Pasadena AMA Convention and Trade Show:
We all had a great time at the trade show in Pasadena, and the USRA booth looked great! We often had a crowd two or three deep around the tables checking out our stuff. This booth gave us the chance to see many of our Giant Scale racing family and catch up on their winter off-season projects, and to increase the awareness level of our sport to others in the hobby who might like to participate. We even spoke with a few racers who used to race with us and had the opportunity to update them on the new things we are doing. Most encouraging was that several people who raced with us last year are increasing their participation level this year, and bringing in some friends and crew that helped them out last year to race new airplanes! Overall it was a big boost to the USRA to encourage some new participants to try out our sport and I'm hopeful we'll see some of these people at our races this year.
We had a lot of interest in the new Formula 1-GT class that combines our 42% scale Formula 1 racers with stock Zenoah GT-80s. Many of the former racers that we talked to had an old racer that they thought would be great for the new class, and some new participants were excited about purchasing off-the-shelf equipment and being able to compete. If you know anybody who is interested in getting started in Giant Scale racing, or someone who wants to step up from Dominator, then this is the class for them. We also had a good share of questions and interest regarding AT-6 and Formula 1. The purse sponsorship and low entry fees in Formula 1 certainly got everybody's attention, and the AT-6 is still a cool looking racer that scale buffs really enjoy.
I really want to thank everyone who helped put the booth together this year. Tony Husak helped out with our flyers and brochures, Archie Snider sent us down his display pylons with lights, and Paul Ferris brought down a fuselage fresh from the mold to show off the composite structures used in many of our racers. Scott Baker made a great looking engine display with some Mike Johnson Ford equipment that showed off a variety of engines that we use, and Dave Presta transported all of the pylon gear and Scott Hanbury's T-6 down from Hollister. To top it off, Scott Hanbury flew in from Ohio at his own expense just to stand behind the booth for three days and help promote our sport. Everyone who worked in the booth did a tremendous job and were great ambassadors for our association. The enthusiasm that they projected to every curious hobbyist was fantastic and really showed that we are all about racing hard and having fun.
We also had a raffle with some great prizes, and I can't pass up the opportunity to thank those who contributed those prizes, and to everyone who bought tickets to help support us. Peter Goldsmith from Horizon Hobbies donated a new JR 8103 radio system, Bob Obenberger donated three $100 gift certificates for Tru-Turn merchandise, John Creagh donated three cases of Performance Plus Fuels, and the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California donated admission to the museum. To top it off, Rick Schrameck donated a ride in his record setting supercharged Lancair Legacy that raced at Reno this year! Our members were lucky enough to win some of the prizes, with Fred Sargent and Steve Stonacek picking up a case of fuel, and T-6 driver Ed Gurule picking up the JR 8103 radio!
West Coast Dominators:
The group that is promoting the West Coast race wanted me to let everyone know that they were going to be offering the Dominator class at the Golden State Unlimited race in September. If you know someone who races Dominator, or maybe if one of your crew members does, let them know they can come play with us in September.
AMA Meeting in Muncie, Indiana:
About the time you get this report, Scott Hanbury, Loren Tregellas, Don Moden and myself will be heading to Muncie to meet with AMA officials. We will also be joined by Pete Bergstrom from Horizon Hobby and Zenoah. We are seeking to update the AMA's standards for Giant Scale Racing to reflect the logistical and safety lessons that we have learned over the last 11 years. With this update in place, we will also be looking to get some relief from the AMA with regards to the insurance that our race organizers must purchase. Currently, the AMA will not sanction one of our events until the race organizer purchases a $2.5 million primary insurance policy. This policy typically costs $1500-$2000 and significantly contributes to our entry fees. We will be looking for the AMA to drop this insurance requirement so that we can obtain an AMA sanction and race under their $2.5 million policy. Wish us luck, and we'll keep you posted on how this meeting goes.
USRA Web site:
We've made a few updates to the website recently including the addition of the new full page USRA advertisement on the home page. We also have added a link on the left side that takes you to the new kit manufacturers page, which lists contact information for those who are producing kits for Giant Scale racing. This will hopefully be useful to anyone who is thinking about buying a kit to come race with us. We also will soon have a dedicated link for the new F-1GT class that has all the info regarding those racers. Thanks again to Kelley Hartranft for all her help with our website.
Well that wraps it up for this month, I hope everyone is building and prepping their racers for this year, and making plans on attending some races. We need you all to come out and race this year as often as you can. It's also not too early for everyone to start thinking about getting some candidates together to run for the USRA officers this year. Elections will be held in the Summer so the new crew can participate in the planning of next year's races. Contact your District Representative or myself if you need more information about running for an office.
Ken McSpadden