[sanddrag]

Joe, your situation is not unique to being a rookie team. On 968 one year, we shipped nothing more than a completed base, which we had not even driven. In 2008, the year we made it to Enstein, we did not ship it to its first event with a working ball mechanism. In fact, we had the last parts of the ball mechanism shipped to the hotel in San Diego, where they arrived at 9:00 AM on Thursday morning. Talk about cutting it close. There's a lot that can be done very quickly if you have a solid plan and the dedication and tools to implement it.

Currently, in 696's 12th year, we just now completed the base and bridge/bump crossing mechanism. It has not been driven yet. It looks stellar, but none of it is done or tested.

You're not alone.