The High Sierra Fly-In is now in the books with an estimated 400 attendees and 200 visiting aircraft. Weather was not friendly during the first two days, but the weekend was calm and dry, and this year's STOL Drag was intense!
Kevin Quinn gets credit for organizing the fly-in, and his races ticked off like clockwork. At the end of Saturday, Mark Patey was crowned STOL Drag Champion with his Carbon Cub EX. Carbon Cubs were well represented in the competition: Jason Sneed took fourth place in his EX-2, and Toby Ashley posted the fastest single run in his EX-2.
Here is a link to video from the championship heat (credit Allen MacBean):
The final bracket looks like this:
What is STOL Drag? From stoldrag.com:
STOL Drag Racing takes a traditional STOL (Short TakeOff / Landing) competition to the next level. It is extremely spectator friendly and it challenges the pilots like never before. Pilots fly a 3/4 mile straightaway down and back in a drag racing format side by side.
Pilots fly 3/4 of a mile straight down, land on or after a marked line. They must come to acomplete stop prior to turning around. Next they perform (with wheels on the ground) a 180 degree turn and giving it all they have and fly back down the same flight path only to touch down at the starting point (on or after the marked line again). The first pilot that comes to a complete stop wins. Simple.
CONGRATULATIONS RACERS!