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Associate Vice President Rick Moreland reported on the return of Pylon Racing at Prince George’s RC (PGRC).
Prince George’s RC, in Upper Marlboro, Maryland (https://pgrcclub.com), has been associated with Pylon Racing since the early 1970s. We held Pylon Racing events until approximately 2015. Our racers moved away, passed on, or just moved onto other venues within the hobby (like me), so we stopped racing. Because of our history of running quality races and having a great field from which to fly, many in the Pylon community have been asking PGRC to start racing again, especially since the loss of the field at the Old Julian Airport Model Aircraft Club field in Liberty, North Carolina.
With the membership of PGRC, and especially Club President Steve Baker and fellow Pylon racers, we made a commitment to race once again. What immediately became apparent was that we needed an upgrade of our course equipment. We talked to Tom Melsheimer, who has been designing and building some great electronic course equipment.
Tom sold us the latest version of his equipment, but it was expensive because of the components and the many hours of labor to build the best-ever course equipment. The PGRC membership put up half the money needed, and AMA District IV Vice President Jay Marsh helped get us a grant from AMA for the rest of the funds needed. On May 3, 2025, PGRC went racing again! Tom, along with Mark Zeal, who came from Ohio, showed us the proper setup and use of the equipment. They worked tirelessly before the race to make sure everything was working properly and that we were comfortable running the equipment. At 8:45 on Saturday morning, the first heat went off!
We had 27 contestants with some coming from as far away as the U.K., California, Texas, and Florida. We ran eight rounds and 72 heats on Saturday without any reflies or problems with our new equipment.
We owe many thanks to many people for allowing us to race again, especially the membership of PGRC, Jay, AMA, Lee Von Der Hey (who purchased the fuel), Tom, Mark, and the contestants who participated.
Go fly and have fun safely.