AMA Nats Lincoln '79: CL Racing
Bill Lee
Site and atmosphere
The Nats site was an old air base that the city of Lincoln uses for their airport, leaving a large area on the west side unused. This is where this year's Nats were held. Control-line competition was on the far west edge of an old ramp, while RC was held further north, generally in the middle of the available concrete. Full-size operations continued across the field with regular commercial flights arriving and departing and frequent military jet activity (F-4s and F-5s). The loud takeoffs, smoke and noise were an impressive backdrop; a B-57 also visited the base early in the week.
Open Goodyear (Monday)
Racing began on Monday with Open Goodyear. Entrant numbers were similar to last year in Lake Charles and to Winston‑Salem in June, with about 20–30 Open entrants in each event. Speeds were up compared to last year—several sub-15‑second planes appeared, and Tim Gillott commonly ran in the very low 14s in practice—but reliability was down. Last year it took nearly two minutes to qualify; this year the cutoff was around 3:18.
In the finals I turned a good time of 5:46 early and watched many expected faster competitors falter. Examples of problems included:
- Mike Wheeler burned a plug at the 15‑second mark of the countdown and was changing it when the flag dropped.
- Tim Gillott was running beautifully with measured air times at 14.5–14.7 seconds but burned a plug at his second pit stop.
- John Ballard's entry, pitted by Bob Oge, had a false start on a pit; Bob had to retrieve the model and restart.
All breaks were unfortunate for those who suffered them, but they worked in my favor.
FAI Team Race and Class I Mouse (Tuesday)
Tuesday was FAI Team Race day for official Nats events and also hosted an unofficial Class I Mouse race sponsored by the Omaha Orbiting Eagles and Cox Manufacturing. The Mouse event was unofficial because the provisional AMA rulebook was still out, yet it outdrew regular AMA events with 29 flying entrants—perhaps an indication of where racing is headed in the face of escalating costs.
Team Race was lightly entered with several "name" teams absent, but performance levels remained high. Three low qualifying times were in the low 4s, the slowest around 4:08. Teams flew three rounds and selected their three best for the finals. The finals featured Tim Gillott; Stew Willoughby (last year's low qualifier), pitted by Bob Oge; Henry Nelson; and Doc Jackson. Gillott got off instantly, made superb pits, and maintained excellent airspeed to take first place with the best U.S. time ever recorded: 8:05. Henry Nelson suffered a hard landing in the pit that bent a wheel and jammed it; subsequent pits caused the plane to screech to a halt, forcing Henry to retrieve the model and run back for the next segment.
Fast Rat (Thursday)
Thursday was Fast Rat day. Most entrants had competitive equipment. Practice runs were generally in the 125–130 second range, with a few low‑120s and the fastest practice times in the high 110s by Tim Gillott. Race-day qualifying required a combined two‑race qualifying time slightly over five minutes to requalify.
Low qualifying time and the eventual win went to Ron Esman, who ran about 1:28 in traffic and, with superb pits, produced a 4:49 combined time. Tim Gillott detuned for reliability and ended up running faster in the event, though his pitting did not match Esman's. Paul Tune of Nashville finished third.
Slow Rat (Friday practice, Saturday race)
Friday was practice day and Saturday was race day for Slow Rat. There were many very good airplanes, and Nashville—while still having some of the fastest planes and superb pitting—was not as dominant as in previous years. Competition was much closer, and Nashville had to earn its victories rather than cruise to them.
Paul Tune and Larry Hill must be congratulated for winning Slow Rat for Nashville for the fourth straight year. They are seriously considering giving up Slow Rat to pursue other racing events; many of us hope they don't, because beating them in a fair race would be a real accomplishment.
Thanks to officials
Thanks to all who spent their Nats officiating instead of competing. These people make the event possible and enjoyable:
- Vic Garner — Control Line Racing Director
- Linda Wheeler — Assistant Director
- Bill Wright — FAI Team Race Director
- Jim Ricketts — Mouse Race Director
Thanks to all for a job well done.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
