banquit

[roadracer797]

Gordy
You could have said it all with one word
SUCKED
I would like to be able to win this year and except a trophy at next years banquit but if this is the sign of things to come maybe not winning would be better.
Craig

[YTAK_Racing]

I went.  It was my first one.  Tiff told me 200 people showed up.  

It was good to see all the guys and shoot the bull with everyone.  I had a good time.

YTAK

[Jeff]

So here's my $.02...

Hotel-71:  
2 Thumbs up!  The family and I really enjoyed it, the hotel was very nice, trendy and the price was excellent.  $32 was a bit steep, but all the other hotels in the area charge $25-30 for parking, and after one time of being towed for $145, I've never b1tched about the price of parking again.

Limo to/from:
This was completely unacceptable.  To have a banquet with a few hundred people and have 1 10-12 passanger limo is ridiculous.  In her defense, I was there when Tiff was CHEWING out the limo service for lack of service.  However, whoever said that Kendalls was 10 minutes away was on friggin crack.  In traffic, it was more like 20-30.  Double that for a round trip, and you're seeing a limo once an hour.  That sucked pretty bad while waiting with my wife and kids.

HUGE KUDOS goes out to a Clear Channel employee (didn't get his name) in the Chicago office who drove my wife, kids and I back to the hotel as we were all tired and freezing our butts off waiting for a limo that would never show.  THANK YOU AGAIN MY FRIEND.

Kendalls:
What the hell were you thinking?  Who lied and told you this place held more than 50 people?!?!  My basement is bigger than Kendalls (at least by 2-3x).  To add insult to injury, the lack of food sucked, and Kevin's shouting comments of "SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP" were way out of line.  Well Kevin, I have no problem shutting up, but since there were only enough chairs for about a third of us, the sitting down was a little impossible.  This was an absolute waste of my $25/pp.

The Awards:
The awards were pretty cool, the trophies nice.  K3's 25 minute acceptance dissertation?  Got old (but we still love you man. It would have been much more tollerable in an adequate facility).  Here's what got me...  I totally busted my @ss last year, picking up 7 2nds and 2 4ths.  What do I have to show for it?!?!? A lame @ssed piece of paper.  Ladies and gents, I don't know about you, but I wipe my @ss with paper.  I don't hang it on the wall or set it over the mantle.

Was this the first year for this?!?!?  If not, I guess that's my delusion that I thought I would be walking out with something that didn't fold and slip into my pocket.  How hard would it have been to give those nice trophies to the 1st place folks, and have a single plaque for AT LEAST the 2nd & 3rd placers with ALL their accomplishments (2-5) on it?!?!?!  Do we not pay you enough for this?

I've never seen a sport that offered an actual TROPHY for 1st place, and JACK SH1T for 2-5!  I've seen paper for 4-5, or no award at all, but 2-3?!?!?  COME ON, WTF!!!

Call me a whiner, but this totally ruined my time and season.  For crying out loud, I drove home wondering what I'm racing for this next season.  There's no way in hell I'll take a 1st from Tez, Weeden or Gordon, so I could possibly aim super high and shoot for a 3-5, but for what!!!  "Oh gee, I can't wait to pick up my piece of paper fresh of the laserjet!"  I'm a simple guy and like my wood to remenisce (sp?) on with people.  The last thing I would do is flip through a scrap book showing them lame sheets of paper.

In Closing:
I'd like to congratulate EVERY RIDER, and A SPECIAL  HATS OFF to those who placed 1-5.  But in the end, this event sucked and I will not subject my family to crap like this again.  Since I'm sure I'm not the only one, maybe you guys should go ahead and book Kendalls again, I'm sure they'd welcome the CCS staff and 3 or 4 unknowing attendees.   >:( >:( >:(

[roadracer797]

Jef4y
Way to say it about the stupid pieces of paper but hey it is the way it's always been and if you look close at them like mine only one has the th on it the others just have a number they couldn't even get that right. A small hunk of wood would have been better, every other racing series gives trophies back to tenth so at least CCs could have given everybody that finished in the top five a trophy.
Craig

[Jeff]

I guess I should have asked rather than assumed.  This is something I think we need to bring up because I find it pretty insulting.

[Thingy]

Hey Jeff, don't feel too bad.  Last year I got ALL of my top 5 final standings for the region on ONE piece of paper.  ...not even a separate piece of paper for each class...

And since I did not attend the Great Plains region banquet last year, I did not even get that piece of paper for this region.  They were supposed to mail out the stuff for those that did not attend last year, but nobody that I know got anything.  I am not going to complain too much about this because I am STILL trying to get that piece of paper and don't want to piss anybody off before I get it.  I wonder what they are thinking.  I know it is only a piece of paper, but I worked hard for it and spent alot of money with CCS.  I guess they don't realize how much a crappy piece of paper means to a racer.

As for Kendall's, a fellow racer was familiar with Kendall's and warned me in advance.  This was the only reason that I was not disappointed.  I can't blame Tiff because she would not know any better since she does not live in Chicago.  But, Stacy did not live in Milwaukee and she did a good job last year.  I hate to complain too much in this forum.  CCS makes it easy to comlain, but I would like to stay as upbeat as possible.

Still, I enjoyed seeing everybody and had a blast talking to them, even with Kevin's unprofessional 'Shut Ups'.  Kevin, this does not help me think that it is your management or lack of resources that is responsible for the rough times that we go through with CCS.

Still, I am a glutton for punishment.  I can't wait for next year and I look forward to seeing everybody again.

Tez, you get the award for speech of the year...

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

Gordy, both you and K3 got it right, that was the worst ever.  

Hey now!  Don't misquote me.  I said that I would have had fun in a parking garage.  I think that the pavillion at Blackhawk is a pretty cool place for a party too.  Mostly, it depends on inviting the right crowd, and we certianly had that.  There were things that could have been better, but it was still a fun night.
I mentioned the Clock Tower Inn in Rockford.  It's right off the highway, about 15 minutes out of Blackhawk.  Has anyone else ever been there?  It's been a few years for me, but in the day the place had a nice pool, whirlpool, sauna, video arcade complex, raquetball courts, a fancy resturant and a casual resturant, at least one bar, a dinner theater, a clock museum, and several nice banquet halls.  It's so nice that you wouldn't mind staying there Friday night and Saturady night, just to make it a mini vacation.  Everyone could do whatever they wanted there, even if they brought the kids.  Something to think about for next year?
Sorry about the length of my speech.  I had a well-written and concise speech on paper, and had timed it at 6 minutes.  When I got up front, I couldn't read it because there was no light.  I had to adlib, and I guess I didn't do as well as I had hoped to.  Hey, I'm a writer, not an off-the-cuff public speaker.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
As a top-10 amateur in 3 regions, I would have loved a yellow version of the big white plates that the experts got.  In the much faster and more expensive world of the expert class, I doubt that I will ever have a season as successful as 2002 was for me as an amateur.  If I had recieved yellow plates with my top-10 finishes listed on them, I would have hung them on the wall and admired them for life.  Something else to think about for next year?
Still, those regional champ trophies are just too cool!

[Super Dave]

Um, yeah.  

I don't think is what anyone was expecting.  

I like going during the Chicago MC show.  That was cool.  I like linking it all together.  Get to see people at the show, see 'em at the banquet.

I feel bad for the CCS staff for being in this situation.  I doubt they enjoyed it either.  

I had "fun", but it wasn't the honoring of riders that I like to see.

[Super Dave]

And $25?  Wow!

[slclark65]

It is hard when you don't live in an area that you have to plan an event in.  So what I did last year was planned a trip to Milwaukee to see some of my raicng friends and made an effort to look at the facility that the banquet was planned at.  It was just a shame that I never got to enjoy the banquet last year.  As a matter of fact, it was sad that I had to pay for for my trip to the MA banquet to see my friends honored when I planned the whole thing.  I can say now that I don't miss the affiliation with CCS anymore.  I would be embarrassed to be considered "one of them" now.  But maybe i'll see some of you guys at a WERA NAtional this year.

[the_weggie_man]

I don't buy the line about hard to organize in a place you don't live.  Another reason you don't plan a banquet in a sports bar.  Holiday Inns and others are nationwide and you can see exactly what you get on line. You send someone that does live in that city to check it out.  Excuse me but isn't Clear Channels headquarters in Chicago?

How about a place out near the airport. Parking, a short trip to the cycle show, easy to find, and nobody has to travel after the banquet unless they want to.

I realize racers can get together and have fun most anywhere but there was no excuse for this.  We as customers and supporters of CCS deserve better than this and I hope more of you will let them know it.

And how can you chew out a limo driver for poor service when CCS is the one that ordered only one limo and there ain't sh*t you can do about Chicago traffic when you plan an event downtown on a Saturday night. Clueless is all I can say, absolutely clueless.  ???

Hey Onweiler, never said the awards were cheap, just the presentation.  :P

I'm going to check out WERA's program this year with Jesse Janisch so I may not be around for a lot of the CCS stuff this season. I'll make what I can with the Wegman trailer and new shirts etc. and the auction is on for August at BHF.  Good luck to all of you.  ;D ;D

[KBOlsen]

It wasn't what I would have expected an "awards banquet" to be... but we did have a wonderful time spending the evening with people we've quickly grown very fond of.  

John and I both thought those trophies were INCREDIBLY cool.

My suggestion to CCS would be to investigate booking next year's banquet NOW... if they want to have in Chicago, they could book it at one of the hotels near O'Hare Airport (close to the motorcycle show).  Saturday nights can book up close to a year in advance.