1986 Nats: CL Racing
CL Racing
John Ballard
First off, there is no truth to the rumor that awning salesmen, ice chest vendors, and the Gatorade folks had any hand in designing the Nats weather at Chennault Air Base. Early morning temperatures were in the low 80s; from noon, 100°+ was the norm. A stiff wind blew steadily with occasional gusts during the morning hours. After lunch each day the air became still, and the heat and humidity were overpowering. After a day or two of "runway life," the red sunburned look of the officials and contestants resembled the Cajun lobsters at the famous local restaurant, Paw-paw's.
The order of events (restructured for 1985) was retained for 1986:
- Open Scale Racing: Monday
- FAI Team Racing and Mouse Racing: Tuesday
- Jr.-Sr. Scale Racing: Wednesday
- Rat: Thursday
- Slow Rat: Friday
This schedule left four full travel days for contestants' return home.
From the available concrete ramp area, AMA officials selected the best possible area for the Racing events. Unfortunately, one circle had a 2-ft.-square raised metal tie-down plate near the pitting planes, and this flaw relegated the circle to practice flying only. Special thanks to the Fogg/Shahan racing team for filling and troweling cement in the six or eight additional tie-down holes found within the competition circle.
Open Scale Racing
Sunday morning was spent measuring off and spray-painting the official circle for the specific line-length requirements of each event. The afternoon brought serious practice. Monday's intense heat and humidity necessitated several head-clearance adjustments and changes in combustion-chamber design on several Nelson .15s. By early evening equipment was sorted out, with fliers being timed at about 155–162 seconds for seven laps.
Monday started hot and sunny. Entrants voted to use the best time from two preliminary heats, with six moving to the final. Heat times were in the 2:52–3:10 range. Dick Lambert won with perfect pit stops; Dick's Little Quickie was powered by a Rossi .15 (old-style case modified with new large crank bearings). Larry Dziak finished second, Jerry Meyer third, and Vic Garner fourth. After two days of thrashing equipment, Larry did extremely well. Vic's airspeed was a bit fast; Lambert's pits were slow — blamed on a cricket that kept him awake the night before. Lambert's narrow victory was largely thanks to excellent pitting.
FAI Team Racing
Since most of our premier FAI Team Race fliers were away at the World Championships, only two entries showed up Tuesday for processing. The heat and humidity did not seem to adversely affect the Nelson diesels, with Mike Greb having the best airspeed.
Mouse Racing
Mouse Racing was filled with surprises. The Juniors and Seniors had very little problem except with the early morning gusty winds. Open Mouse saw several "tar spins." The intense concrete surface temperature caused tar expansion joints to soften and swell; the .010 lines would catch and stick in the tar, with the airplane spinning around the axis where the lines were stuck. Todd Ballard, flying a Garner-designed model, put in a credible performance to take first place in his class. In Open Mouse, Vic Garner and Bob Kerr had the best airspeed and, with good pitting and careful flying, took the wins.
Jr.-Sr. Scale Racing
The Seniors brought out their Scale Racers on Wednesday, and several were running in the high 17-second range. Michael Shahan, with his Rossi-powered Mustang, and Jim Ricketts, with a Little Quickie powered by a Cox .15, had fast airplanes. Todd Ballard also demonstrated very quick equipment and performance.
Rat Racing
Rat Racing, the premier CL Racing event, was exciting and unpredictable. Practice on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning revealed airspeeds of about 11.8 to 12.8 seconds per lap for seven-lap races. The Fogg/Shahan team had the best speeds, consistently around 11.7 to 11.9. Vic Garner and Dick Lambert were in the low 12s but had consistency and pitting issues. The weather on Thursday was again hot and sunny. Contestants chose to use the best time of the two 70-lap preliminary heats, with the fastest six moving to the final.
Preliminary times ranged from the Fogg/Shahan team's 2:18/2:19 to Vic Garner's 2:32 as the sixth qualifier. The 140-lap final was run after a one-hour lunch recess requested by the contestants, during which teams made all-out efforts to improve pitting and consistency.
K&B .40s were producing the best airspeeds; some were modified to use O.S. .40 drum rotors, though most retained standard backplate rotor assemblies. Several AAC liner/piston units were used, but performance was not decisively superior to factory ABC liner/piston combinations.
Final results for the 140-lap race:
- 1st: Vic Garner — 5:07
- 2nd: Dick Lambert — 5:13
- 3rd: Larry Dziak, Jr. — 5:17
- 4th: Fogg/Shahan — 5:19
Senior entries posted respectable times as well:
- Jim Ricketts — 5:31 (140 laps)
- Michael Shahan — 5:37 (140 laps)
Texas Quickie Rat
At 4:00 p.m., enthusiasts gathered for the unofficial Texas Quickie Rat event. Specifications and typical engine/airframe combinations were outlined by Frank Williams in the August 1986 Model Aviation. I counted 26 entries in this fun event, which was enjoyed by everyone, including spectators. The Texas contingent supplied everything — trophies, officials, timers, fuel, etc. Noteworthy was that several fliers who had not been observed piloting in other Racing events flew comfortably in this three-up flying format.
Slow Rat
Thursday evening and early Friday morning were spent sorting models for Slow Rat. Of note was the Dalton team's compact, durable two-way radio from pilot to pitman. Speeds were in the 1:48 to 1:55 range, with Vic Garner's modified O.S. .35 and Larry Dziak's de-bored Super Tigre .40 showing the best speeds.
In the early morning, Jerry Meyer suffered a repeat fire similar to 1985, sidelining his No. 1 airplane. At the 9 a.m. pilots' meeting all entrants voted for a 140-lap final.
Final placings:
- 1st: Mike Greb — 5:58
- 2nd: Vic Garner — 5:59
- 3rd: Larry Dziak — (Nelson-prepared de-bored ST .40) — finished third; his ST caught fire during one pit stop and ruined his chance for victory.
Officials and Insurance
For the first time in my memory, an AMA president visited the Racing circles. By all accounts, Mr. John Grigg enjoyed viewing the competition. Special thanks to K&B for supplying the mandatory 10% nitro fuel in sufficient quantity for both practice and competition.
On Thursday, Nats CL Category Director Jim Ricketts, Sr. brought two representatives from AMA's insurance carrier to the Racing area. Racing officials spent considerable time explaining and demonstrating the safety checks that are mandatory for these events. Hopefully our explanations enlightened and laid to rest the fears the insurance carriers seem to display toward model aircraft activity as a whole and our Racing events in particular.
When responding to advertisers, mention that you read about them in Model Aviation.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
