1983 AMRCA NATIONALS

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

To our surprise, all of us who attended this year's Nationals in "sunny" southern California found that some of our tightest competition were rain clouds. Spirits were not dampened, however, and with the weather clearing nicely for the final day, some good speeds were recorded. Loyd Torrey came out on top in the WC-10 class with a 181.09 and Mr. and Mrs. Frymire were not far behind at 178.93 and 176.92 mph. Coupled with their winning performances in Italy and Germany, Loyd and Garold are going to become known as the "awesome twosome." Congratulations to both of you. The A.M.R.C.A. is very proud to have you with us.

John Walker (Australia) set a new WC-5 record with his Super Tigre powered car at 153.06 mph. Bloody good show John! It was an honor having you, Jim Chadwick and your wives come such a long way to race with us.

In a close Class 5 (hot) race Ron Kruse bumped young Shon Pistoll in the final moments with 159.57 to 158.73 respectively. With some tutoring by his dad, who could not make the race, and some help from Fry, Shon did a great job of running his car. It certainly was inspiring to see these two fine young men participating in heads-up competition. Class 5 (cold) was won by Greg Parsons with 155.71 mph.

Class 3 (hot) was won by John Walker with a speed of 138.04 mph., and in Class 2 (cold) Phil McDonald held on to an early lead to capture first place honors.

As usual, the California club did a fine job of preparing the track through the efforts of Chris Lupo and the rest of the team. Dorothy and Jill watched the clocks, kept the records, and sold banquet tickets. Thanks for all of the help girls!

It was good to see the familiar faces of Dick McCoy and Dick Hulse again. Glad to see Jerry Anderson and Ted Maciag back, and that "Slugger" Brown put down his monoline long enough to come and race with us. Ben Laureano stopped by, and could be considering getting back into it. Hope so Ben!

A wonderful evening was spent at the Torrey's eating, talking and proving that alcohol can be used for other purposes than a model car fuel. Roy unveiled a turbo-charged engine they are working on --- Oh my! Loyd and Manfred "crazy man" Pfefferle (Germany) showed us a scrapbook of photos taken around Europe and at the World Meet. It's always a pleasure to talk with Manfred. The cars that he manufactures are among the fastest in the World. We also got a chance to hold the magnificent trophies that Loyd brought home (from Europe). Thank you Jeanette and Loyd for your hospitality and a nice night.

I believe that everyone will agree that we had a successful 1983 Nationals in spite of the unusual weather conditions.

----------------------ROGER PHILLIPS----------------------