2021 NAMBA Nats Race Program

In the 1/16th mile straightaway, 530 timed runs were made. One of the highlights of this event was the two day battle between Ron Erickson, Ray Yates, and Chuck McGaughy for the .19 hydro record. The top speed kept changing hands and none of the three gave up until the last hour. Ron came out with a new record which was beaten in a Inter contest by Ray. Mike Meelbusch came awav from this event with three new NAMBA records, and Ed Fisher set a new record in C Hydro. The Outboard event brought out some very colorful boats and lots of gadgets. Bill Young of Bakersfield, California posted the best time with his belt drive Veco 19 powered boat. A. Sato of Tokyo, Japan was the winner followed by J. Selby and Charlie Pottol. Art Hammond, running his Manu-Kai led the way in 19 mono, followed by Bob Towle and T. Nakamura. Best time was by Pat Pottol. In 19 Hydro Gary Metelak of Chicago, Illinois won with some really good driving. Wally Stewart with his own design came in second and S Oshiro of Honolulu, Hawaii was third. Best time was Ron Erickson of Seattle, Washington. 40 Mono was a battle between Ed Fisher running his Northwind and Mike Meelbusch running his own design The 1972 NAMBA Nationals held in July in Los Angeles was without a doubt the biggest .and best R/C boating event ever held. Contestants enjoyed a solid week of model boating ending with a large awards banquet. Contestants showed up from such faraway places as Hawaii and Japan, and there were 141 of them. The Hawaiian Team came away with the most points followed by the Model Mariners of California. Very notable was the 4th place finish of the Meelbusch and Metelak racing team as they only had four members. Another four member team. the shime Mokei Club of Tokyo. Japan finished seventh. There were thirty entries in sail. In the 36/600 class, J. Gale was first followed by B. Debow and H. Kuykendall. In the 50/800 class, H. Hole was first, F. Ju second, followed by A. Littlejohn. In the Santa Barbara class, H. Hole was first, D. Hole second, and Peter More, third. B. Debow took the West Coast 12 Meter class followed by H. Kuykendall and D. Debow. In the Enduro races new records were set by Jim Whitlatch of Orindo. California; F. Standa of Concord, California: T. Nakamura of Tokyo, Japan: Peter More of Palo Alto, California: and Brenda Woodward of Phoenix. Arizona. There were 54 entries in the 40 hydro class, and despite some throttle trouble on his Hoss, Dr. Joe Bruzzese of Las Vegas, Nevada drove a fantastic race to end up in first place. He was running a very hot ST 40 ABC. Second was B. Robinson of Escondido, California, followed by B. Rollins and Gary Metelak. Garv also ended up in first place in .19 Hydro and Junior point standings. 1972 NAMBA Nationals The Outboard class certainly brought out some unusual setups. The following article was written by Tom Speights and was published in the October-November 1972 issue of "RC Model Boating". It is reprinted herewith without their permission, as they no longer exist. Some of the photos used are from that article and were tak- en by Tom Perzentka of Octura Models. Others were provided courtesy of Gary Johnson and Jerry Dunlap. (Reprinted in its entirety from the 1996 Nationals program) The Japanese Team gave us glimpses of the future running their V-bottom hulls. Ron Erickson and Ed Fisher enjoyed racing the big hydros. Chuck McGaughy shows off his .19 hydro, which almost set a new record. 2021 NAMBA Nationals Page 10