RADIO CONTROL PYLON RACING
Duane Gall, 1267 S. Beeler Ct., Denver CO 80231; E-mail: [email protected]
LOCAL HEROES
Racing has had a couple lean years lately, but I am happy to be able to share two success stories in a row. Last month's column featured up-and-coming young pilot Jonathan Baker of Silver Spring, Maryland.
This month I'm going to revive the occasional (you might even say highly irregular) Local Hero award, to honor two movers and shakers from slightly farther west: Tom Neff and Dean McBournie of Aurora, Colorado.
While the rest of us were gluing Part A to Part B, these two were assembling a racing club from scratch. And guess what? It flies.
The whole process took less than a year, which is a twinkling by normal flying-site standards.
In April 2000, Tom, who instructs new Radio Control (RC) pilots and had been keeping his ear to the ground for at least five years prior, learned that a big patch of undeveloped land on the plains east of Denver was owned by a company in which a friend of one of his students had a stake.
The site was ready to go by late September, complete with a paved runway.
In between, old-timer Tom and enthusiastic newcomer Dean (a.k.a., The Man of Titanium) surveyed the site, drew up a lease that was acceptable to the owner, held meetings to drum up support, chartered an AMA club and incorporated it, obtained as much donated labor and materials as they could, and persuaded 10 members to buy Life memberships at $1,000 each to finance the paving job.
In a jovial reference to the small number of members and the hefty initial investment, they named the club the Airpark Elite.
This effort represented equal parts luck, hard work, and the vision to see it through. Not that dozens of others' contributions, big and small, didn't help make the whole thing "jell," but Tom and Dean kept the fine going the whole time. Hats off to them!
THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS
The Airpark Elite experience proves that it is possible to scrape together a racing-friendly club and a decent field on short notice, but why go to the trouble—not to mention the risk? After all, the land could be rezoned and developed at any time—it's in the lease.
Why not just spend $1,000 on two new racing airplanes and practice at an existing field?
The answer is painfully clear. Although we racers know better, most "Sunday fliers" consider racing activity barely tolerable, if not downright antisocial.
Our airplanes look and sound intimidating. We huddle in small groups, speaking in tongues about "11-thousandths head spacing" and "8-8-8-7-5 propellers." We fly around our heads to practice—and this means that the airplane flies between us and the pits, which is a strict no-no at most fields.
Then there are the pylons themselves. Those who are just learning to land don't want those obstacles out there for them to hit. So blending in racing practice with normal weekend sport-flying operations is difficult, at best. You almost need your own site.
The Airpark Elite represents an effort to avoid these problems by building a racing club from the ground up. The site is a racing field. Pylons are up seven days a week. The pits are more than 300 feet from the runway, in accordance with AMA contest rules.
Flying around your head is okay; you just say you're going up for a practice flight, and everyone stays behind the sideline until you're finished.
And, amazingly enough, people do learn to fly there. They don't resent the presence of racing airplanes or pylons; in fact, they use the #2 and #3 pylons as handy reference points to set up a landing approach.
Furthermore, those pylons are much skinnier and more conveniently located than the trees, fences, power lines, and other obstacles that must be accommodated at many other fields.
But the greatest bonus is that these new pilots look forward to the day when they can fly around those sticks at top speed the way they see the more experienced pilots doing, day in and day out. These newcomers don't view racing operations as alien or threatening—just as another fun part of the whole RC modeling picture.
It can be done. Maybe you have to start from scratch, but it's possible to integrate racing culture with sport-flying culture.
Thanks to Tom Neff and Dean McBournie for showing us the way.
WHY RACE?
A few months ago, Eric Henderson wrote a nice "RC Aerobatics" column that extolled the virtues of that specialty. Racing has its own virtues, which are worth little to nobody here.
- The scoring is objective. Either you crossed the finish line first or you didn't. Either you cut or you didn't. The officials can certainly make a mistake, but there's no doubt about the outcome and not much room for individual judgment once the call is made.
- There are impression points in Scale, and sometimes you can puff off a spiral as spin in Aerobatics. The winner's circle tends to be dominated by those with larger, expensive airplanes and clean, white pants.
Not so in racing. You make 10 fast laps each time or you go home empty-handed.
I like to be able to say I earned each of my trophies—as few as there are—and this is more true in racing than in any other form of competition.
- Racing models are small and good. Nothing looks better or flies more smoothly than a properly set up racer. And they are hardy—the perfect safety inspection and racing contest is rigorous.
Any flyer or contestant who wants to do well learns very quickly how to put together a strong, reliable airplane with a top-notch radio installation.
- The camaraderie can't be beat. We share a common affection, so we take care of each other.
If your one enemy wants to say a slow-poke battery on the starting line for you can't get your model started (He may even try to hot-wire your airplane with it.) Meanwhile, your spouse is having a great time telling tales on you in the pits.
Finally, the sky itself is intoxicating. Those who have never tried it may dismiss it as "only a bunch of left turns," as though that means there's no challenge involved. By that standard, what Mark McGwire does consists of simply hitting a ball with a stick.
However, to do it well time after time, with precision and grace under an infinite variety of conditions is something you can chase for a lifetime and never get bored.
RULES AND RESOURCES
The rules of the racing game are straightforward—so are the rules for baseball. If you have a computer with Internet access, you can download a current set of rules from www.nmpra.org (or call 209/996-0293 to get them). Event 426 is the place to start.
Clubs that are thinking about doing racing, or adding it to their list of activities, should check out the National Miniature Pylon Racing Association's (NMPRA) rules and specifications for scale pylon racing and signals information through its Web site at www.nmpra.net.
RECENT CONTEST RESULTS
So how did they do? Unlike Mark McGwire, we RC Pylon Racing pilots earn very little fame and even less fortune. An occasional mention in these pages is about the best we can hope for.
Still, it's better than nothing, so I'm going to list, in the order of finish, results from a recent big contest and a smaller contest.
The big contest is the annual Winterfest meet, hosted each January by the Speedworld RC Flyers of Phoenix, Arizona. It's actually two separate contests held the same weekend—one on Saturday and one Sunday.
Hosting clubs take note: this format may be more attractive to out-of-town guests; if they have "racing luck" the first day, they can come back and make a fresh start the next day.
Many thanks to Contest Director Jim Allen, Speedworld RC Flyers president Stan Doug (each a Local Hero in his own right), and the Speedworld club members who came out to help both days.
- Saturday, 01/13/01, Event 428:
- Finishers: Chip Hyde, Tim Lins, Lyle Larson, Darrol Cady, Fred Burggraf, Drew Telford, Randy Bridges, Tony Lopez, Ed Coker, Dave Martinelli, Mike Hammett, Mike Tallman, Travis Flynn, Mike Del Ponte, John Luther, Chuck Andrada, Tom Neff, Gino De Ponte, Jaime de la Vega, Jim Lime.
- Also: Brian Neff, Scott McAbee, Barry Levenood, Tim Lawlor, Joanne Coffey, Richard Tucker, Doug Cheney, Bryant Johnson, Howie Wayne, Bill Mashan, Paul Neves.
- Fast Time: Chip Hyde, 1:04.65
- Sunday, 01/14/01, Event 429:
- Finishers: Ed Coker, Tony Lopez, Drew Telford, Scott McAbee, Dave Martinelli, Darrol Cady, Fred Burggraf, Jim Lime, Jaime de la Vega, Randy Bridges, Jaime Coffey, Lyle Larson, Chip Hyde, Tom Neff, Tim Lawlor.
- Also: Chuck Andrada, Mike Hammett, Barry Levenood, Brian Neff, Doug Cheney, Richard Tucker, Tim Lime, Gino De Ponte, Mike Tallman, Paul Neves, John Leete, Mike Del Ponte, Travis Flynn.
- Fast Time: Drew Telford, 1:07.05
- Sunday, 01/14/01, Event 424:
- Finishers: Howie Wayne, Mike Fairweather, Paul Neves, Hank Diepenbrock, Doug Killebrew, Gary Johnson.
- Fast Time: Howie Wayne, 1:46.09
Pictures—I need pictures (no digital, please).
The Rock Valley RC Flyers of Rockford, Illinois, hosted the smaller contest I have heard of in the Midwest—an event run as a teaser in 1976. Fortunately, this hobby is still growing and attracting new people and interest, and it's great to see the club still on the schedule.
- Sunday, 09/10/00, Event 426:
- Finishers: Tim Lime, Dan Hoke, Terry Frazer, Jerry Smith, Paul Seidel, Glen Yercheck, Craig Chuckmeyer, Chuck Eldridge, Mick Waring, Jerry Berndt, Mike DeNeve, Orren Steinmetz, Ed Smith, Paul Gabrynowicz, Ray Blake, Bruce Saffert, Jim Nickodem, Dave Norman, Leroy Webb.
- Fast Time: Terry Frazer, 1:07.41
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
