This is the first of hopefully many USRA President’s reports published in the NMPRA/USRA newsletter. Both of our organizations have a common love for going fast and turning left and Pete Bergstrom and I feel that by adding the USRA to the existing NMPRA newsletter we can improve and grow both organizations. We’ve heard a lot of rumors of one organization taking over the other, but the truth is we are just sharing a newsletter. It’s our hope that the Giant Scale folks will be exposed to the NMPRA racing scene, the NMPRA troops will get a chance to check out the big racers, and both groups will get some people to crossover and try out a different form of R/C aircraft racing. The USRA racers feel like we’ve picked up a bad rap in the past concerning Giant Scale Racing. We’ve heard we’re rich snobs who play our cards close to the vest and don’t help others learn to compete. We also suffer from the misconception that it costs too much to go racing in Giant Scale. We’ll I can assure you that our current group is one of the friendliest and most hospitable groups I’ve ever met in the R/C hobby, and the costs of racing have come down with the addition of classes like F-1GT which uses a stock Zenoah GT-80 running race provided gas and APC prop. Insurance from the AMA and sponsorship from inside and outside the hobby, have lowered the costs to put on a race which in turn has lowered entry fees. I have no doubt you’ll be seeing some USRA folks try their hand at NMPRA racing, and I hope the NMPRA crowd will look at us with fresh eyes and maybe try us out. We have a lot of folks that will go out of their way to help you get started and have a good time. OK….I’m jumping off my soapbox now….Here’s what else is going on in the USRA.
It’s the beginning of a new year and the time when many of us are prepping for a new racing season. Hopefully everybody got through the holidays safely and Santa bought you everything you need to compete this year for a USRA championship ring. After talking to several people at the 2004 AMA Convention it became apparent that quite a few people were building F-1’s. It seems that there had been quite a resurgence in the appeal of the Formula 1 airframe and the F-1 classes. The Parker race had 31 total F-1s, 13 in F1-GT and 18 in F-1 alcohol. I think that the $1500.00 Rookie of the Year bonus courtesy of Lopez Construction and California Research Tabulations, and the $1500.00 contingency cash put up by Ed Rankin Designs and Team/Extra, have kicked people in the pants to get building. This, in addition to the $3000 a race Tom Easterday and California Research Tabulations are rewarding the top finishers in F1 alcohol at every race this year has inspired new building in the F-1 ranks. The support of the USRA Championship Series sponsor Zenoah and their $15,000.00 commitment to the series , especially the F-1 GT class , has been a driving force in the rise of entries at the races! Thanks to all of our sponsors!
Quite a few of our members have been actively recruiting new pilots and team members. With the growth in our sport and the thrill of racing a big bird many of our dedicated crew members are stepping up and building their own planes for next year. This is fantastic but this leaves our teams at a loss for help. I have spoken to many people that used to be crew members years ago and would love to help but they are not familiar with any of the current teams. Some are guys interested in coming to one of our races but want to participate in a hands-on manner. In February, we will be adding a “So you want to be a crew member” link to our web page. This will contain a brief overview of what a crew members tasks might be and a sign up sheet for all of our race venues so that we can place potential crew members with teams in need of help. If this works, not only will be able to man some of our short handed teams but, we can also cultivate some interest in Giant scale Racing.
I want to take this time to thank everybody that made the 2004 AMA Convention a huge success! We had so many of our members stop by our booth. It was nice to see them jump right into selling raffle tickets and answering questions not only about GSR but also about our series sponsors Zenoah and JR products. Horizon Hobbies didn’t have a booth at the show so, we handed out literature on Zenoah engines and JR Radios for them. Special thanks to Pete Bergstrom and Peter Goldsmith for their donations of the Zenoah G-62 and JR 6102 Radio for our raffle. Other donated prizes were: 3 $100.00 gift certificate from series sponsor Tru-Turn, 3 $100.00 gift certificates off the purchase of an Ed Rankin Design Kit courtesy of Ed Rankin, and 3 cases of Performance Plus Fuel donated by John Creagh. Archie Snider let us use his show pylons and Dave Presta brought them down to Ontario for us. Jose Macias’ AT-6 was on top of one and Tom Easterday’s GR-7 was on top of the other. But the biggest draw again this year to our booth was Scotty Baker’s engine displays. One display had a stock G-62, a stock GT-80 and an alcohol modified GT-80. The other had a Husky In Line and a 290 Herbranson. Ken McSpadden did a great job coordinating the booth. He also put together a blown up layout of this months article in Model Airplane News on the Parker Race. Vice President Fred Sargent came down from Oregon to make sure everything was done right. Thanks again for everyone’s help and look forward to next year.
During the convention some of our board members sat down with out primary sponsors Zenoah and California Research Tabulations to gain some insight into their goals for this racing season and how the USRA can help meet them. In attendance was Pete Bergstrom from Zenoah, Tom Easterday from CRT, V.P. Fred Sargent, West Coast Rep Scotty Baker, Past President Ken McSpadden and myself. Many ideas on how to acquire potential sponsors were discussed. Tom had a great idea on how we can give potential sponsors a list of different cost levels of sponsorship and what would be included in each. Pete explained how Horizon Hobbies was going to promote the series with posters distributed to Hobby Shops in each race event region. Zenoah is also planning new advertisements promoting Zenoah and the USRA.
The March issue of Model Airplane News is out and it has John Reid’s article on October’s Blue Water River Run race held in Parker, AZ. This is a fantastic article and is sure to generate interest in Giant Scale Racing. Model Airplane News was so excited about the article that they gave us a great deal on advertising in that issue. Thanks again to John Reid and Model Airplane News for all their continued support.
I will be attending the JR Gold Cup Q-40 races in Phoenix February 28 and 29 with a group of fellow USRA racers. We are looking forward to the camaraderie and competition! If you see us there, come by and say Hi! Until next time… see you at the races!
Scott Hanbury