El Mirage Recap
Another race season has come to a close and 2008 is almost over. What a year! Gas prices all over the map, stock market looking for new lows and jobs are few and far between. All of this added up, took its toll, and we only had two races. We all had to make tough choices and most of us felt lucky to get to race. I’d like to thank Tony, Marty and Scott for making these two races happen. Additionally special thanks again to Denny and Barb for all their input and oversight to make El Mirage happen. El Mirage was a true committee approach to getting the job done and they succeeded in providing a great race. There was only a little dust and mud.
In addition to the promoters, we also need to remember and thank our series sponsors, Horizon Hobby, Desert Aircraft and Tom Easterday’s company, CRT. These sponsors provided many of the prizes and a lot of their money in support of USRA racing. We need to ask, what's their return? Well, using their products is a start, but promoting the USRA is most likely the best return they get. Remember, every time we promote races, advertise, or get magazine articles our sponsors are promoted. Every time you, as a USRA member, bring out new racers and team members, they are promoted. It's a numbers game.
Looking Forward
With these things in mind the USRA Board has dedicated itself to two main goals. These goals are safety first, and then growing the sport of giant scale racing. In growing the sport we face many obstacles. Time, money and time and money. Yes there are many other facets that fill in the voids, but most of them come down to time and money. Giant Scale Racing is not for everyone, but there is not anything more exciting in our hobby. We are all ambassadors to Giant Scale Racing and are all responsible for its future. It's up to us as individuals to get more people into our sport. We are all members of our local clubs and flying fields and we need to figure out how to get others interested. Sometimes all it takes is a static display to get interest. I'm sure each of you can step up and become more visible with the local clubs. We all know pilots involved in IMAC, quickie racing and other facets of the sport. Let these people know how much fun and excitement is involved in GSR, get them involved.
The issue of safety is even more important than growing the sport. Without a high standard of safety, we will fail. The board is dedicated to making safety the top priority in 2009. To meet this objective, we are not changing safety rules, but will be moving forward with continued safety education of the existing rules for the entire pilot group. This will serve us all very well, and will get all the new pilots up to speed. Special emphasis will be given to pilots and their callers. We want everyone to know, and we intend to spell out, that a caller has a larger responsibility than "ready, turn". For many of our crewmembers, this will be a great review of what they already know. For the new pilots and callers, this will be a way to get everyone on the same page.
To close out 2008, I want to wish everyone a warm and safe holiday and Merry Christmas.
Eric Hunter
USRA
President