Coolest Trophies?

[PeteK]

I'm doing a survey to see what you guys think are the coolest trophies you've ever received.

The St. Louis region is running out of ideas and for next year and I want to push them to offer something better than the glass mugs that were given out this year.

Is there one or two trophies sitting on your shelf that is your favorite? Not counting, of course the circumstances surrounding the win. :P

Even if it's a plaque or the "car on a stick" style of trophy... your input is really appreciated!

Thanks!

[racer14itc]

Here's the trophy we give to the Prod Festival podium finishers:



It's a replica of the track (VIR).

Mark

[StephenB]

I personally like usefull things. I kinda like the glasses or even the coffee mugs that I have received as I can use them and people see them. Then I get to tell them the story about how I got it! I also like picture style trophies. but you can only hang up so many.

I ONLY have 5 trophies up at my house:

• My favorite trophy is from the Glen Enduro (Last Chance) a few years ago that had a plaque with a picture of my car and other teamates in Victory circle. That has a picture that tells a thousand words and a plaque on it that says where I finished
• My second Favorite is my bronze looking medalion for 3rd place at the ARRC sprint race. It is classy and in an awesome frame. Very nice
• My third favorite is a simple blue glass plate from when I finished second at the mount washington hillclimb (An awesome event that means a lot to me)
• My 4th favorite is a large blow up picture of my car crossing the finish line in 1st place. It has the date, place, and position printed on it, and my ar looks good!
• My last trophy I have up is a big huge one that I won when I won the NARRC Championship. I think Championship trophies should always be big and never a plaque.
  .

While all those trophies are my favorites that I display I still like the pratical ones that I can use. I think for a "big Hyped Up" event I would like those "Cool" trophies that I can hang on the wall or put on the mantel but for the regular regionals I would prefer something that doesn't get stored in the closet with the other plaques. That being said if it's your first trophy or even your 1st SCCA race it is a big hyped up event. In the begining when I started this I LOVED those plaques. So it is kinda a catch 22 between the veterans and the newbies.


In the end when I here the word Trophy I still remember that POCONO STILL HASN'T GIVEN ME MY FIRST EVER FIRST PLACE TROPHY. That is what really burns is when a region doesn't follow through on the comitment to deliver those trophies. I WILL NEVER FORGET that my trophy never came. I waited months for that 1st ever 1st place trophy I won't mention that region or the names of the people that run the Double Pocono in May every year but they do leave a terrible taste in my mouth.
Moral of the story... whatever happens always have a trophy because no matter how little anything is better than nothing!

Stephen

PS: That track replica one is awesome!
And brings up another point... I think having the same style trophy year after year for a particular even is a great idea as well. (not all events in one year but the same event each year... Like "the season opener" 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 ect) That way you can put them next to eachother and they all match. Like the picture one above several of those next to eachother every year would be cool. If you end up with a variaty you always try to get "better" than the year before and if you don't people are more likely to be disapointed.

[charrbq]

The trophy I always wanted, but never received, was a checkered flag with my position and class on it. They used to give them away down here to all the class winners, and you got to take a victory lap. I can understand the logistics behind having or not having a victory lap, but that flag was cool.

By the time I was fast enough to start winning races, the division quit giving away checkered flags...said everyone was tired of them.

[Speed Raycer]

I like the checkerd flag idea....

Pete, did you get a chance to take a survey?

[PeteK]

Here's the trophy we give to the Prod Festival podium finishers:

It's a replica of the track (VIR).

Mark
[/b]

Whoa, that is a pretty cool one! I don't know what the budget is per trophy, but that probably exceeds it a little.

Stephen, you make a good point about the veterans vs. the newbies. That's definitely something to consider. I also like your idea about the continuing trophy for a particular kind of event. We have a driver's school every March that would be perfect and our October race is always called the Spooktacular something or other... I'll have to bring that up.

The trophy I always wanted, but never received, was a checkered flag with my position and class on it.
[/b]

Thats a great idea too! I've seen the flags you're talking about and couldn't remember who was giving those out.

BTW - I have a great photo of you and I down at Memphis earlier this year. I just wish the focus was a little better.

Thanks for the input guys, this is great! Keep'em coming!

Pete, did you get a chance to take a survey?
[/b]

No... I had some people from work come out to the track and I never had time to do it. That's kind of what I'm doing here instead.

It's probably a better place anyway, since it gives people time to think about it instead of trying to bug them when they've only got racing on the mind...

[Z3_GoCar]

I like the traditional cup

I've got my first ever second place cup here at work. I've also got a second place trophy from my karting days that's a kart on a post that's cool too. I know for a fact, because I've seen it, that the National Collegate Cycling Trophy is a cup also. Just think of all the cup events, Stanley Cup, Nextel Cup, even the America's Cup. Seems to me that Cup's are racing.

James

[JoshS]

I definitely like my checkered flags, the ones you get to wave during the victory lap. I don't have any with my name, class, or position, but then, the flag indicates the position, doens't it? The ones I have have the region logo in the middle (I have ones from San Francisco and Oregon regions.)

CalClub gives out some great trophies too. I have a really nice race bag -- the better the podium position, the bigger the bag, but even the bag I got for 2nd place is very useful.

I have a gazillion plaques. They are only interesting if they say 1st place, or if they represent a big event.

I have a bunch of wood, glass, and plastic-that-looks-like-glass sculpture trophies as well from my Solo days at the National Championships. Those are nothing special in the creativity department, but I still like them, especially the one that says "National Champion." Those have my name engraved, so it's a little nicer than the generic event plaque.

[AntonioGG]

Lone Star Region still gives out checkered flags ton winners (in addition to a trophy). What we're lacking is a volunteer to hand them out at tech...sucks hauling all those flags back to storage (and making them too).

[gran racing]

The plaque it o.k., but kinda boring.

If you give out a flag (which I really like!), get decent flags like the one Steven has in his photo / signature. I've seen some clubs/regions give out small cheesy ones. They look like kiddie flags.

I also like the cup (like the smiley trophy) or pimp challace as some of my friends call it. For that event, in addition to the flag and cup, they also gave out champagne. Now mind you it may not have been very good champagne (I have no idea as it sits next to the trophy unopened), but still very cool.

For the Spooktacular event...anything you can think of kinda related? A racing pumpkin figure?

[Knestis]

I've only kept a handful of trophies over the years, giving most to little kids at the track in hopes that they get hooked young and start racing. One of my hillclimb plaques is probably still hanging behind the counter at the KOA campground near Cave Junction, OR, I'll bet after I gave it to the nice little lady that ran the place. She was very cute, showing it to everyone.

My favorite is another hillclimb plaque that someone obviously made in their garage for the event. It's real wood, nicely finished, with half of a bead-blasted piston mounted to it.

K

[bldn10]

As to drivers running a Divisional points series what do you think about this:

When you get your first podium finish you get a big, nice plaque w/ places for at least a year's worth of smaller event plaques. Then you get a small one for every podium finish and attach them to the master plaque. That way you have a permanent record of your finishes w/o the clutter of a bunch of little plaques, bowling trophies, etc.

[1stGenBoy]

Our region gave out directors chairs for 1st place a couple of years ago. The backs had the name of the event,date and first place on it. I wanted them bad. Couldn't pull off a win that year. This year we gave out zippered portfolios in different sizes based on finishing posistion and they were less than a hit with the drivers. Me included. Problem was there was no date or class finishing place on them.
I should get more involved if I want to change things but I, already do several things for the Region and don't have time for one more.

[ITA_CRX]

The most useful trophy I've ever received is a clock. Hangs on the wall and keeps time perfectly. Another one is a leatherman that comes in handy for quicky projects around the house.

One additional one I really liked but never won was an umbrella.

All the trophies indicate the position finished and are nice because they are not the normal trophy. They provide some use other than collecting dust on a shelf or wall.

I also wouldn't mind a simple print out/certificate/acknowledgement and cash. $20 for 1st, $10 for 2nd and $5 for 3rd (or 10 5 and 1). Just put it in the supps that only 3 places get trophies (or in this case paid). Or give people the option of cash or a trophy.

The normal trophies are nice early in your career, but eventually you just have a box of them that you never look at. Don't take this as me crowing about being a great driver, I'd wager most of my trophies are 6th place and lower so I just enter races that have a lot of competitors.

[gran racing]

Bill, I suppose if the region knew someone was running for divisional points that could be cool, but for someone like myself who doesn't care about divisional or other points, I'd much rather have a trophy that is just for that race.

The directors chair is a very cool idea. When you say directors chair, are you referring to one of those "lawn" chairs that we all like to sit on when watching the other races? That would be pretty cool!

Another idea is to have the podum drivers stand in the winners circle, take their photo, and that day give each of them a nice frame with the photo inside. Maybe even something on the frame with info. about the event and place they finished. Since computers are always at the event and a nice photo quality printer is inexpensive, print and assemble it at the event. Steven's scenario is the worst thing that could happen and I'd be extremely upset if that had happened to me.

[RSTPerformance]

Just to chime in...

Yeah, I am stil pissed that Stephen didn't get his trophie... err I had forgoten about that....


As for the tropies, I really like Stephens idea of having the same trophie at each "special" race year after year... however if it is a "series" such as the NERRC series it would be cool to have the same trophies at each race. No need to have the date, we can use perm marker to date it ourselves, sort of like what we do with all those checkard flags we keep getting!!! Anyway this would keep the cost down, and you can build up a set. This only does work though if it is a glass or plate or simmilar. Plauque don't work as who needs a set?

NER had THE BEST trophies I have sceen in a long time with the different glasses... I love my beer pilsner (sp) for my first first place trophie. I bring it to every social I can (especialy around the Benagh's) and drinkn with pride

Raymond

[Racerlinn]

Here's an example of what we have been doing in Indy the last few years.
We have two photographers that shoot digital pics during the morning sessions each day, then download them to our Trophy Dude's PC on-site. He then sorts them and when T&S gives final results, he gets the first copy, fills in the blanks (name, place) and prints 5x7's. We use a 7x9 plaque that has a 5x7 acrylic front that the picture slides into. We have had a very positive response regarding these due to the customization. But it doesn't work unless you have a dedicated Trophy Dude willing to do the work (you can always find people that want to take pictures). It also delays getting the trophies ready for pickup since it takes a bit of time, but I've heard no one complain once they see the results. We do not ship trophies after the event (must be picked up), but I did mail all of the photo's to those that did win at the end of the year. This way they can go buy their own frame if they want.

[Drew Aldred]

This year we gave out zippered portfolios in different sizes based on finishing posistion and they were less than a hit with the drivers. Me included. Problem was there was no date or class finishing place on them.
[/b]

Add another one who was less than impressed with the trophy this year at the Cat National. I did calmly voice my opinion to the person passing out the trophies and sent a letter to the region's RE. The most generic plaque would have been 10 times better.......

I do really like the ones Indy Region awards. I got a third there two years at the July National that sits proudly on my shelf.

[1stGenBoy]

Dave,
Yes, these were the tall type directors chairs. It was a PITA to haul them to the events and store them in between events. They are kind of bulky and unwieldy in quanitys of 20 or more.

Drew,
I also mentioned it to the Race Chair when I won the Cat National. I have 3 of those things this year. I gave them to my kids who use them for school stuff. Good to see you at the Runoffs. Too bad the weather was so crappy. We could have had some fun. Hell we were only 30 feet away from each other.

[RSTPerformance]

Not a fan of the tall directors chairs, but regular fold up chairs are always handy.... thing is though, is that they really are not tropies... a glass or plate can be used if you want, but in reality they also can be displayed. Who wants to display a fold up chair in thier living room? ok yeah some may, but I don't have room for 5-6 new chairs a year

Raymond