Radio Control: Pylon Racing — Bill Hager
For many years the U.S.A. dominated RC FAI Pylon Racing. Whenever our people attended an international competition, they were the ones to beat — and most of the time they came back home with top honors.
As time went on the rules got out of hand — or, let's say, the way they were interpreted left something to be desired. This, coupled with a few other things, led to the demise of FAI Pylon for U.S. fliers, as it became too much of a hassle.
The event all but died, and up until a few years ago it seemed there would be no more FAI Pylon. But FAI without the U.S.A. just wasn't the same. So some people started the wheels turning to change the rules to try to interest the U.S.A. in FAI again.
Well, it has been over a year since that was accomplished. We now have what seems to be a good, workable set of FAI Pylon rules. There were a lot of very dedicated, hard-working pylon racing people involved in putting the new rules together. All that these people had to go on was input from you, the flier. I think they did a fantastic job!
We started to put an FAI race together in conjunction with the 1981 NMPRA Championships, but that fell through. I received a lot of input from all across the country; some people had started to build new planes, some were going to use their Formula One planes (as the rules allow), and some were even building FAI engines. There was a lot of smoke — but no fire! No one was willing to take the first step.
Well, it looks as though someone is finally going to take this first step. The West Shore Flying Society, Inc., of Harrisburg, PA is sponsoring the first FAI Pylon Race in about nine years. Too bad I didn't receive word of this sooner so I could have helped spread the word. It will be interesting to see what happens.
It sure would be nice if a couple of other races were held throughout the country so we could tell what kind of interest to expect. Maybe your club would like to sponsor an FAI race. In the next column I will let you know what happened at the Pennsylvania race.
I have been writing a lot lately about racing in the West and Midwest. How about the East? How's Hadley, MA?
Some of the clubs have been holding what we call a double-header: you race Formula One on Saturday and again on Sunday as two separate contests. Some people drive four to seven hours to get to a contest, and by getting two contests for one trip you not only save money, but if you had a bad day on Saturday you get a second chance on Sunday.
Formula One Results — Hadley, MA (June 12, 1982)
Pete Reed put it all together with a perfect score to win, and it's been a long dry spell for Pete, so we were all glad to see him win.
There was a barn-burner of a fly-off between Tom Castellano and Larry Weddle for third place. The fly-off ended in a dead heat with both turning 1:17.4 times; Tom Castellano was awarded Fast Time of the day because he had a faster heat time than Larry Weddle.
- 1. Pete Reed — Points: 20 — Time: 1:25.4
- 2. Bob Wallace — Points: 19 — Time: 1:23.5
- 3. Tom Castellano — Points: 16 — Time: 1:17.4 (Fast Time)
- 4. Larry Weddle — Points: 16 — Time: 1:17.4
- 5. Keith Palmer — Points: 15 — Time: 1:21.0
- 6. Arnie Wile — Points: 14 — Time: 1:21.0
- 7. Tom Dooly — Points: 8 — Time: 1:37.0
- 8. Vance Sutton — Points: 9 — Time: N/A
- 9. Frank Heil — Points: 10 — Time: N/A
- 10. Dick Berner — Points: -- (not recorded) — Time: -- (not recorded)
Sunday's Results — Hadley, MA (June 13, 1982)
A fly-off for first place between Arnie Wile and Tom Castellano resulted in Arnie Wile winning after Tom Castellano cut one pylon. Arnie also took home the Fast Time trophy with a 1:18.5.
- 1. Arnie Wile — Points: 19 — Time: 1:18.5 (Fast Time)
- 2. Tom Castellano — Points: 19 — Time: 1:18.9
- 3. Keith Palmer — Points: 15 — Time: 1:22.4
- 4. Larry Weddle — Points: 10 — Time: 1:20.4
- 5. Bob Wallace — Points: 8 — Time: 1:22.8
- 6. Tom Dooly — Points: 8 — Time: 1:37.0
It looks as though this year's NMPRA Championship Race will be held at Seguin, TX on October 23–24, with yours truly as Contest Director. I will be looking forward to seeing you there.
A Request to Competitors and Contest Officials
Not one season goes by that I don't hear from someone about a contest that didn't go well and that there was a lot of arguing and complaining. This sometimes ends up with the host club not putting on another race.
Come on, guys! We have enough trouble getting people interested in putting on these races for us. Let's not run them all off. No one is perfect. Most of you Formula One fliers have quite a bit more experience than the people putting on the race. Rather than complaining, next time offer your help. I think you would be surprised at the response.
Submissions
If you have something that you think others might be interested in that has to do with pylon racing, send it to me! I will try to write about it. Send me your contest reports. We can also use 5 x 7 black-and-white photos. (Editor's note: We have also used Polaroid and Kodak instant photos, as well as color prints — but not slides! — RMcL.)
See you next month.
Bill Hager 706 Glen Haven Conroe, TX 77302
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
