Focus on Competition
Technically Speaking ...
Greg Hahn Technical Director [email protected]
NEW RULE BOOK: The 2011–2012 AMA Rule Book — Competition Regulations — was published online on the first of last month and incorporates many changes.
I'm not sure of the past, since this is the first complete rules cycle I've worked through, but the original count of proposals was somewhere north of 200. Getting all of them voted on, crossed, and then voted on again, while keeping everything straight, was quite a challenge. Then getting all of the changes incorporated into the rule book with the correct content and intent was another challenging feat.
We did find out that some changes that have been made to the cycle timeline will need to be changed again, because there is insufficient time between stages for me to make the necessary turnarounds. Unfortunately there's only one way to know if a change will work: to put it through trial by fire and hope for the best.
Soon after taking this position I called a big meeting with the Contest Board Chairs to get everyone who was involved in the rule book process on the same page and to make some changes to the system that I felt would make things simpler and more efficient.
The main changes we implemented were:
- Eliminated the paper trail and snail-mail system and put all correspondence online, including the proposal form.
- Lengthened the time allotted for accepting proposals.
- Streamlined and shortened the timeline for the voting and cross process.
- Put more emphasis on the board chairmen being the leaders of their respective groups to help with voting tabulation and to keep members up to date and more engaged.
I felt that the previous timeline of a year-and-a-half for the voting and cross process was so long that it caused much confusion. It took too long, and it was too easy to forget what was being voted on.
I think the emphasis on keeping board members involved made the most difference, because it made everyone aware of exactly what was going on in the process and led to a better overall outcome.
It wasn't, as they say in Top Gun, "a walk in the park," but the book did get published on time and is hopefully as accurate as possible.
Those of you who are consummate competitors might want to take a look at the new rule book, because there have been quite a few modifications in language and equipment. In addition, some classes have been added and some have been sunset.
Enjoy! MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
