Just a little confused

[George G.]

I have been reading alot of posts here and I am a little confused. I see people talking about "National" Level, Regional Level and Local. Is there a difference in the judging?
What makes a Nationally judged car better that a regionally judged car? Is it not the same rules? Just a little confused and I am also new to NCRS.

[Roy S.]

Re: Just a little confused

Don't feel alone in your confusion. I'm the judging chairman and I get confused. Technically the judging is exactly the same. Real life situations indicate that in some cases the judge’s that attend regionals on a consistent basis may be better trained, better educated, and as a result better judges than those at a chapter level. The same goes for the national, those that attend and judge at the national may be better trained, better educated, and as a result better judges than those at a regional level. As a result of that possibility the seniority ranking of chapter, regional and national meets pretty much dictate that even though the judging is the same the knowledge may be higher at the regional and national events, therefore those awards are ranked a little higher if you will, on most peoples personal ranking scale.

[George G.]

Re: Just a little confused

So you are saying a Top Flight at Regional may or may not be a Top Flight at National?

[Harry S.]

Re: Just a little confused

I have been reading alot of posts here and I am a little confused. I see people talking about "National" Level, Regional Level and Local. Is there a difference in the judging?
What makes a Nationally judged car better that a regionally judged car? Is it not the same rules? Just a little confused and I am also new to NCRS.

George, Hope this helps. The local is actually a NCRS Chapter Level Judging event. A Regional is a Judging Level event such as the event in Altona, PA in September. There may be several Regionals in a calendar year. There is one National Level Judging event a year. Anyone can bring a car for judging from anywhere to any of the events. There are some requirements and they are defined in the Judges Reference Manual.


The judging process, the sheets and how cars are judged is that same for a Chapter, Regional and a National. The number of cars at a Chapter Judging event may be as little as 6 as opposed to a National where it could be up wards of 125 or more. Bowtie, PV and other prestigious judging can only happen at a certain level, Bowtie is at a National only.


The difference that may cause confusion is the level of Judges that would attend a Chapter Judging Event as opposed to a National. Meaning you will have more 400 level Judges attending a National than you will at a Chapter level. Thus, the Judging experience at a National is higher than a Chapter.

As it has been mentioned/asked in other threads how do we level the playing field and have all judges judge the same. I am not sure how you do that. It's kinda like life or business. The more experience you have the more you know and you will view the world/cars differently based upon your experience.

Is the judging tougher at a National level, for the most part yes. But at the same time the car owner is receiving a high level critical view of his car.

The car does not need to be done by a professional restorer. A friend did his 65 AC conv. by himself and as I recall he received a 99.3 at a National. The car spoke for itself.

Hope I helped, I am sure others will add to this.

[Roy S.]

Re: Just a little confused

So you are saying a Top Flight at Regional may or may not be a Top Flight at National?

If your top flight at a regional is marginal, in other words it was a 94.0, then it might not be a 94.0 at the national. If it was a 98.0 it most likely will be a 98.0 at the national. It is my opinion the closer your car gets to the high end of the threshold the more consistent the scores will be at the different events.

[Michael J.]

Re: Just a little confused

If your top flight at a regional is marginal, in other words it was a 94.0, then it might not be a 94.0 at the national. If it was a 98.0 it most likely will be a 98.0 at the national. It is my opinion the closer your car gets to the high end of the threshold the more consistent the scores will be at the different events.

+1, that's been pretty much my experience as well. And as I mentioned once before, some times the judges are almost exactly the same people at Regional and National.

[Alan S.]

Re: Just a little confused

Hi George,
Another thing to consider is that the judges at all three levels of events are/should be writing comments on the judging sheets at they proceed.
A car MAY not score quite as well at a higher level event than it did at a lower level event, BUT, the comments those more experienced judges record on the sheets at a higher level event are likely more valuable to the owner who is trying to improve the 'typical of factory production' level of his car.
The sheets do come back to the owner, so he gets that information.
Regards,
Alan

[Rob M.]

Re: Just a little confused

Hi George,

Make sure you have (and read) the Judging Reference Manual to better understand the whole judging process. also having the Technical Information Manual & Judging Guides for your cars model year truly helps to better understand what the judges are looking for...