USACi SQ competitions feature SQ with an unlimited SPL portion. i.e. you are judged for SQ, and then you attempt to obtain as many points as you can with your SPL score... Perhaps this is the future of SQ as it features a minor wow/fun factor...

Unfortunately, I think SQ has definately had a tough time this year. Fewer competitors and less manufacturer support make it even tougher. For example, the Steel Valley Regionals was a great show this year, but they had about 20 less cars than they did last year... Hopefully IASCA Finals will have plenty of cars, but somehow I think there won't be more than 50/60 SQ cars...

Dawgsbreakfast pointed out a lot of important points...

SPL is sorry to say it, easier and more fun to compete in... you spend plenty of cash building a deafeningly loud car, you tune it, line up in the lanes, burp and repeat... People cheer when you get a high score and watch as people jump all over each other's cars... lots of action and lots of fun... There's a grand-stand involved and there's always a chance that someone will blow something up... it's definately got that Nascar quality to it [img]smile.gif[/img]

SQ requires you to be with respect to your install, become a photographer to make sure you get every angle of the magnificent screw holding down your amp rack, drive obscene hours and pay for food, gas, hotels and ridiculously high competition fees, become obsessive-compulsive as you completely detail your car after driving all day/night, tune your car for hours before after and sometimes during a show, run your car in SQ, SPL, and then go through install judging where many times your car and heart is torn to pieces... After that you are left to twitch from anxiety as you patiently await any news of how your car did, while simultaneously feeling a sad but devilish joy when you hear about any trouble other competitors in your class have had...

All in all, to be a overly synical, you drive long hours and spend tons of money to have your car torn to shreds in hopes of beating the other guy who is suffering from a Major Depressive Episode after he/she was told that his/her plexi on his/her amp-rack was a little "wobbly"...

I love SQ, and I really enjoy competing and meeting everyone at the shows... but there seems to be a lot of heart-ache in SQ and very little to drive you to the next competition other than your love for great cars, incredible installs, good music and nice people.

I hope SQ is here to stay, but I fear that it is suffering a slow death... I hope to be proved wrong at World Finals and in future competitions, but only time will tell.

I better go clean my car, see you guys at Finals! [img]graemlins/beer.gif[/img]

[ October 05, 2003, 12:48 AM: Message edited by: drspd ]