Push practice was scheduled to start this week, but just as teams were charging up their flashlight batteries and telling their new drivers that it’s “actually kind of fun,” Sweepstakes had to put a hold on things.

Apparently, the city has decided to take a closer look at the late night road-closing permits this year and they’re not sure they like what they see.  The issue is that the road closure is informal during push practice and cars are allowed to come and go as needed – relying on students to keep everything safe and orderly.  This has obviously been the system for years and years without any problems, but tradition is apparently not always persuasive if you are in the business of road closure permit issuing.  This long-standing compromise of semi-closed roads isn’t ideal for teams or for the poor grad students leaving campus after midnight, but it’s a very functional compromise.  We can’t do without push practice, and I doubt everyone else would be happy with fully closed roads 5 nights a week.  Sweepstakes is working hard with the school, CMU & Pittsburgh police, and the city to get everyone comfortable with a plan.  I really hope that all parties can find a non-bureaucratic solution that doesn’t require additional expenses for sweepstakes and logistical headaches for teams.

Sweepstakes chair Chris Shellhamer notified teams today that push practice would hopefully begin after spring break (11 days from now), but that that would be the soonest it is likely to be sorted out.  We’ll keep you updated here.

Sweepstakes has been on their game since they were elected last spring, the chairmen have met, the drivers have had their meeting, the chores have been assigned, and I am way behind on keeping you up to date.  To make up some time, I’m going to revisit a couple of posts from last fall.  First a summary of who we’ve got on the course this year (compare to the 2009 edition), and then some benchmarks from previous semesters

Orgs in and orgs out

Overall, it looks like raceday 2011 is likely to be down a few teams from 2010, but here’s what we know kicking things off (from bad news to better news)

• Sigma Nu (2 teams in ’10) – Perhaps the biggest loss to the current roster of buggy teams, but also the least finalized decision.  SN is still on campus and they still have nice shiny buggies and fast wheels waiting in their garage, but they seem to be short on energy and manpower.  Although their impact as a competitor has been slipping the last few years, they were always one of the reliable, year-round, core organizations.  Perhaps last year’s pair of DQs on their only two teams was the straw that broke the camel’s back or maybe they’re just storming out the door so we’ll realize how much we miss them and beg them back.  Do your begging in the official “Hey SigNu” thread in the forum.
• PhiKap (2 teams in ’10) – It was looking like PhiKap’s presence in buggy might have been on the up-swing as they ramped up to 3 buggies and told us in the fall that their goal was to make top 10.  They came really close with an 11th place finish, but it looks like they won’t have a chance to try again.  Semi-official word around campus is that PhiKap will not be around any longer due to some ill-advised college guy type antics.  Speculation and rumor mongering is mixed in with the SN thread starting here.
• ZBT-KKG (2 teams in ’10) – The co-ed greek partnership seems to be ending after a year as ZBT is no longer active and KKG isn’t up to going it alone for the time being.  I’m not too clear on what ZBT’s status is on campus. Continue reading →

Sweepstakes has officially decided, and DTD has confirmed, that 2010 is not going to be the year they break back onto the raceday scene.  DTD made its first appearance on the buggy course in recent history in October and got off to a good start.  They had their share of incidents, but in the fall that’s just part of being new.  Problem was that the incidents kept piling up regularly into the spring and it didn’t seem like they had a reasonable chance of making it around the course on raceday.

One of the BAA’s stated goals is to encourage greater participation in the sport, so we’re interested in their experience and how we can help teams like them in the future.  We got in contact with DTD’s co-buggy-chair, Ian McIntyre, and asked a few questions: Continue reading →