Air Race

Hi, my name is Richard King, currently I am the President of Chapter 174 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Someday I plan to build a kit plane, but at this time I have not decided which one. I attend Sun N Fun and Oshkosh each year and as many fly-ins as possible. I hope this page will encourage you to join us at next year's Sun 60 Air Race.
Cherokee 160 at the camp site

First Place winners of the Class 4A Me and my Cherokee 160 at the camp site
    This Spring, I flew my 1962 Piper Cherokee 160 (serial number 376) in the Seventh Annual Sun 60 Air Race for factory built aircraft. The race date was Wednesday, April 22 at 9:00 am, midweek of the Twenty fourth annual Sun 'N Fun fly-in at Lakeland, Florida. The weather for the race was perfect. Marilyn (my wife) and I arrived at Sun ‘N Fun on Saturday, April 17. We wing camped in the new General Aircraft Camping area located at the west end of runway 9-27. We camped until we departed on the following Friday. During our stay we only had one much needed hard rain; fortunately, it settled the dry black sand found in the GAC area.
    As usual, a lot of Pilots stopped to chat as I was cleaning and polishing my airplane in preparation for the race. It's interesting how people will walk right by if you are sitting at your camp site, but when you are working on your plane they like to stop and talk planes and things. Of course, some of them were fellow racers, like Henry Gubler, looking for new ideas.
    The 1998 Sun 60 race was administered by Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Company. The race was managed by Charlie Gray and the EAA. Chapter 908 of Fort Pierce, Florida. The Sun 60 is an annual event at the Sun 'N Fun fly-in, so anyone who would like to get a speed check of their airplane should sign up early for the 1999 Sun 60. Most of us have added various speed mods to our planes and we race to measure the improved performance (that is, if we fly straight). This year's event had 21 racers. There were 28 entries, however, some unlucky racers were not able to make it because of bad weather.

This was my seventh consecutive Sun 60 Air race for production aircraft. The original Sun 60 Air Race included both production and experimental Aircraft.

The triangle race course use to be rather challenging because we were flying fast and at minimum altitudes (racers would fly at about 1000 feet). But today most pilots use a GPS for navigation, this allows them to fly straighter and safer..

For this race we had eight Classes. Racers choose which class to enter when they complete their entry form. Classes are created to allow fair competition. A first place trophy is awarded to a class winner if there are two or more racers in the class. A Second Place trophy is awarded to the second place winner if there are three or more racers in the class. A Third Place trophy is awarded to the third place winner if there are four or more racers in the class. In other words, you have to beat a racer in your class to receive a trophy.

This is a table listing the Finish Position, Pilot's Name, Model of Aircraft, Class Entered, Engine Horse Power, and the Lap Speed.

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