NMPRA Championships
THE NMPRA CHAMPIONSHIPS was held this year in Valkaria, Florida, over the October 22-23 weekend. To qualify for this annual event, you must finish in the top 20% of your district, finish in the top ten at the Nationals, or have won the NMPRA Championships before, or be an officer or member of the NMPRA. Therefore, the NMPRA Championship race is the most competitive race of the season.
Most of the competitors arrive a day or two before the races, so that all trim flights, and minor adjustments can be made. You also must find where the local flying field is located, for a flight or two before race day.
Friday night was final processing and a pilots' meeting, so that all fliers understood all of the rules, how the laps would be counted, how cuts would be announced, and any questions would be answered. At processing, the planes are individually safety checked (a plane may not be flown that is not safety checked) and scale judged for take-off positions on Saturday and Sunday.
At the pilots meeting, we were shown a different method of counting laps and determining the winners of the races. There was a large board with four rows of lights. Each row was a different color. The lights were used instead of lap cards, and cuts were shown automatically. This system worked very well, as this author had several cuts throughout the racing. A cut at #1 pylon was shown before you ever got to #2 pylon. Laps, cuts and finish were all shown on this board. On a panel on the back of the board, your time was registered, along with what lap and what pylon you cut. But very close races were still determined by the flagman when necessary. This system worked flawlessly, as did everything else at this race.
The racing on Saturday was fast and furious. In one race, Bob Violett won with a 1:16, followed by Jim Maki with a 1:17, and Bob Smith with a 1:18. Bob Violett was clearly the fastest. At one point he turned a 1:17 for 11 laps, unofficially clocked on the sidelines as a 1:10.1 for 10 laps.
There was a lot of shuffling around for #1 spot in the early goings. Everyone was well prepared and going very fast. There were very few easy races.
We didn't lose too many planes due to crashes. Bruce Richmond was doing very well with his Polecat, when his radio quit. As we all watched it did loop after loop until finally running out of altitude. Ed Rankin's new Midget Mustang flew well and was going fast. But in a race, Ed got too close to another flier and dropped the transmitter when he bumped into him. One thing a Formula I won't do, is fly by itself.
As Saturday wore on and the rounds were over for the day, a familiar name was noted at the head of the list, Bob Ruether. At that point he was the man to beat for Sunday's rounds. Bob seemed to be putting it all together with consistent flying and good calling.
Saturday evening there was a fantastic banquet. After dinner, the new President of the NMPRA for 1978, Bob Smith, was introduced. An award was given the outgoing President for 1977, Ron Schorr.
After a good night's rest, Sunday was upon us — the last chance to put things together. Racing again was very fast and furious. As Saturday's racing wasn't fast enough, fliers turned times in the teens. As Saturday night almost always rains at the NMPRA Championships, wind or rain blowing the wrong direction is the nightmare. Course directors had prepared; it seemed we had four different courses laid out, runways marked, pylons, start-finish line. So we took about a 45-minute break to change course. A few guys tried out new ways of landing. Gary Hover decided the runway was too wet and landed on top of a tree; it took a ladder to get the plane down. Gary was back in action the next round with no damage to the plane. Dave Pearce decided to try the same type of landing; he picked a smaller tree — guess Dave just didn't want to bother with a ladder. Any way, no damage and Dave was ready for the next race.
As the racing wasn't over until the checkered flag dropped on the last plane of the last race — the seventh round — Bob Ruether got bad air behind another plane; the bottom fell out and Bob crashed. As the end drew near, broken engines, blown plugs and sorts of gremlins took their toll. Contenders vied for the #1 spot; one fellow, Irwin Funderburk, seemed just to be hanging along, waiting on us. So after 10 rounds the new champ for 1977 was Irwin Funderburk. There were several ties and several fly-offs. The fly-off between Gary Hover and Bob Smith for second and third place was won by Bob Smith. Fly-offs between Tom Castellano, George Zautner, Dave Shadel and Bill Hager decided other positions. Yours truly had a cut and that did me in. Tom Castellano won with a 1:24.14, but was followed closely by three other planes. There also was a good race between Bob Violett, Dave Pearce, and Gail Jacobson for ninth, tenth, and eleventh place. Bob Violett won with a 1:13.14. Gail Jacobson was second, and Dave Pearce, third. Fast time award went to Bob Violett, who had a blistering 1:13.14. Bob Silwanicz got an award for the Best Finish Airplane.
This had to be one of the most competitive races yet. Since no one dominated, any one of the 43 entrants could have won. It was truly a Championship race to remember. I think I can speak for all of the racers and their pit crews in expressing our sincere thanks to the South Central-East District NMPRA and the Indian River Kontrol Society. Beautiful prism trophies were given to the top 20 finishers. Digital watches went to the top five finishers, and for the fast time of the meet. I am looking forward to the next race in Florida in 1980.
FINISH POSITIONS AND FAST TIMES
- Irwin Funderburk — 1:15.73 — Bandit
- Bob Smith — 1:26.11 — Minnow
- Gary Hover — 1:22.22 — Toni
- Tom Castellano — 1:23.78 — Polecat
- George Zautner — 1:22.44 — Polecat
- Dave Shadel — 1:19.98 — Minnow
- Bill Hager — 1:16.32 — Toni
- Bob Violett — 1:13.14 — Polecat
- Gail Jacobson — 1:24.86 — Toni
- Dave Pearce — 1:16.78 — Toni
- Jim Maki — 1:17.00 — Minnow
- Dennis O'Brien — 1:15.48 — Polecat
- Bob Ruether — 1:20.80 — Toni
- Bob Brogdon — 1:17.55 — Bandit
- Paul Zink — 1:24.44 — Toni
- Brian Richmond — 1:21.21 — Bandit
- Carl Simms — 1:26.11 — Toni
- Clyde Yarbrough — 1:22.40 — Bandit
- Jack Little — 1:34.91 — Minnow
- Bill Preis — 1:17.69 — Toni
- Tom Pownall — 1:21.29 — Toni
- Pete Reed — 1:22.29 — Polecat
- Steve Barrett — 1:33.04 — Toni
- Bill Williamson — 1:19.67 — Toni
- John McDermott — 1:21.75 — Minnow
- Len Ledson — 1:29.02 — Toni
- Bob Silwanicz — 1:24.36 — Toni
- Bob Wallace — 1:34.48 — Minnow
- Laird Owens — 1:16.37 — Toni
- Glenn Sicotte — 1:25.82 — Polecat
- Clay-Moncrief Team — 1:20.80 — Toni
- Greg Doe — 1:24.71 — Toni
- Ron Schorr — 1:33.21 — Minnow
- Dave Donat — 1:30.23 — Toni
- Mark Harter — 1:30.62 — Toni
- Bruce Richmond — 1:21.04 — Polecat
- Gale Helms — 1:30.23 — Toni
- Pat Jones — 1:37.41 — Toni
- Dallas Buck — 1:35.01 — Toni
- Bill Helms — 2:16.75 — Miss Cosmic Wind
- Ed Rankin — Midget Mustang II
- Jim Stegall — Minnow
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
