by Wayne Matthews…

I arrived in Detroit MI Thursday night (4/2/09) from Atlanta. Mike Roxberry was there to meet me, with our President, Don Hamilton, arriving an hour later. We wended our way down to Toledo and arrived near to midnight. Phil & Rhonda Vance and Tom Wheeler had been there earlier where they set up the IMAC booth with wide screen TV & DVD player and all the brochures/flyers. Mark McClellan drove in from N. Carolina & after checking in, we all settled down for the night.

Alarm buzzes at 6:00 am. Oh Lord…is it time to get up already? Need some Jamaican coffee, but all they had was some tasteless replica (mental note: do NOT forget my own coffee next time!). Met up with the IMAC gang & after a quick breakfast went in to the Toledo Show. Man, you would like to see all the stuff that was there. Airplanes decked out for the “best of show awards” on display, many trade show participants, goodies all around….did I say goodies?? You could easily get carried away with a credit card here (mental note: stay in the IMAC booth, DON’T walk around).

The crowds started filing in and then dispersed into the various aisles. We had many visitors, some knew nothing about IMAC, some flew IMAC and some were attracted back to IMAC because of the “Seniors” addition for this year. Tom Wheeler’s set-up of the Tucson Shootout DVD ran a consistent loop with a mixture of IMAC sequences, Freestyle flying & pilot interviews which attracted many more to just watch. We signed up new members and renewed many. A total tally after the show through Phil Vance came up to 43 members/renewals being processed.

The Canadian contingent was there and it was great to see many who I had not seen for quite some time. We received two RFA’s from Canada which will be processed in the normal manner.

As scheduled, at 2:00pm, there was a Judge’s meeting for the featured ETOC event. This function drew from a line-up of experienced IMAC judges which included: Will Berninger, Curtis Cozier, Joe Didia, Don Hamilton, Mike Hubbard, Fred Johnson, Julie Johnson, Baron Johnson, Kurt Koelling, Mark McClellan, Wayne Matthews, Mike Roxberry, Tom Wheeler, Phil Vance and no other than the gorgeous Chief Judge herself, Marian Berninger.

Immediately afterwards IMAC held an introductory seminar which was headed by Tom Wheeler. Attending members of the BOD were Don Hamilton, Wayne Matthews & Mark McClellan while Phil and Rhonda Vance kept our booth running during this period. There were discussions on what IMAC is all about and also on aircraft set-ups. A selection of top pilots including Pete Goldsmith, Kurt Koelling, Baron Johnson & Mike McConville gave input and answered questions.

The day went by quickly and evening rolled in with all judges heading over to the venue for the ETOC which started at 6:00pm. Things happened WAY QUICKER than at an IMAC contest & even an eye blink could cause missing something. Never saw so many wide eyed judges before (mental note: Carry Refresh natural eye drops next time). The Freestyle was WILD. Prior to this event I never saw in real life a reverse pitch prop in action… videos, yes, but not wide eyed live!! These young un’s are GOOD!! Mark McClellan made a very interesting observation: “How is it that these guys can fly both the 2009 Unlimited rolling circle and a horizontal figure 8 in a Basket Ball court??” This is serious food for thought!! We finished up the night at about 11:00pm & could not find a restaurant open for food. Had to settle for McD’s to the wrath of Tom Wheeler, but when hunger persists ANYTHING will suffice.

6:00am on Saturday rolled around…. Oh Lord…is it time to get up AGAIN?? Was it me snoring or was it Mark’s that woke me up at 2:45am?? Oh well, it did not matter anyhow, since I had to go & drink that insipid coffee AGAIN!! (another mental note about coffee)

Today rushed by briskly and I ventured away from the confines of the IMAC booth (just to look). Unfortunately I did see a few things “that I needed”. Yes, you all know what I mean! But I was good & held on to the “plastic” so that I would not get carried away. Well, back to work.

Scooted off with Don Hamilton, Phil Vance & Mark McClellan for the prize drawing of the IMAC members promotion. This was held at the Extreme Flight R/C booth. A VERY BIG THANK YOU goes out to Extreme Flight R/C, Horizon Hobby, Desert Aircraft for their generous donation of the 110” Yak 54, radio & servos and DA 100cc engine to our winner….. Brendan Jones of Frankfort KY.

Don Hamilton spent a lot of time talking & mingling with advertisers and vendors. He steered new vendors to advertising on our new website and I am sure we will experience new input there shortly.

Another IMAC seminar at 2:00pm with Don McClellan, Rick Kroeze & a few of the guys from Canada attended. Great input from Don (McClellan). I had expected to see more attendees there but the show coordinators shifted our times & the announcements were a bit muffled. The rest of the evening wound down with traffic getting smaller as the minutes ticked away. Time to get ready for the ETOC. This was the finals and the pilots let it all hang out. They were taking no prisoners and the judges were pumped again to keep up with the pace. Seth Arnold pulled out all the stops & came in first with Jason Noll second & Gernot Bruckman in third place. Marian did a great job in keeping us all in line & ready to go. I enjoyed it Marian!!

It’s COLD man…& there was snow predicted for the next day. Definitely not my cup of tea. I scooted into the hotel while Tom & Mark tried to be “he-men” with bared chests…. But I knew better…they were shivering more than they wanted to show!!! I was so tired that Mark’s or my snoring didn’t even budge me the rest of the night.

The next morning was a bit more relaxed as the final day was upon us. There was still movement of people but not as much compared to the previous days. Unfortunately, Don & I had to pull out to catch our flights up in Detroit travelling with Mike Roxberry to the airport. Mark had to drive 10 hours back to N. Carolina so he was on the road also, leaving Tom, Phil and Rhonda to do the final packing up. Thanks very much guys.

Well…that’s it. We all arrived back home safely and have started to work on more IMAC stuff. It just never ends.

Wayne Matthews