Performance Specialties - SHADEL RC HISTORY

Part 1 - The Early Years
Part 2 - The Racing Years
Part 3 - 1977 Racing
Part 4 - 1978 Racing

Part 4 - Banner Year of 1979

1979 proved to be a banner year for Jimmie and I.  Coming off a second place finish in national points in 1978, we won four races in '79 and finished second twice to win the F1 National Points Championship by just a whisker over Brian Richmond.
 
The highlight of the year was winning the Bakersfield Air Races, which at that time was the biggest  race anywhere in the USA.. 

Bakersfield '79	1979 F1 NMPRA Champion

Contestants came from everywhere, Canada, Mexico, Japan and all over the USA.  Monte Moncrief from Texas brought a whole bunch of the racers up in his private jet.  Monte and his caller Gary Clay, Gale Helms and Ed Rankin and all the other good competitors and friendly folks.  Bakersfield was always a big party and many times out of control.  One well known west coast racer, after getting a string of zeros on the first day of the contest, proceeded to get drunk, pour a gallon of fuel on  his airplane  and torch it by the hotel pool that night.   It melted into the concrete, radio and all.  Needless to say, the hotel management was not impressed, and the racers were told never to come back.  Wish I had photos.
 
We also did well at the AMA Nats in Lincoln, Nebraska, with a second place finish and although it didn't count for national points that year, the good finish helped  boost our confidence as any good performance at a big contest will.
 
The NMPRA Championship that year was in Las Vegas and we went with big expectations, but as luck would have it, we had a lousy outing and ended up out of the money, both at the race and at the blackjack tables.  In the very first heat of the contest, my transmitter neck strap wrapped itself around the throttle stick and as I ran back to start the heat, the strap shut the engine off.  No time for a re-start, so the zero was on the board.  Not a good start.  From there it was a downhill shot into 21st place, and of course the trophies went to 20th.  So who needed another trophy anyway.

The first day of the contest was blown out (typical Vegas) so the race was flown on Sunday and Monday.  Unfortunately for some, they were not able to stay over and the size of the race dwindled a bit..  Bob Root won the contest with his own design Stinger and retired from racing right then and there.  Smart thinking going out on top and undefeated.  Gary Hover was right in there too, with a strong third place finish. 

Gary Hover, 3rd place, 1979 NMPRA F1 Championship Race

Starting line at the '79 Champ Race. To the left are Eric Meyers and caller Bruce Richmond, in the background starter Jeff Bertken.	The heavy wind on Saturday did a pretty good job shredding the banner

In the late 70's and early 80's a great and friendly rivalry developed between the Golden Empire Racing Team (Circus Hobbies) and the Samurai Racing Team.  For several years we traded wins (and many, many practical jokes) at the biggest races in the country much to the chagrin of the other guys racing at the time. 

Golden Empire Racing Team (Circus Hobbies)	L to R: Jerry Boyce, Ron Gilman, Rusty Van Baren

You'll recognize Rusty Van Baren, who is still at it after all these years.  Ron Gilman, then president of Circus Hobbies, and one of the best Formula 1 pilots and builders of that era.  Last but not least, Mr. Jerry Boyce, a fine gentleman from Bakersfield, California, who was kind enough to send me these photos.  Jerry was the only one of us that was smart enough to retire after winning the NMPRA Championship Race in Formula 1 in 1981.  He went on to start a successful flying service in California.

Many of you know Doug Killebrew, who races with us now, but back then, even though he was Ron's stepson, he always hung out in the Samurai pit area because we had better food at the races!

MORE TO COME...