2017 FALL FINALE
Boy, howdy, it was a hum-dinger! We welcomed back the Les Paul team from Canada and Charlie Johnson from California, as well as first-timers Bob Oge from the Chicago area and former Californian Jed Kusik, now of the Austin area. It was good to see "up"Chuck and "ground"Chuck Barnes after the recent hurricanes and floods. Then there were the local "usual suspects"...meh.

This year, we added AMA Goodyear and Clown racing. I was very pleased to see five entries in Clown. We should have even more next time, as Biscuits and Gravy are both working on new airplanes. I'm not sure how many of them I can fly at one time, though. As there were lots of events to get through in two days, we elected to only fly the 7 1/2 minute races. We flew roundish robin, with four of the contestants getting a three up and a two up. The Barnes team took the bullet and flew both races three up. Bill Lee's clown was fast as usual, but uncharacteristally cantankerous in the pits, leaving him short of his record 150 laps.

Quickie Rat bore a resemblance to last year's event, with both Canadians getting in the final. Once again, I flew for Les in the final, and Mike Greb pitted for Paul. Bob Oge squeezed in between Les and Paul to take second.

After a lunch break, super slow rat was next. Bill Lee graciously volunteered to withdraw to make the heat pairings come out better. We flew two back to back 100's and took everyone's single best time to determine the winners. The Les Paul team took third place with a Bischoff rent-a-racer, Bob Oge took second with a Bischoff buy-a-racer, and Bill Bischoff took first with a Bischoff build-a-racer.

Sportsman Goodyear was supposed to be Saturday's last event, but since it was already late afternoon, we elected to postpone it until Sunday morning. All eleven racers entered, making Sportsman Goodyear our most-entered event. We flew 80 lap heats, and took the best three to a 160 lap final. Les Akre's Norvel powered Stinger was wearing a slightly smaller venturi than last year, trading some airspeed for extra mileage. I am glad to see that the Norvel has proven to be a viable alternative to the commonly used ASP/ Magnum. It's not so fast that you will need one to win, nor is it so slow that you couldn't win with one. That tells me the current rules are doing the job as intended. Ok, where were we? The final was Lee/Greb/Gibeault. Paul was flying another Bischoff rent-a-racer, and proceeded to beat me with it. Bill Lee used to routinely beat me with this same airplane, so I guess I'm used to it by now. Bill Lee took the win with his own airplane, followed by Paul in second. A prop change relegated Mike Greb to third.

AMA Goodyear was next. Since Sportsman Goodyear was supposed to be on Saturday, contestants would have had Saturday night to reconfigure their airplanes for the AMA event if necessary. As it was, Bill Lee and Mike Greb decided to withdraw rather than hurriedly change over their airplanes. It became a battle of attrition and plug changes for the three remaining entrants. Les Akre's Moki powered Ohm Special on suction was the tortise that beat the two hares. Bob Oge's Rossi powered Li'l Quickie lost or broke most of its engine mounting bolts, and retired after 67 laps. It was Bill Bischoff's race to win. He had a solo race, with good airspeed and good pitstops, but a blown plug on his last pitstop snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Oh well, such is racing.

Mouse had ten entries. Again we flew heats and one final. Bob Oge's new mouse would be charitably described as somewhere between "tricky to fly" and "hateful", but "up"Chuck Barnes managed to avoid mayhem until they retired at 43 laps. It was Bill Lee's turn to helplessly stand by and watch as his mouse sped away in reverse. The airplane was undamaged, and none of the pilots got their feet wrapped up, but the lines were ruined along with Bill's chance for victory. The final saw three good, albeit uneventful, performances.

Fox Goldberg was the last event. Only two teams had the mettle for this last battle royale. In the end, the victor was vibration. Both teams had their engines vibrate loose! The Oge/ Johnson team stuck it out for 102 laps, while the Barnes team retired after 45 laps.

In the Thank You department, Thank you to all the contestants, who came from both near and far.It was a pleasure to have each and every one of you here with us. Y'all come back, ya hear?. Thanks to the selfless timers Sandra Lee, Phil Dunlap, Mike Scott, Tom Hamblet and Charles Barnes. Thanks to Bill Lee and Mike Greb for running races while I was flying. My apologies if I missed anyone. If anyone has a comment or suggestion how we can make this contest even better next time, please contact me.

Bill Bischoff, CD


CLOWN RACE 7 1/2 min.
1)Les Akre 137 laps
2)Barnes team 128 laps
3)Bill Lee 127 laps
4)Jed Kusik 121 laps
5)Charlie Johnson 110 laps

QUICKIE RAT 70 laps 140 laps
1)Les Akre 3:04.76 6:21.20
2)Bob Oge 3:06.88 6:30.22
3)Paul Gibeault 3:04.18 7:08.30
4)Bill Lee 3:15.80
5)Bill Bischoff 3:18.05
6)Barnes team 3:25.22
7)Mike Greb 3:35.44
8)Barnes team 3:36.20
9)Jed Kusik 51 laps

SUPER SLOW RAT 100 laps
1)Bill Bischoff 5:28.84
2)Bob Oge 5:42.03
3)Les Akre 5:54.49
4)Mike Greb 6:04.91
5)Barnes team 6:06.10
6)Barnes team 7:45.22

SPORT GOODYEAR 80 laps 160 laps
1)Bill Lee 4:11.40 8:36.04
2)Paul Gibeault 4:08.27 8:47.62
3)Mike Greb 4:07.64 9:24.69
4)Bob Oge 4:16.32
5)Bill Bischoff 4:16.85
6)Barnes team 4:23.62
7)Patrick Hempel 4:29.30
8)Barnes team 4:32.12
9)Les Akre 4:33.40
10)Jed Kusik 4:39.93
11)Charlie Johnson 5:08.27

AMA GOODYEAR 140 laps
1)Les Akre 7:05.86
2)Bill Bischoff 7:14.59
3)Bob Oge 67 laps

MOUSE 50 laps 100 laps
1)Patrick Hempel 2:29.27 5:01.24
2)Les Akre 2:33.67 5:08.02
3)Barnes team 2:36.88 5:20.45
4)Paul Gibeault 2:46.77
5)Jed Kusik 2:55.52
6)Mike Greb 2:57.30
7)Charlie Johnson 3:07.52
8)Bob Oge 3:22.39
9)Barnes team 43 laps
10)Bill Lee 36 laps

GOLDBERG 140 laps
1)Bob Oge 102 laps
2)Barnes team 45 laps