Aug 6

Written by: The Commish
8/6/2010 8:30 AM 

Online fantasy racing games come in a variety of shapes and sizes.  Most follow one series only, like NASCAR Sprint Cup racing, and use salary caps or pick limits or groups to prevent ties every weekend.  

The Super 7 Sweep of course, like all other FMFL games, follows a number of different series instead of just one, with a unique scoring system to prevent ties at the top while creating more strategy options for players who pay attention.

Most games offer weekly prizes, such as hats and t-shirts and other swag.  Our 2010 Wind Tunnel game, like last year's, gives away rare and valuable autographed Dave Despain Bobbleheads as weekly prizes.

Well, theoretically.

We started the game in January, with the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and SPEED told me the new shipment of Bobblehads were going to be late.  They'd be in by late February or early March, I was told, and they generously provided SPEED t-shirts as supplemental prizes as a make good for the inconvenience of winners having to wait a few weeks.

March came and went, then April before the shipment of Bobbleheads finally arrived in Charlotte.  But the Bobbleheads were messed up.  The Wind Tunnel producer said the colors were off (Despain looked like he was suffering from Hepatitus) and some other features were wrong; they looked nothing like the prototype sample approved before placing the order.

In June the updated ETA was early July but I didn't get an email from SPEED until Tuesday, August 3rd; a euphoric, finally, huzzah message that the Bobbleheads were out for delivery, Despain was going to start signing them as soon as they arrived and the Wind Tunnel staff had already scheduled a pack-n-ship party to start sending them out to all the Super 7 Sweep players and others who'd been waiting for seven months.

Yesterday, on Thursday, August 5th I got another email from the Wind Tunnel producer.  The shipment had arrived but when they opened the boxes the Bobbleheads were still unacceptable.  And he was pissed to say the least.

So after the initial order being placed in December and almost five months for delivery of a substandard product, then another three months before another delivery of bad Bobbleheads, we're right back where we started.

To all our Super 7 Sweep players, on behalf of SPEED and especially Wind Tunnel, I apologize.  Everyone should know, though, that while fault has to lie somewhere -- and its not with Despain or his production folks -- there is at least some semblance of a silver lining.

All most-points-per-week players are getting a free t-shirt in an attempt to soothe hurt feelings about the delay.  More importantly, Despain and his producer are not willing to accept an inferior product just because it's been seven months since the Bobbleheads were due.

That's apparently not the case with the Bobblehad supplier or the various middlemen between SPEED's "VP of Bobbleheads" and the factory in Asia.  Sadly, the concept of "good enough for who it's for" appears to be alive and well at least as far as quality control and promised delivery dates from this particular vendor.

Copyright ©2010 The Commish