World Champoinship Air Race Finals 1997
Date: September 17 - 21 1997
Location: Art Scholl Memorial Field
Rialto, California
More Info:
World Championship Air Race
370 Laurelwood Rd. #113
Santa Clara, Ca. 95054(408) 654-WCAR (9227)
(408) 980-1604 FAX
aerosprt@inow.com
Visitors to this page since 9/15/97
Day -2 Monday - September 15, 1997 TEAMERICA's Race 96 Ole Tiger "Desert Storm" is READY! We have decided to run with 108 Octane VP Racing Gas with our C&H Ignition system. Our new MAC's Products header is performing flawlessly. We have found that, with the "not-so-clean" airframe, we run best with the Zinger 18X18 wood prop. We achieved 142 MPH over the week-end - the fastest "Desert Storm" has ever gone. This may be partially due to the fact that the Aerrow 100 is finally "breaking in". This engine has been racing since 1993 in a Dago Red P-51 "American Spirit" with a tuned Pipe. It raced in the Silver Class at Reno '94 and Madera '94. It has taken home trophies and prize money sufficient to pay for itself. We figure It must have over 10 hours of running on it which is about what most people think is the break-in period. It is stock from the Aerrow factory with only a few needle adjustments and a short chant done by Ken Laski. The airframe, built by the late Matt Pearson, is holding up beautifully. It will be retired at the end of this race due to the discontinuance of the 6.0 cu.in. class in '98. Our Airtronics Vision 8 radio has been racing since the first race in 1991. We are extremely pleased with the simplicity of programming that allows us to dial in just the right control throws that we like for racing. We are never concerned about passing the strict radio checks required for Giant Scale Air Racing. We always pass first time every time! As you can see, we have no secrets here. If the competition doesn't have what we've got by now, it's too late to get it for this race. We'll still pass them somehow :>) Next year will be a different story. We will have all new. (Hint: RacePro!)
Day -1 Tuesday - September 16, 1997 Today was Pre-checkin. Starting around noon, many racers arrived to get first choice of pit areas. I live here, and work only about 20 minutes away and I still got aced out by the guys that either don't work or have taken vacation time to get here early. My vacation time starts tomorrow.The pits are filling up fast. TEAMERICA did get the last possible front row pits. We are happy campers. We are on the far left end looking straight out at turn #2. Some may not like that view but it is fine for us. We don't mind walking past ALL the other pits to get to the flight line. We get to show off our sponsors that much more. Archie Snider and Dennis Crooks are working hard to make everybody welcome and handle the details. The Blues Brothers are here in the form of Gene "Black Bart" Barton. Their camp is set up to handle about 14 aircraft entries including RacePro and even a couple "Non Black-and-whites". Others on scene include Chuck Collier, The Ken McBrides, Shawn Everson and others. Gene's trained caller, Harris Lee, is busy in Dallas, TX hosting his annual Scale Masters tournament. I know Harris is very interested in knowing how Gene is doing so I will try to include Gene's status each day. If anyone in Dallas is going to The Scale Masters and could take Harris a printout of this page, he could get a free pit pass from Harris. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. Oh, Gene is well. The AT-6 is out of the trailer and being massaged by Gene's meat cutting friend, Joe. I don't know what the meat cutting thing has to do with anything, but, maybe he can cut the fat outa the airframe or maybe he is "Porking" the fuel. I do know that they have Dennis Crooks thinking that maybe they should be tech inspected twice. Gene is in good "spirits" and taking everything anyway he can get it. I hope Harris is doing as well. The airport is as excited as we are that we are here. I met a pilot and DC-3 Owner in the resturant. He was happy to move his plane back so that we could use the parking ramp for our pits. His brother flys R/C Scale but doesn't race ... Yet! This is setting up to be another GREAT U.S.R.A. race. I can't wait till tomorrow. I am looking forward to meeting Edward Walker of RCOnline.com He will be here through Friday before returning to Dallas to cover the Scale Masters. He will be able to take over the task of informing Harris Lee of how the races are going over the week-end. Look forward to many pictures taken by Edward's new digital camera. 
Day 0 Wednesday - September 17, 1997 Today we all finished arriving and got tech inspected. The spirits are high It is so nice to have the Tech Inspectors come to our pits. We have all the tools to show them all what they want to see. No huffing and puffing and running back and forth. We only had to move our planes when we were ready to do the radio check.The weather is holding out in spite of the topical storm "Linda". Clear air and only a Slight breeze. Here are some pics to check out. This first one is for Harris Lee: Ya see, Harris, things aren't much different from when you are here. Except that we get all the Bar-B-Que Polish Sausage. TEAMERICA's pits with Baron's dog house 
Edward Walker of RCOnline.com with Derwin Waters before a test flight
Day 1 Thursday - September 18, 1997 Pilot's meeting at 8:00I'm sorry for not having much to write about today. We ran one full round of heat races plus a second round of Biplanes. Practice Flying 8:30 - 10:00 Field open to Full Size Aircraft 10:00 - 10:30 Racing from 10:30 - 12:00 Field open to Full Size Aircraft 12:00 - 12:30 Racing from 12:30 - 3:00 Field open to Full Size Aircraft 3:00 - 3:30 I didn't see it but I was told that the last biplane heat race started out with 4 aircraft but NOBODY finished the race. They either crashed, went dead stick before the end of 6 laps or didn't start. I was working hard on my "Desert Storm" and wasn't watching that race. It seems that our firewall is weekening and needs some fiber glass repair. This has been a recurring probem due to the intense vibration of this single cylinder 100cc engine. So my crew decided they would do something about it. They didn't want to have to wory about it again. So they stripped down the front of the airplane and ground off about all of the previous epoxy and glass repairs and glassed the whole front end with new carbon fiber and epoxy. This should be very nice. We place 3rd in our first heat race today out of four. Fred French fell out of the sky on the start. I don't think he will be back in the heat races. Racing from 3:30 - 5:00 Flying starts tomrrow at 8:00 am "sharp" with the FI-4.6 class then we will be in the second heat of the FI-6.0 class. This will give us time to reinstall the engine, ignition system cowl, landing gear and prop before heading over to the run-up area to ensure the engine runs (if we didn't hook up the fuel lines backwards). Then get in the line-up. Harris, I'm sorry I didn't check in with Gene before we left for the day. I believe he is still flying. I will be sure to get more for you tomorrow. Hope things are going well for you at the Scale Masters. Me and my buddy "Baron" between races.
Day 2 Friday - September 19, 1997 NO Pilot's meeting today Flying did start at 8:04am with the Formula I (4.6). We flew in the second 6.0 heat at around 10:30am. Desert Storm performed well. I just had to remember to go to low rates after take-off. The airplane is so much easier to fly smooth on low rates. We had to work very hard to beat Charlie Powell. We exchanged places several times which made for a very exciting race. We got the 2nd place the hard way. ( 3rd and 2nd so far) Round three was against Tom Easterday with his Kelly F1D and Hippy Cirelli with his Pole Cat and me with the Ol' Tiger. There are only 6 entries left flying in the 6.0 class. The start was picture perfect with all three looking like the Blue Angels as they came out of the sky. The only problem was that Tom failed to achieve level flight at the starting line. So that left Hippy and I to fight for first. I gotta tell ya, his caller really get's into this racing thing! She could be heard clear over into the next county. "Ready--------- Turn". It made for another exciting race with the enthusiasm she was adding to the race. I held him off as long as I could but his speed paid off and I settled for another 2nd (now 3rd, 2nd & 2nd =11 points ). It was a great race and I don't mind loosing to such a worthy competitor. Last night's repair job paid off well. The firewall is holding very well and helping to produce more horsepower. The airplane is very solid. With the loss of Tom Easterday's Kelly, there are only 5 entries left in the 6.0 class. We will be in the Trophy race! But, now We will be flying five plane heats. It will be harder to keep getting 2nd place finishes. Gene Barton has a 4th, 2nd and a 3rd in his AT-6 class. He broke out the gear mount on one side but the gear is still intact. He will do some gluing tonight and be back easily by his first flight at around 11:00am.Ken Thornton took a 1st in the Unlimited Warbirds yesterday with his NA-50 only to cartwheel on landing bending the spinner and denting the wing tips. He was back in the heats today and did well against Archie Snider and his NA-50. What a race! Ken ended up up-side-down after landing #%@#*#^$&$&$&*!? I know he can land that thing, I have seen him grease it on. It's just the adrenaline. The weather is gorgeous! Not too hot and not too muggy here in Rialto, Ca. The wind comes up in the afternoon but not enough to bother the flying. The biplanes got it together today and put on a good race! Diego Lopez test flew a new biplane today after the heat racing was over. That thing really moves out! He lost his Kelly during the start of his FI (4.6) race due to stabalizer "taking a hike". Just a structual thing.
More tomorrow .... Diego's Kelly F1D after structual failure at start of race.
Day 3 Saturday - September 20 , 1997
I'm sorry I left my camera at the pits. I took 64 pictures today and with the great
fireworks show, I forgot to load the camera in the car. So I'll have them tomorrow
night. Meanwhile, here is what happened.
I got another 2nd place making it - 15 points for the Trophy race. That didn't matter
because we (all 5 remaining) will be in the trophy race anyway. I just want to have
a chance at a good placing in the trophy race. Ken Laski tuned my engine today
and it is running even better than ever. That Ol Tiger sure handles nice when it
gets up to speed. I diced it out with Hippy Cirelli today. I got a very good start and
held him off for 3 laps till he passed me. I kept challenging him till the very end. The
airplane is solid and ready for the next flight tomorrow morning at around 8:30.
Gene Barton took another 3rd today. He landed safely and will be there again
tomorrow.
Archie Snider took another 1st with his NA-50 in the Unlimited Warbird class. That
thing sure does tear up the sky. The Super Corsair flown by Scott Manning bit the
dust. It looked like it torqued out of control on takeoff and he dumped it with
down elevator. Probably "Invited". That left Ken Thronton, NA-50, and Chuck
Collier, Stilleto, to duke it out. The NA-50 won.
Derwin Waters' Nemesis took a radio hit while landing after a good race and
totaled it. "Invited" and was going.
Rob Pastor won the drawing for the AT-6 ride. He went. He liked it. In fact he is still
three feet off the ground. He got to see what his airplanes see on the course. When
he went by, everybody was saying "Ready... Turn!". But he didn't. Good thing.
Again, GREAT FIREWORKS SHOW!
More tomorrow ....
Day 4 Sunday - September 21 , 1997
Well, I've got the pictures now. While I upload them, here is what happened to
TEAMERICA at least.
We showed up for the 5 plane heat at 8:30 in the morning. Only 3 airplanes
got in the air; Charlie Powell, TEAMERICA and Hippy Cirelli. Mick Crawley,
Fred French were the other two either didn't show or didn't get off. We took
another 2nd after battling it out with Hippy (giving us 1-3rd, and 4-2nds = 23points).
The Trophy Races commenced after lunch. Here is the best I can remember:
Biplanes was won by Kent McKenna with Tim Cardin taking second and John
Lockwood in third and Ben McBride in fourth.
FI 4.6 was won by Mike Adams with team mate John Creagh in second.
FI 6.0 was won by Charlie Powell with Mick Crawley crashing leaving Fred French,
Teamerica and Hippy Cirelli finishing. Teamerica had a cut, so we slipped back into
4th place.
AT-6 was won by Fred Sattler
The Thopmpson Trophy race was won by Hippy Cirelli
Unlimited Warbirds was won by Ken Thornton with Bill Cunningham in second
and Mike Adams in third. This was after Archie Snider snapped his NA-50 on
take-off and sat it out. Then Chuck Collier lost half of his left wind on the back
stretch and turned into a lawn dart.
Super Unlimiteds started out similarly when John Creagh snapped his Lancair
on take-off and sat on the hay bails while Bill Cunningham took first and
Archie Snider took second.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES AWARDS:
Super Unlimiteds - Archie Snider
Unlimited Warbird - Dave Smith
FI 4.6 - Ken Thornton
Mike Adams
Mick Crawley
TEAMERICA - Karl Downing (crew cheif), Dan Egelhoff (Pilot) and Dale Cochlin (caller).
Larry Southerland's Beautiful AT-6 - Race 90 
This is the one that gets the job done - Kelly Easterday (also Mom, Lorraine) 
Ken Laski tuning the Ol' Tiger
There are many ways of waiting for your next flight!
Rookie, Ted Burns', of the Hawthorn Hooligans, new Nemesis wannabe!
The shirt!
TEAMERICA
West Coast District Rep. U.S.R.A.