd  $2 hopke
3rd  $2 hopke

Men’s Finals

Order of selection
1st $100 twood (PiKA)
2nd $31 mark_estes (SN)
3rd $30.00 abigailsullivan (Spirit)
4th $27.69 ATHundt (Fringe)
5th $26.69 ipmcc (SN)

cmubuggy.org/auction 

Truck weekend mini-report and Raceday hype

Posted on | by Sam Swift | 26 Comments on Truck weekend mini-report and Raceday hype

If you’re a member you should have found our legendary Members-only Raceday Preview in your inbox by now.  Enjoy it.  If you didn’t get a copy, you should know that it’s not too late.  Join up, forward us the gift receipt to join@cmubuggy, and we’ll hook you up pronto.  If you thought you were a member, maybe we don’t have your email or have it wrong or something, let us know.  Lots of people plan on joining while they’re on campus, but we’ve  got some serious ground to cover to match last year’s membership total, so don’t be shy.

 Lead Truck Auction

Can you believe this is our 4th time putting on the lead truck auction?  It seems like just the other day that we announced the first iteration of our biggest fundraiser of the year.  It continues to be a fan favorite, so we’re back at it again.  If you haven’t ridden in the lead truck before, you should definitely get in the mix and snap up a heat you like the looks of.  If you’re a veteran, you know that it’s a great way to mix up your raceday experience.   Bidding starts tomorrow morning at 9am and will run for 36 hours until 9pm Wednesday.  Full description of the rules can be found on the auction page.  We’ve got a new version of our home-grown auction software this year.  We hope you like it! (and that it doesn’t break!).

Truck weekend Continue reading →