Tony,

I've gone on to building and flying scale jets, and am trying my hand at ScaleMasters. I brought a Eurofighter to the Gunsmoke qualifyer in Mesa last year, and am working on a Fiber Classics MiG 15 for next year. I still fly props, and have a scratched P-40 (about the same size and planform as the Spitfire we flew in AZ) that I was building for the Gold class sitting on the rack, ready for paint. Every time I go by the P-40, I think that I should finish it, but it is a little intense for a sport bird with a modified YS 120SC, so I keep on walking and go back to the jets instead - especially since there isn't any real warbird racing in these parts. I keep hoping something like the warbird races we had in Tucson (before Clay started beating everyone up with the muffler stick) will revive in AZ, but it sure looks doubtful at this point.

Nick has moved on to Dallas, and isn't flying much of anything these days. I did buy him a Hanger 9, 1/4 scale Edge 540 ARF that he says he is going to strip and rebuild/recover and start flying once he moves into a bigger apartment. I bought the kit a couple of months ago, and it's still sitting in my storage room, waiting for him. We'll see if he ever gets around to it.

Nick and I reminisce about our racing days from time to time, and remember how much fun and excitement we always had, but probably won't ever come back like it was before. I'd like to come out sometime and race with you guys (if I ever get the urge to finish the P-40), but Phoenix is a long way to drive for a one day race from Lubbock, and Sacramento is really out of the question for me driving by myself.

I was doing a search about documentation when I ran across the thread about the SWRA, and decided to shoot you a message in the hopes that something might be brewing in the background. I talk to Mike Peck from time to time about the Scalemasters thing, and he said there wasn't much happening with the warbird crowd, but I thought I'd drop you a line and see anyway.

Maybe someday - keep our fingers crossed it will be resurrected and we can go back to the scale racing at some point in the future.

Good to hear from you,

Regards, Les Morrow