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Hi all,
I am a little surprised by this thread. I came over here to give an update as to what happened at the event and now think it would be better to give some insight(no pun intended) as to how it came about.
Wayne Gerdes and I came up with the idea of getting the best hypermilers in the world together to have a fuel economy championship. We were on a trip together coming back from an MPG challenge sponsored by a city. We came up with the idea that these MPG challenge events would be best if they were managed and organized by hypermilers for hypermilers. Jointly we decided then and there to organize and event. We knew that the first event would have to be small, but we had to start somewhere. This event is not run by one of the big corporations with an agenda and lots of money, it is run by hypermilers like you and me. Even so, it is an arduous undertaking, requiring months of planning, preparation and at considerable expense. Hypermilers from 3 continents were invited. As it turned out, only hypermilers from the US were able to attend. If you personally weren't invited, please don't feel slighted, the 2nd event is already in the works and will much bigger with many more categories. Our intend was not to exclude anybody, but being the first time through, we had to make some decisions. I fully expect that future events will be open to all qualified hypermilers.
It's over now, the numbers will be posted soon and we now have an event put together by hypermilers for hypermilers. In the past several years there has been a lot of MPG challenges put together. Some of which are put together without much thought. We decided to put one together that we as hypermileres organize and control. Rather then criticise our efforts, I would have expected accoladels because this was put together without the big corporations and without a commercial agenda. I often see here and other places that people are so troubled that the big corporations seem to want to control everything. Well hypermilers put this together. No money from big corporations was involved. We felt that if we as hypermilers didn't start and manage this event, some big corporation would. And I think we all know what that would be like.
As in any event, especially the first time through, it is a daunting endevour. Who to invite, what vehicles to include. What is the venue, the format, control criteria and standards. It was more complicated then you may think. There were people invited from 3 continents, Only US participants were able to come. Considerable money, time and expertise was required from all participants.
As to the title "World Fuel Ecomony Championships". Without a doubt, Wayne Gerdes lends credibiltiy to that title. At this point in time, without Wayne in attendance, it would not be the World Championships. You may not agree with this, but I challenge you to look at the final numbers when they are posted. Wayne after all coined the term hypermiling. I could list the MPG challenge wins, hypermiling clinics, local news interviews, radio spots, national covered cross country news events, cross country reenactments, auto show review, auto reviews and the list goes on. It is my opinion that Wayne has earned the right to manage and run the World Fuel Economy Championships.
So at this point I would ask you to join with us and celebrate this achievment. Start practicing your techniques. There will be more categories and many more events in the next championships.
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