I personally have a bad taste from my experience with the MCA and their classes and judging when it comes to late models. I'm not there for a trophy but think the system should be fair and I think they would get more participation if it was. I won't get into the long story but the short version is that I saw a problem with them classing 74-2005 cars in the same modified class....the Fox generation for example has design flaws that take points off compared to the newer platforms and therefore with EVERYTHING else being exactly the same the Fox car will ALWAYS lose because they take off for things that are beyond the owners control(ie: rub marks on the hatch to the body that wasn't addressed by Ford until 1991). My contact with the MCA judges showed me their unwillingness to listen let alone change and finally in the end they admitted I had a valid point but their response was that I should get involved and become a judge and work to change things. Not all of us have disposable time and I thought the whole point of having leaders in a club was to take input from members....which seemed unwelcome. I had let my membership expire as my way of telling them I was not happy....however I had to give in to the extortion at the 45th show because they would not let you attend without paying the membership fee and even though I worked the show I could not take advantage of the track time perk for workers without paying said extortion fee.
I think they have the early models pretty well ironed out but they need to spend more time on the late models. I think there also needs to be more education for judges on late models because I know for a fact the guys looking at my car in Pensacola a couple years ago knew extremely little about my car and had no clue what was modified or not.
When it comes to SSP's I think the only fair way to handle a judging system is to use the standard as it came from Ford, there are too many variables and inconsistencies in regards to equipment to have a fair standard to apply and I agree that would be a mistake. Equipment was not installed with regard to cleanliness...it was a matter of function for a service vehicle and while some installers do clean installs, others are just there for a paycheck and don't care....so there is not a really fair way to judge something like that.
Of course this is why I stay out of judged shows.....my personal preference is to enjoy the car, people and hobby.....the judge in Pensacola that told me if I glued a piece of plastic to the car under the hatch bumper would "Look good and be a modification too" reinforced solidly why I don't get into judged classes....I'm sorry but I'm not gluing plastic circles to my car! I think it was a huge diservice for the judge to even suggest such a thing.
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