Shillelagh 500
Shillelagh (pronounced "shi·lay·lee") is an Irish word meaning cudgel. What better way to get into "club" racing? In the years since this article was first written, the boom-and-bust world of racing has gone through an entire cycle. The former entry-level event, Quickie 500, now features $300 engines and 160-mph airplanes. The low end of the cost/speed continuum is now occupied by a new event, Q500 Sport (event 424 in the AMA rule
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ALLOW ME TO introduce myself: Duane Gall, age 41, a lawyer by trade, married and divorced once, with a four-year-old daughter who helps me carve propellers. I'm originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and now reside in Denver. I flew with Bill Hager in Ohio when the beginner event was Quarter Midget - the original Quarter Midget, with SuperTigre .15s. At that time there was some guy in California named Glen Spickler investigating the notion of using bigger, simpler airplanes for this purpose. His proposed new class was called Quickie 500. That'll give you an idea how long I've been at this silly game.
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WELCOME, Pylon Racing fans! Many thanks to the editorial board of MA for providing me with this "bully pulpit" (as Teddy Roosevelt once called the presidency), and again, thanks to retiring columnist Bill Hager for leaving some mighty big shoes to fill. I'll do my best. You're part of it. Send me race reports, hints and kinks, and photos of your racing buddies. It'll be tough to fill this column otherwise. Until I can build up a little backlog of mail, I'll have to resort to giving away my speed secrets-and Lord knows there aren't many of those. Please include a SASE with any requests for info.
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GREAT WALLS O' FIRE: It's building season. By now you should have three or four Quickies salted away and ready to test-fly as soon as the sun comes out, and you're thinking about trying that Quarter 40 stuff. Maybe with an APRA (Arizona Pylon Racing Association. Typical APRA engines are the Thunder Tiger and ASP .40s, priced around $100) sport engine to start with, just for grins; they fly great that way. But wait, those airplanes use fiberglass fuselages! You'd have to put in a firewall! What to do? Because of variations in engine dimensions, firewall installation is not a typical "prefab" feature; you have to do it yourself. If you've never done it before, the thought of attacking your shiny new fish with a Moto-Tool(r) is admittedly rather scary.
Radio Control: Pylon Racing
BARRIER CAGE UPDATE: In the January column 1 alluded to the fact that AMA would soon be receiving the final, and hopefully definitive, results from the barrier cage testing undertaken by Lee Webster, with input from Al Watson and representatives of the NMPRA (National Miniature Pylon Racing Association). I expressed optimism that the results would confirm the adequacy of our existing barrier cages. Mr. Webster presented his report on Friday, October 23, 1998, at a meeting of the AMA Safety Committee in Muncie. I was there, as were Mr. Watson; NMPRA president Vern Smith; current AMA president Dave Brown; former AMA president Don Lowe, chairman of the Safety Committee; and various other luminaries.
