Nats Radio Control: Pylon Racing
Bill Hager
THE NATIONALS finally arrived and now they are over. All of the months of preparation, decisions, and worries are now history. This writer thinks all of the time spent on planning by many different people from all over the country was well spent and the results were one week of fantastic flying and excitement.
For the people that came to Dayton, I hope you enjoyed our town while here. For the people of Dayton, a big thanks for all of the work done to help put out the 1976 Nats. In Dayton we are glad it's over and thankful things went so well.
Sunday, August 1, was the big day we had all been waiting for. The day for the processing of all the Quarter Midgets and their pilots. Every man, as he stood in that long line at the processing table, hoped that in a few days he would be the winner. That is what he had saved up for, these last eleven months. To go to the Nats.
As I looked down that long row of Quarter Midgets, I thought, this is going to be a much bigger job than I ever anticipated. I've never seen so many Quarter Midgets in one place before.
There were 81 pilots and 125 Quarter Midgets, and all 125 planes had been built with TLC. They sure were a sight to see. After all 125 planes were processed, we were all ready for a good night's sleep and Monday morning. That's what I thought. My wife, Nancy, and I never dreamed how much paper work was necessary before one plane could take off in the morning, but we sure found out quickly. After hours of writing, Nancy and her helpers had everything ready to go.
The weather on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday was pretty good. A bit cool for Ohio time of year but sunny.
After the smoke cleared and 126 heats of racing were over, we all sighed with relief, that there were no serious problems, just one small protest and we had some very excited winners. There was a tie for first place that was broken by a fly-off. The fly-off was between George Parks and Dave Pearce. After an exciting fly-off race, Dave Pearce was the official winner for 1976.
The fast time for Quarter Midget was 1:35.1 by Tom Christopher, but too many zeroes got in Tom's way this year to be the winner. Best Junior-Senior Trophy went to Brian Richmond. Brian also finished 11th place over all. You older guys better watch out for the youngster!
After the final race for Quarter Midget, I impounded the top 20 planes. After checking the planes and the engines of these winners I found one engine with a chrome liner and the plane and pilot were disqualified for being illegal. Thus a flier that competed all during the event lost his third-place win.
Thinking it's finally over, I started to go home to take a nap. Nancy grabs me before I could get too far. We have to hurry lunch because processing for Formula I starts at 3:00 that same afternoon. We make it back to Nats Headquarters within the hour. It's 2:55.
As we walked into the hangar, it was a sight to see. Eighty-two pilots with beautifully shined and detailed Formula I racers stood in line to be processed. As I saw all of the beautiful planes I had this feeling deep inside. Why did I agree to be the C.D. for Formula I? I would much rather be in that line, than standing at the head of it.
For everyone here knows that Formula I racing is a great part of my life and my family's. It's in our blood. Grinning from beneath a blue baseball cap, far back in that long line, stood my son Rob. Under his arm was the wing to one of my racers that he had entered in this year's Nationals. I grinned back at him and went on with the job of processing. But next year you had better believe my son and I will be in that long line together as the Horrible Hager Racing Team. That's my wife's idea, since in the Dayton newspaper there is a cartoon strip called "Hagar the Horrible." She jokingly says the name fits so I might as well use it.
As processing closed at 6:00, someone reminded me that I had a "few" airplanes sitting in neat rows, that needed to be judged. And that was another sight to see. It is a very difficult job to weed out one racer and say "this plane is more to scale than all of the rest." But by 10:30 p.m. that is exactly what my two helpers and I had done. That winner was Bob Violett with a beautiful Pole Cat. He walked off with the trophy and number one starting position.
On Thursday morning we started another three-day event, Formula I. Friday, it rained and was very cold. Not the normal Dayton, Ohio weather for this time of year. It rained so hard we had to delay the races for about an hour. Saturday morning was still cool, but it finally stopped raining.
We had several mid-airs and Whit Stockwell lost his plane on Friday, but he and several buddies worked all night and Saturday morning his plane was back in competition. That is real determination to repair a badly damaged plane so quickly. His plane was reinspected for safety and was back racing.
After 7 rounds or 147 heats of racing, we had our 1976 Nats winner in Formula I. The winner was a very nervous flier by the name of Dave Pearce. Hmm, where have you heard that name before? Dave really had it together and came away the winner in both Quarter Midget and Formula I. Fantastic! Congratulations Dave.
Nats Radio Control: Pylon Racing
Kent Nogy placed second and we had a fly-off between Bill Preis and Bruce Richmond for third. Third was determined when Bill Preis made a high-speed touch-and-go coming around #3 pylon. Bruce Richmond took third and Bill Preis ended up fourth. The fast time in Formula I was 1:19.9 turned by Bob Brogdon.
Best Junior-Senior trophy went to Bruce Richmond. Hmm. And where have you heard that name? Bruce and Brian are brothers. Brian finished third place overall. Nice going guys. It looked like the Richmond brothers would have to rent a trailer to carry all of their trophies home. Watch for them next year.
What a week of racing! This would not have been possible without the help of a great bunch of guys and gals that worked so hard. I want to take this opportunity to thank the 60 people that helped make pylon racing a success at the 1976 Nationals.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
