Why did master class in Pampa stunt not work out ?

[Ken Culbertson]

Yep.  Then the Nats finals are the best two of three flights, each flown before six judges.

The concept is still the same.  Each round eliminates some and winning in all but the last round only gets you a ticket to the next one.

ken

[FLOYD CARTER]

Now for the practical side of the question.  Finances.

When I was CD'ing contests, I worried myself sick whether entry fees would pay for the trophies, which were a high-dollar expense.  If our club/sponser lost money on the contest, it would be embarrassing to me .

Another class would mean additional trophies, with no additional numbers of contestant entries.

Perhaps only the large, national contests could afford a Master class event.

[Brent Williams]

Seems like a Master's Class is a solution in search of a problem.  Perhaps a realistic evaluation of one's skill level could serve to unclog expert class and redistribute competitive fliers into more accurately ranked advanced and intermediate class levels.  There's a pretty big, obvious skill gap between low level expert and top-5 level expert fliers.  Voluntarily recycling the lower tier expert back to advanced class and similarly low advanced back to intermediate should fix things.  This would make advanced and intermediate classes more competitive and exciting.  Fixing ego's surrounding class name status is the more vexing task.

[Ian MacNeil]

Brent, you wrote what I was thinking, raise the qualifications for moving up.

Regarding egos surrounding class name status, why not change all class names to expert?
They would be expert-1, 2, 3, and 4. All that is left is to determine if expert-1 or expert-4 should be the top level.   

[Trostle]

Another class would mean additional trophies, with no additional numbers of contestant entries.

Another way to approach this is the idea that someone that is considered in the Masters category does not need any more trophies.  A certificate would be nice for the Masters class finalists.

Keith

[Brett Buck]

Another way to approach this is the idea that someone that is considered in the Masters category does not need any more trophies.  A certificate would be nice for the Masters class finalists.

   Couldn't agree more. The physical trophies are nice, I appreciate the effort people go to, but I really don't need any more of them. Competing with the others is the reward, that's what we are there for, that is plenty enough for me.

    Brett

[Ken Culbertson]

   Couldn't agree more. The physical trophies are nice, I appreciate the effort people go to, but I really don't need any more of them. Competing with the others is the reward, that's what we are there for, that is plenty enough for me.

    Brett

This is so true.  Our club stopped giving trophies ages ago.  Your last statement goes further down the pecking order than just the very top fliers.  I won my last contest in 1965.  I was good enough in the 70's to win outside of our region but Dallas was where the action was.  I came close a few times but when you choose to fly against the best, racking up a whole lot of third places is the price you pay - with a smile.

Ken

[Tim Just]

The only thing I like about trophies is that years from now (if I'm to be around for years...) I can look at the trophy or plaque and remember that day of flying and the people. Other than that, trophies are just dust collectors.

Bob Hunt

I could not agree more.  I have my own collection of trophies on a wall no one ever sees. Some 1st and way, way more 2nd and 3rds. Each trophy or plaque is a magical time machine. Looking back at the practice that preceded each contest and the travel to and from was often a bigger adventure than the competition. Strange as it may sound, it is more enjoyable for me to mentally reminisce about the ones I lost. 

A few years ago I was visiting a buddy who sadly is no longer with us.  His hangar wall displayed in perfect chronological order all the contests he had placed in.  For the better part of a decade we traded places on the podium.  That may not be completely true as he won a lot. As we walked past each trophy we stopped and shared our memories of the events that surrounded each contest. Eventually we got to a spot on his wall with his rather sparse collection of second place trophies, I took great pleasure reminding him who won. 

It’s true they do collect an awful lot of dust, but shinning them up is a wonderful reminder of what was, and what could of been.

Tim

[Jim Carter]

Well, here's the "chihuahua" in the pen with the Pit Bulls and Rottweilers again  !!  But if trophies are the financial issue, wouldn't it make sense to just trim the awards back to 1st and 2nd for the principle categories (Advanced and Expert) thus funding the one trophy / award for the Master   Naturally in those events where the "master from one region, say NC, met up in an event say Brodak's or the NATS with the masters from LA, WA, and say PA it would certainly be a competition where only one would be declared Master and it should be sufficiently difficult and varied that ordinary Advanced and Expert pilots would/could only watch in absolute awe!!  Just as there is only one Heavy Weight, Welter Weight and even Super Bowl champion …   

[Reuben MacBride]

Do we need more trophies or Plaques? RSM has made 9x12 plaques for Las Vegas Circle Burners. These Plaques have a nice club logo on the top and leave plenty of space below for win tags. So the first time you win at that contest you get a plaque and the event place tag. The next year after year you place and only get the event tag to add to the 9x12 Plaque. This saves money and also shows all your wins without filling up the wall with dust collectors. Of course there are always added plaques to make sure everyone at least gets the first one. Only the win tags have event and date on them and they cost very little. They have been doing this at the Palmer Contest in CA. for years and it works for every body.

[Jim Carter]

Do we need more trophies or Plaques? RSM has made 9x12 plaques for Las Vegas Circle Burners. These Plaques have a nice club logo on the top and leave plenty of space below for win tags. So the first time you win at that contest you get a plaque and the event place tag. The next year after year you place and only get the event tag to add to the 9x12 Plaque. This saves money and also shows all your wins without filling up the wall with dust collectors. Of course there are always added plaques to make sure everyone at least gets the first one. Only the win tags have event and date on them and they cost very little. They have been doing this at the Palmer Contest in CA. for years and it works for every body.

The "chihuahua" says … "That sounds like a good idea and quite reasonable!"

Jim