Author: Tim Lampe

Edition: Model Aviation - 2024/03
Page Numbers: 90, 91, 92
Don Belfort kneeling beside a black-and-yellow RC pylon racing airplane on a runway

RC Pylon Racing

Don Belfort kneeling beside a black-and-yellow RC pylon racing airplane on a runway
More of a local racer, Don Belfort is nonetheless competitive. He’s a bread-and-butter Pylon pilot, as valuable to Pylon Racing as anybody else.

WHAT’S THE ATTRACTION TO PYLON RACING?

By Tim Lampe | tim.lampe@hotmail.com

IN MOST FORMS of amateur competition, the competitive spectrum seems to span from those who dabble just enough to enjoy the experience and camaraderie of like-minded people—possibly also wishing little more than to get out of the house for the weekend—to those who are driven to win and put up the financial expenditure and hours of practice, testing, and hard work to win.

RC Pylon Racing is no different, with some pilots who travel from coast to coast—and even out of the country—to make all of the big races for even more opportunities to hone their skills and put in the maximum number of competitive laps. Conversely, some competitors attend only a couple of local races, not venturing far from home. Many are actually somewhere near the middle, still dedicating considerable time and money to practice and making sure that their airplanes, engines, and reflexes are ready, while keeping within their personal comfort level for travel, time, and budget.

I should also mention that those who might be super competitive still enjoy all that Pylon Racing has to offer beyond winning. Some enjoy Pylon just by racing, while others enjoy it through total immersion and finishing at the top.

So, what’s the attraction? It’s the same as any kind of competition. RC Pylon Racing is a way to entertain ourselves with the challenge of trying to do something that we enjoy—racing model airplanes—with the highest degree of success personally possible.

Piloting a model airplane in an oval-shaped pattern around a pylon course is pretty easy until you try to do it better than two or three other pilots at the same time for 10 laps, several times in a day or over a weekend. Personally, it seems that with any endeavor I have undertaken—whether it was ice hockey, motorcycles, or Pylon Racing—I have found myself getting into competition. It is more fun if you win, but regardless of any success I’ve enjoyed (or not enjoyed), competition causes me to dive deeper into the discipline, enriching my experience through the “art of trying.” I think it’s the same for most of us. We enjoy something more when we strive to excel.

Another attraction of Pylon Racing is head-to-head heat racing. In other kinds of competitions, participants are judged subjectively, leaving room for human error or bias. But in heat racing, you get first, second, third, or fourth. Period. End of story. Not only is the result clear-cut, but you are challenged in the same elements, at the same time, as the other pilots.

The margins between winning and not winning are so small that any little thing that goes wrong—missing the needle-valve setting, or any minute malfunction with the airplane, engine, radio, pilot, or the pilot’s caller—can knock the leader down, giving those further down on the score sheet a chance. The outcome is never certain, and pilots who are in first or second place after the first three or four rounds can end up finishing in the middle of the pack and vice versa.

There have been discussions about who the top Pylon Racing pilots are in the country. On paper, these competitors would be favored to win or finish high at any given event, but a cut in one heat and a midair in another can bump anybody to the second page of the score sheet. Similarly, a pilot who encounters difficulty early on can still put it together and finish high or even come out on top.

My point is that Pylon Racing means different things to different people and there’s no right or wrong about it.

Thank You

I know I’m sharing my sentiments with the rest of the RC Pylon Racing community by thanking Trey Witte for his years of service as the National Miniature Pylon Racing Association (NMPRA) president. There have been—and continue to be—many generous people in Pylon Racing,

Pylon racer Salvador Barrios Chaves sitting beside an RC airplane on a golf cart
Salvador Barrios Chaves, from Guadalajara, Mexico, is another top-tier Pylon racer who is often seen stateside and maximizes each event by bringing his big personality and first-class, competitive flying.
Matt Fehling and his mother standing with a model airplane and a first-place plaque
Matt Fehling is one who immerses himself fully, maximizing every outing by flying extraordinarily well and enjoying the company of his mother, Joni.
The author and Trey Witte standing outdoors with a red-and-white model airplane
The author (R) is fortunate to not only have enjoyed NMPRA Pylon Racing under the supervision of retiring President Trey Witte (L), but equally fortunate to know Trey as a friend. They had an especially good time at the 2023 AMA Nats when this picture was taken.
Three men posing outdoors with two scratch-built model airplanes
(L-R): Incoming NMPRA President Doug Killebrew poses with Lee Von Der Hey and Laird Owens, with their scratch-built Shark Quarter 40 airplanes.

from those who loan tools, parts, time, or even give airplanes away, to those who donate their own expenditures, personal time, and expertise to hold races, maintain venues, and build the infrastructure required for Pylon Racing.

Among all of the giving people I’ve met in Pylon, I can’t say that I’ve met anybody more generous than Trey. He is the most selfless person I know inside or outside of Pylon Racing. I have not been in Pylon for very long and there are numerous other people as hard-working as Trey, so I am aware that it might not be fair to single him out in this way, but on behalf of the entire RC Pylon Racing community, I am still taking this opportunity to express thanks to him.

At the same time that I thank Trey, I would also like to introduce Doug Killebrew as the new NMPRA president. Like Trey, Doug is an avid competitor and can be seen at many of the competitions from east to west, and he’s often at the top of the score sheet! Not only is Doug a “cat person” like me, but he is also an exceptional builder and finishes his models to the highest degree. I look forward to more good years of Pylon Racing under Doug’s leadership.

SOURCES:

NMPRA
www.nmpra.net