A few tense minutes pass on the flight line as the next round prepares for competition.

HOW USRA RACES ARE RUN

The organization behind a USRA giant scale race is impressive. Here’s the briefest glimpse of how the Rantoul race was run. Out on the flightline, the race is flown counterclockwise (“go fast and turn left”) around two 15-foot high pylons spaced 1600 feet apart. Each pylon has a 5-color (red, white, green, yellow, blue) light “turncaller” system (controlled by the pylon judges) to indicate turns to the race crews. At the sound of the horn, the race starts. Each pilot must complete six laps of the course around the pylons, starting at the Start/Finish Line and ending at the Start/Finish Line. A race can start, however, only at the direction of flightline management.

Holly Hollingworth, the indisputable, unstoppable, absolute authority on the flight line stands milliseconds from OK’ing the next pilot to take off. Holly, who won 2nd place in the ’97 world giant scale championships, biplane class, among many other such accolades, notes that he’s done it all, so nothing can sneak past him as line boss.

	Pylon callers, at the left end of the course, front to back: Linda Aupperle, Mark Cushing, Sebo Dapper, Ali Jacobs and Keith Markarian. Hardest part of this job? Watching your assigned plane and not the race!

At Rantoul the line director, Holly Hollingworth, and CD Mike Sieniarecki decided when a race was ready to start. Holly gave the pilots the signal to start their engines, and the air was filled with the din of revving engines. The timing system was initiated and all five airplanes had to be airborne within two minutes. Holly swept  the checkered flag for each pilot to indicate his caller should guide the plane to a starting position, let her fly and get back behind the pilot.

After 120 seconds, the automated timing and scoring system announced over the PA system “you are on the clock” and the five pilots, now airborne, had 60 seconds to jockey for position. At ten seconds, the timing system counted each second down and each pilot tried to be just left of the start/finish line the moment the race started. If anyone overshot, he suffered a “start cut” penalty. If a pilot was over by three seconds, he was out of the race.

At stage center, well behind the flight line, timing and scoring workers assigned to each plane pressed a button to count each lap as the planes crossed the start/finish line. While all of this was going on, two tents at opposite ends of the course were occupied by staff whose job was to carefully watch individually assigned planes as they rounded the pylons.

Airport hangar that stored giant scale racers and protective hay bails on the flight line.

	Timing and scoring workers, left to right: Karen Morris, Caroline Goldsmith, Kristina Hodgson, Rhonda Cady and Barb Baker. Peter Bergstrom, assistant contest director, at rear. Stacey Hanbury, timing boss, not shown. These jobs require focus and discipline—not unlike that required of the pilots!

Each worker pressed a button as his or her assigned plane passed behind the pylon, which in turn illuminated a light on the pylon. When the turn was completed, they pressed again to turn the light off. The time the light was on showed if a racer was turning wide.

This enabled the caller assisting the pilot to advise on how to make tighter turns. Depth perception at 800 feet is minimal. A few techniques to overcome this have evolved. Some callers count out the seconds past the start/finish line to anticipate when the turn should take place. Some callers identify a piece of landscape that is the point where the turn should take place, and shout “turn” when the plane reaches that point. Some pilots use an automated “calling and timing box” with microsecond adjustments that helps moderate this process.

As all of this was happening, master MC Bob “Mouth of the South” Sadler announced what was taking place in a way that entertained and informed the participants, families and many fans who came to see this amazing event. Bob also led the show in his unique and humorous style during the halftime flying exhibitions.

	JR flyer and freestyle champion Quique Somenzini is interviewed by MC Bob Sadler after a spectacular noontime flying exhibition.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Contest Director Mike Sieniarecki directed the race and all of the many individuals and teams that worked in concert throughout the event. First, there was the planning. Horizon’s Kathy Cushing worked with Rantoul airport and air and space museum management to ensure that both airport and USRA giant scale racing rules would be accommodated. She arranged for storage of race planes in the main hangar and coordinated the Saturday night banquet at the museum, not to mention the race concession stand run by Tonya Geese (by the way, the food was great!). Kathy procured tents, golf carts—and don’t forget the many bails of hay used on the flight line to protect pilots, callers, media personnel and others, and that’s hardly scratching the surface. Marketing Publicist Steve Goodreau arranged for local newspaper and TV coverage of the event, and extended the red carpet to the media.

Peter Bergstrom, assistant contest director, oversaw the timing and scoring workers, and worked with Stacey Hanbury, who was in charge of the CRT software that scheduled and scored the racers. Mike Sieniarecki was in constant touch with Peter and Stacey to ensure that everything proceeded like clockwork. Race results were quickly posted and heat rankings revealed.