Judging Guidelines
| 30 June 2003
This month pony tricks presents a set of guidelines that judges should adhere to on the show field and then a set of hard and fast rules that they must adhere to. The guidelines and rules apply to MCA National and Grand National shows but they are important enough and they make enough common sense to apply them to all car shows. The guidelines and rules do not define the specific items that require judging. Rather, they are more like a code of conduct.
The list of 12 guidelines that follows was scanned from the MCA parent publication using optical character recognition software. They spell out how to handle judging sheets and how to handle one’s self while judging:
IMPORTANT ITEMS ALL JUDGES MUST REMEMBER
1. Sign the judging sheet (signatures & MCA numbers must be legible)
2. Be sure you understand fully the class you are judging; trailered, unrestored, daily driver, modified, etc,
3. If ever in doubt about a situation, remember the car always gets the benefit of the doubt.
4. Make sure your point deduction is explained and will be understood by the owner.
5. You can make suggestions or helpful comments without deducting points.
6. On any given number of point deductions, never take the full amount for a slight infraction - this number is merely a guideline.
7. Never smoke around the car you are judging.
8. Keep a clear distance between yourself and the car you are judging. Belt buckles, rings and watches will scratch paint.
9. If the car owner is present, ask them to open and close doors, trunk lids, hoods and glove box doors. If the owner is not available, open and close things more carefully than you would your own car.
10. Refrain from visiting with friends and owners of vehicles during judging.
11. Always respect the car owner and their vehicle.
12. Inform the owner, if present, when you have completed your judging, and that you hope to see him or her at future shows.
Next are the hard and fast rules. They were also scanned from the MCA parent publication. These five items are inviolate and again pertain to conduct rather than specific features to be judged:
YOU MUST ABIDE BY THE FOLLOWING
A) Never tally judging points when you are finished.
B) Never sit in or lean on cars.
C) Never be discourteous or rude.
D) Never drink alcoholic beverages while judging.
E) Never judge the class in which you yourself are showing a car, or one that you helped restore.
Text by #17084
©2002 Mustang Club of America
Printing by: Carothers Printing Co.
South Bend, IN
574-233-6655