With all due respect, Top Gun is also considered world wide as the "best of the best". And the way Frank evolved this competition over 25 years is very good. In Top Gun, a competitor has a chance to grow and improve himself and they have an opportunity to become the "best of the best" just like Dave Wigley has done for the past three years. Or, if you want to spend a ton of cash and join a team in Top Gun you can. If the overall finished product is worthy enough then they can win the coveted "Top Gun" award. But, this is only given based on all of the factors involved and at least the "individuals" competing have the opportunity to take top prize for their category. The Masters Class, for instance, encourages contestants who design, build, engineer and fly their own aircraft of their own creation to compete. They aren't competing against corporations or governments with large stacks of cash. They are competing against the "Best of the Best" in what I would call "individual excellence".

By no means am I advocating that the JWM have a Pro-Am, Sport or fun scale class, although these lower classes are, in my opinion what keep the Top Gun event thriving.

That being said this is all just my opinion. The amount of money spent and jets being built by teams of builders verses individuals, has definitely been a discussion among a few JWM competitors I spoke to in Dayton. Individuals who built their own jets without the vast resources of a large company or governments tossing in endless amounts of funds are concerned about the fundamental fairness of the event. There is no way that individual's can compete against teams with the amount of money being spent today. Once you introduce the kinds of unlimited resources to a project, it separates itself from virtually all other competitors in the event, especially the individuals who design, build and fly their own models.

Let me be clear, I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing. I think it's really neat! But there is a down side. JWM are going to see people who may have previously considered being in the event drop out. Because what is the use of competing as an individual (not team) if one has no chance at all to be able to win? For me, there is the comradery and excitement of being able to compete in the JWM "with" but not "against" these types of entrants. What other competitors have told me though, the competition (in competition terms) is diminished by these overwhelming odds. What are they competing against? Cash? Anyone with the next million bucks lying around can win. And maybe that is what the JWM wants to be. If so, that is fine I guess. We can see one or two teams compete with each other every year. Cool! Just don't try to call it a valid competition among 50-60 competitors because there is no competition at that point. It becomes how much cash does a team have verses how much individual building skill or flying skill a person has. This is why many propose classes or at least a team class verses in Individual class. One can still compete on a world class level with multiple classes.

All in all, I am proud to be able to compete in the JWM on the USA team. And I am honored to fly with my team mates and other top competitors around the world. IMO though, our best hope is to take the Team award, baring any catastrophe (and I wouldn't wish that on anyone). And winning that award would be awesome if we can do it! I do hope that one day the JWM committee would consider at least dividing up the competition in a way that allows individuals the opportunity to compete fairly against similarly advantaged competitors thus separating the high rollers in their own division and call it what it is. A team effort. But if they don't I guess I'm good with that too. The bottom line for the future of JWM is that the entrants will determine whether or not this competition will remain viable. If the numbers of entrants goes down due to never having a chance to win, the JWM will again be forced to make adjustments in the rules to keep it viable. Just like they have in the past.