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| The History of Thread Headed Strangers A continuation of the history of our fantasy racing group as written by AA and posted on AA.com. |
| Thread Headed Strangers Segment One, 2002 |
Segment 1 of 2002 started off pleasant enough. The group had a new name and a new set of rules to co-exist by. The
Daytona 500 was about to be run and everybody in Thread Headed Strangers was eager to win a car.
In the days prior to the Daytona 500 a new name appeared on the message board claiming to be the founder and leader of
the number one group in the SCC. Armed with words and no facts, Mojo quickly set the new guy, Pedalsaw, straight -- with
facts. Pedalsaw's group, Hendricks Stable, had put up some impressive numbers in the previous years, but not as impressive
as NASCARVANNA or The Legends of NASCARVANNA. A bet between the two groups was proposed to settle who was the
best group in the game.
Pedalsaw claimed he could talk smack with the best of them... but again he was armed with words that he couldn't back up.
He knew not what he was in for -- he had taken on a group that was born of BS, Bashing, and Bucket Fishing. Pedalsaw's
smack was more like an innocent child's naive ramblings.
While things were heating up between THS and the Hendricks Stable on the SCC board, the Texas Lori team left Daytona
with a week 1 win and a new die cast after scoring a 649.
Week two saw some nasty words getting thrown around between the two groups while the #20 in 2002 team threw rocks at
everyone. K. Ward scored a 723 to take home the second car of the 2002 season.
Daytona 500 was about to be run and everybody in Thread Headed Strangers was eager to win a car.
In the days prior to the Daytona 500 a new name appeared on the message board claiming to be the founder and leader of
the number one group in the SCC. Armed with words and no facts, Mojo quickly set the new guy, Pedalsaw, straight -- with
facts. Pedalsaw's group, Hendricks Stable, had put up some impressive numbers in the previous years, but not as impressive
as NASCARVANNA or The Legends of NASCARVANNA. A bet between the two groups was proposed to settle who was the
best group in the game.
Pedalsaw claimed he could talk smack with the best of them... but again he was armed with words that he couldn't back up.
He knew not what he was in for -- he had taken on a group that was born of BS, Bashing, and Bucket Fishing. Pedalsaw's
smack was more like an innocent child's naive ramblings.
While things were heating up between THS and the Hendricks Stable on the SCC board, the Texas Lori team left Daytona
with a week 1 win and a new die cast after scoring a 649.
Week two saw some nasty words getting thrown around between the two groups while the #20 in 2002 team threw rocks at
everyone. K. Ward scored a 723 to take home the second car of the 2002 season.
| 2002/ 2003 Silly Season Time to Regroup or Pack it Up and Move on? |
The 2002 season ended... thank God.
Talk about a rough year... but let's not. It's already documented and there is no sane reason to rehash or relive the
insaneness of it all.
There was a lot of good things that happened during the 2002 season in THS. The group inducted its first member into the
800 Club -- Winster51 scored an 802 during Segment 2 of the season. ESPN wiped out the group scores rather quickly
between Segments 2 and 3, so it's not documented which race she scored her 802 in, but the fact remains she was the first
member of THS to be inducted into the Elite 800 Club.
Winster spent several lonely weeks enjoying the Club by herself, then week 4 of Segment 3 came along and she was lonely
no more: LP99trl scored an 806 that just beat BugMan's 800 for week 4 high score honors, thus Winster's lone status was no
more, THS had members number 2 and 3 in the 800 Club. LP and Bugz had no more than gotten introduced to Winster when
Zeker scored the all-time THS high score (at that time) of 810 in week 5 of Segment 3.
Thus, THS ended the 2002 season with four members as being envied Elitists.
Another THS milestone that was reached was that of a member scoring four 700+ points in consecutive weeks. South Bend
Highway Hogs recorded scores of 751, 716, 781, and 749 during weeks 7, 8, 9, and 10 of segment 3. Not to be outdone,
Winster closed out the season with scores of 773, 735, 752, and 725 to join SBHH as the only two members of the group to
achieve such a feat.
MacLords took top honors in the tri-segment results, scoring a total of 22,564 points in all three segments. Mac finished 10th
in Segment 1, took home top honors in Segment 2, then capped off a consistent year finishing 12th in Segment 3. Winster's
four weekly wins, four 700+ scores and her 802 score helped propel her into a second place finish overall with 22,519 points,
just forty-five behind Mac after 36 races. trlr01 followed with 22,310 points and Thirddensity (22,062) and Wiggler100
(22,040) rounded out the top 5 in THS for 2002.
Segment winners were War Greymon (RIO's son), MacLords and Winster51.
Rumors of THS's demise ran ramped on the SCC board, but behind the scenes a small group of a dozen or so members were
making plans to overhaul THS and come back better than ever in 2003.
One of the group's original members, GaToR, formed a group in Yahoo Groups so concerned members could meet during
the off season to hash out differences, gather input and revamp group rules. Some people referred to members meeting
behind "closed doors" as the "Dirty Dozen" while other's called them Diktators. Whatever... the purpose was to regroup and
go about forming the future of THS, not to hide or pick and choose who did what. Many were invited to join in the discussions,
but chose not to.
The ones that did join the Yahoo sessions spent many nights and many hours listening to various opinions as to how THS
should move forward and settling on what was determined as the best way to proceed.
Talk about a rough year... but let's not. It's already documented and there is no sane reason to rehash or relive the
insaneness of it all.
There was a lot of good things that happened during the 2002 season in THS. The group inducted its first member into the
800 Club -- Winster51 scored an 802 during Segment 2 of the season. ESPN wiped out the group scores rather quickly
between Segments 2 and 3, so it's not documented which race she scored her 802 in, but the fact remains she was the first
member of THS to be inducted into the Elite 800 Club.
Winster spent several lonely weeks enjoying the Club by herself, then week 4 of Segment 3 came along and she was lonely
no more: LP99trl scored an 806 that just beat BugMan's 800 for week 4 high score honors, thus Winster's lone status was no
more, THS had members number 2 and 3 in the 800 Club. LP and Bugz had no more than gotten introduced to Winster when
Zeker scored the all-time THS high score (at that time) of 810 in week 5 of Segment 3.
Thus, THS ended the 2002 season with four members as being envied Elitists.
Another THS milestone that was reached was that of a member scoring four 700+ points in consecutive weeks. South Bend
Highway Hogs recorded scores of 751, 716, 781, and 749 during weeks 7, 8, 9, and 10 of segment 3. Not to be outdone,
Winster closed out the season with scores of 773, 735, 752, and 725 to join SBHH as the only two members of the group to
achieve such a feat.
MacLords took top honors in the tri-segment results, scoring a total of 22,564 points in all three segments. Mac finished 10th
in Segment 1, took home top honors in Segment 2, then capped off a consistent year finishing 12th in Segment 3. Winster's
four weekly wins, four 700+ scores and her 802 score helped propel her into a second place finish overall with 22,519 points,
just forty-five behind Mac after 36 races. trlr01 followed with 22,310 points and Thirddensity (22,062) and Wiggler100
(22,040) rounded out the top 5 in THS for 2002.
Segment winners were War Greymon (RIO's son), MacLords and Winster51.
Rumors of THS's demise ran ramped on the SCC board, but behind the scenes a small group of a dozen or so members were
making plans to overhaul THS and come back better than ever in 2003.
One of the group's original members, GaToR, formed a group in Yahoo Groups so concerned members could meet during
the off season to hash out differences, gather input and revamp group rules. Some people referred to members meeting
behind "closed doors" as the "Dirty Dozen" while other's called them Diktators. Whatever... the purpose was to regroup and
go about forming the future of THS, not to hide or pick and choose who did what. Many were invited to join in the discussions,
but chose not to.
The ones that did join the Yahoo sessions spent many nights and many hours listening to various opinions as to how THS
should move forward and settling on what was determined as the best way to proceed.
| To Be Continued |
| The History of Thread Headed Strangers Another continuation of the history of our fantasy racing group as written by Bugz, with contributions from numerous members. |
After all the discussions during the off-season the group decided to continue the effort, and placed a committee of five in
charge of group decisions. A number of members were nominated (mostly from the working group), and the members voted
to elect five as their guardians of fairness. This group of five soon became known as the Diktators by RIO (who had not been
voted in). Throughout the season they made more and more rules to try and solve the issues and problems brought to the
table by the membership (mostly by RIO). Soon the rules began to look like something put together by the IRS. And still there
were complaints and problems. This was a period of some strife within the group. RIO repeatedly threatened to take the
members he had recruited in 2002 and leave to form his own group. RIO eventually did pull his team, only to win that week.
He tried to place his team back in the group and claim the weekly win, but the Diktators said his team was not in play at the
drop of the green flag, so no win! This became known as the "RIO Rule". All this bickering within the group was not a healthy
situation, but we made it through the season somehow!
The Diktators = Bugz, Swami, TrlrO1, GaToR, Wiggler
(If I remember correctly RIO left during this season and only had his 5 year old son (War Greymon) in the group. He used
"Protecting his son's interests" as an excuse to continue to meddle in the affairs of THS).
charge of group decisions. A number of members were nominated (mostly from the working group), and the members voted
to elect five as their guardians of fairness. This group of five soon became known as the Diktators by RIO (who had not been
voted in). Throughout the season they made more and more rules to try and solve the issues and problems brought to the
table by the membership (mostly by RIO). Soon the rules began to look like something put together by the IRS. And still there
were complaints and problems. This was a period of some strife within the group. RIO repeatedly threatened to take the
members he had recruited in 2002 and leave to form his own group. RIO eventually did pull his team, only to win that week.
He tried to place his team back in the group and claim the weekly win, but the Diktators said his team was not in play at the
drop of the green flag, so no win! This became known as the "RIO Rule". All this bickering within the group was not a healthy
situation, but we made it through the season somehow!
The Diktators = Bugz, Swami, TrlrO1, GaToR, Wiggler
(If I remember correctly RIO left during this season and only had his 5 year old son (War Greymon) in the group. He used
"Protecting his son's interests" as an excuse to continue to meddle in the affairs of THS).
| 2003 - The Reign of the Diktators |
| 2004 - Down with the Diktators, up with AA |
We went into the off-season with a new group of Diktators, but things were decidedly unsettled. The rules kept growing, and it
wasn't looking good for the continuation of THS. It was decided that we needed a Group Leader, someone who could actually
make decisions because of the endless discussions that took place among the Diktators and the group. An election was held
featuring MacLords and Commonguy. Commonguy came out the winner, but the group was closely split and nothing was
really settled. The rules still existed and Common didn't really have the power to settle disputes. He gave up the title of G/L
shortly into the season. It was at this time that AnomieAcres stepped up and said enough is enough! He overthrew the
Diktators and took back control of the group. He became the first All-Powerful Group Leader, or Despotic Emperor of THS.
From now on all rules would be tossed and simplified, and the final say would rest with the G/L. You don't like it...too bad!
This rubbed the RIO contingent in completely the wrong way, since they could no longer influence the committee or whine
about the results. Thus they left! Miraculously THS did not collapse as predicted by RIO, but flourished without all the
bickering. And the rest of us sheep were happy to be shepherded by AA. AnomieAcres continued to build on his THS website,
and that gave us someplace to go and see the best and worst of the worst (DaHood). There were pictures of our far-flung
THS family to be seen, and a greater sense of community. So ended the rule of the Diktators!
Diktators II = Mojo, MacLords, Bammerz, RJ, Winster.
It was also during this season that LP & Bammerz suffered their first real setback while members of THS. Terrible floods in
Ohio left them homeless and without many of the things that we all take for granted. The members of THS got together and
decided something had to be done to help. So the hat was passed around and the Birch Brothers (not unlike the Blues
Brothers) headed to Ohio to find Tim & Bet. They stopped at the local fire station, and the crew there knew exactly where to
find the Lear Family! A short drive later and the doorbell rings, with Tom and Mark handing over the THS aide package to
some very grateful members!
wasn't looking good for the continuation of THS. It was decided that we needed a Group Leader, someone who could actually
make decisions because of the endless discussions that took place among the Diktators and the group. An election was held
featuring MacLords and Commonguy. Commonguy came out the winner, but the group was closely split and nothing was
really settled. The rules still existed and Common didn't really have the power to settle disputes. He gave up the title of G/L
shortly into the season. It was at this time that AnomieAcres stepped up and said enough is enough! He overthrew the
Diktators and took back control of the group. He became the first All-Powerful Group Leader, or Despotic Emperor of THS.
From now on all rules would be tossed and simplified, and the final say would rest with the G/L. You don't like it...too bad!
This rubbed the RIO contingent in completely the wrong way, since they could no longer influence the committee or whine
about the results. Thus they left! Miraculously THS did not collapse as predicted by RIO, but flourished without all the
bickering. And the rest of us sheep were happy to be shepherded by AA. AnomieAcres continued to build on his THS website,
and that gave us someplace to go and see the best and worst of the worst (DaHood). There were pictures of our far-flung
THS family to be seen, and a greater sense of community. So ended the rule of the Diktators!
Diktators II = Mojo, MacLords, Bammerz, RJ, Winster.
It was also during this season that LP & Bammerz suffered their first real setback while members of THS. Terrible floods in
Ohio left them homeless and without many of the things that we all take for granted. The members of THS got together and
decided something had to be done to help. So the hat was passed around and the Birch Brothers (not unlike the Blues
Brothers) headed to Ohio to find Tim & Bet. They stopped at the local fire station, and the crew there knew exactly where to
find the Lear Family! A short drive later and the doorbell rings, with Tom and Mark handing over the THS aide package to
some very grateful members!
| 2005 - The Fall of AA, and the rise of Da Mayor! |
Hurricane Katrina hit THS on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi! Our beloved Diane and her husband Rusty found themselves in
their own version of "Gone With the Wind"! The group just couldn't sit by and watch as these two had their lives turned upside
down. Duke had decided to head to Narleans to aide in the recovery effort. He decided to camp in Waveland, MS. It was there
that he and Di first came face to face. Our beloved Goodwill Ambassador offered all the assistance and laughter within his
power to Lady Di. I'm sure Di has many stories to tell on the subject! Again, we passed around the hat and sent financial help
to a member of the group in distress. At least some of that money did reach Di.
During this period the group as a whole was doing fine and enjoying life without RIO, but a disturbing trend of players not
receiving their winnings in a timely manner (or not at all) began to occur. Also, AA was having a number of health issues, and
as it turned out, marital issues. Unfortunately AA's wife left him and took all of his money, and the funds for THS. He foolishly
tried to hide this from the group instead of seeking help. Eventually several of the members did find out what was happening.
Somewhere in here AA stated that his PayPal account was also raided and more money lost. The small group of members
sent AA some funds to help replace the missing THS funds. We still didn't know just how dire AA's situation was, and those
funds were used for the daily necessities of life. Eventually RJ came forward and informed the group that AA had lost THS's
funds. Unfortunately he chose to do this on the SCC Board, and many in THS were offended that he posted our dirty laundry
in public. It was for these reasons, and the fall-out this controversy caused, that we eventually lost two members, AA & RJ.
Both eventually exiled themselves from the group of their own accord. Some said that RJ left because he was not made G/L,
but he insists that was not the case.
It was at this time that Da Mayor (Tim Lear) stepped up and took the reins of THS. He felt that part of the problems faced by
AA had been his "do it alone" approach to group leadership. So he enlisted the help of several members to provide a pool of
talent who could each take on one of the major tasks that support the group.
their own version of "Gone With the Wind"! The group just couldn't sit by and watch as these two had their lives turned upside
down. Duke had decided to head to Narleans to aide in the recovery effort. He decided to camp in Waveland, MS. It was there
that he and Di first came face to face. Our beloved Goodwill Ambassador offered all the assistance and laughter within his
power to Lady Di. I'm sure Di has many stories to tell on the subject! Again, we passed around the hat and sent financial help
to a member of the group in distress. At least some of that money did reach Di.
During this period the group as a whole was doing fine and enjoying life without RIO, but a disturbing trend of players not
receiving their winnings in a timely manner (or not at all) began to occur. Also, AA was having a number of health issues, and
as it turned out, marital issues. Unfortunately AA's wife left him and took all of his money, and the funds for THS. He foolishly
tried to hide this from the group instead of seeking help. Eventually several of the members did find out what was happening.
Somewhere in here AA stated that his PayPal account was also raided and more money lost. The small group of members
sent AA some funds to help replace the missing THS funds. We still didn't know just how dire AA's situation was, and those
funds were used for the daily necessities of life. Eventually RJ came forward and informed the group that AA had lost THS's
funds. Unfortunately he chose to do this on the SCC Board, and many in THS were offended that he posted our dirty laundry
in public. It was for these reasons, and the fall-out this controversy caused, that we eventually lost two members, AA & RJ.
Both eventually exiled themselves from the group of their own accord. Some said that RJ left because he was not made G/L,
but he insists that was not the case.
It was at this time that Da Mayor (Tim Lear) stepped up and took the reins of THS. He felt that part of the problems faced by
AA had been his "do it alone" approach to group leadership. So he enlisted the help of several members to provide a pool of
talent who could each take on one of the major tasks that support the group.
| Tim Lear, Da Mayor = Group Leader Diane Blappert, Southern8 = Secretary Jeff Carter, BossMan = Webmaster & Treasurer |
These members would now endeavour to put THS on a firm footing, while preserving the concept of the strong G/L.
In an effort to see that past weekly winners received their cars Tom Birch (Nash Rambler) stepped forward and personally
took care of those players still owed cars. To see that Segment 3 had something to play for Bugz, Homrs, and Duke
sponsored the segment. AA put up some of his collection of cars as reward for the yearly winner.
Out of the support given to DaSwami & MamaSwami after the birth of their granddaughter (she was very sick), the Lear's
flood loss, and Di's hurricane, the members decided that the group needed a permanent Relief Fund. This would be a
separate source of funds from the group funds that would be used to aide members in special need. Duke volunteered to
man the effort and even donated the prizes that would be awarded to winners of his periodic games. All of those who receive
the kind offerings of this group in times of need owe Duke a debt of gratitude!
The rules were formally codified and posted on the new website that was built by BossMan. BossMan endeavoured to put
together a site that built on the best ideas of AA's site and added some new pages. The rules and site have seen few
changes since their creation here at TBDGOTB &TV!
In an effort to see that past weekly winners received their cars Tom Birch (Nash Rambler) stepped forward and personally
took care of those players still owed cars. To see that Segment 3 had something to play for Bugz, Homrs, and Duke
sponsored the segment. AA put up some of his collection of cars as reward for the yearly winner.
Out of the support given to DaSwami & MamaSwami after the birth of their granddaughter (she was very sick), the Lear's
flood loss, and Di's hurricane, the members decided that the group needed a permanent Relief Fund. This would be a
separate source of funds from the group funds that would be used to aide members in special need. Duke volunteered to
man the effort and even donated the prizes that would be awarded to winners of his periodic games. All of those who receive
the kind offerings of this group in times of need owe Duke a debt of gratitude!
The rules were formally codified and posted on the new website that was built by BossMan. BossMan endeavoured to put
together a site that built on the best ideas of AA's site and added some new pages. The rules and site have seen few
changes since their creation here at TBDGOTB &TV!