function cw_resetPopulation() {
  document.getElementById("generation").innerHTML = "";
  document.getElementById("cars").innerHTML = "";
  document.getElementById("topscores").innerHTML = "";
  cw_clearGraphics();
  cw_carArray = new Array();
  cw_carGeneration = new Array();

  cw_carScores = new Array();
  cw_topScores = new Array();
  cw_graphTop = new Array();
  cw_graphElite = new Array();
  cw_graphAverage = new Array();
  lastmax = 0;
  lastaverage = 0;
  lasteliteaverage = 0;
  swapPoint1 = 0;
  swapPoint2 = 0;
  cw_generationZero();

  cw_carGenerationBestJSON = 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  cw_carGenerationBest = JSON.parse(cw_carGenerationBestJSON);
  //cw_carGeneration = cw_carGenerationBest;

    cw_carGeneration = new Array();

  cw_carGeneration = cw_carGenerationBest;

    alert(JSON.stringify(cw_carGeneration));
   // alert(cw_carGenerationBestJSON);


// this still doesn't seem to change anything (??)
}