"An expert is just a beginner with lots of practice."

Duane Gall likes this quote, and has spent his racing career trying to ensure that more beginners get more practice in our sport.

Duane got his start in flying models at age 10, when he sent his little brother to the store for a plastic model WW2 fighter plane to use in mock dogfights in the basement on rainy days. His brother mistakenly brought home a Guillow's stick-and-tissue FW190. Instead of returning it to the store, Duane decided to build it instead. The first time he wound the rubber band and launched it, the mighty war machine performed a perfect stall-turn and crashed spectacularly, just like in the TV series "Twelve O'Clock High". Duane was hooked! It would be flying models only from that moment on.

Fast-forward to 1970, when a neighbor's dad introduced Duane and a couple of other local boys to R/C. They had done Free Flight and Controline, but R/C was magical: Action at a distance! No strings attached! Soon Duane had a Lou Andrews H-Ray with an Enya .15 up front, and had soloed by age 17. Working the counter at Rider's Hobby Shop in Ann Arbor (along with Tim Lampe) helped pay for fuel and glue.

Duane's mentors included master craftsman Don Wilkie and electric guru Keith Shaw, who dragged him to a pylon race in 1974. At that time the entry-level racing event was Quarter Midget, using Super Tiger G .15s and wooden props. After a first attempt using an all-balsa Sig Doubler, Duane quickly graduated to a series of fiberglass Miss Paranoia P-51s by fellow Michigander John Fotiu (JM Glascraft).

It's fair to say Duane grew up with Quarter Midget. As the speed and sophistication of the models increased, so did Duane's skills. In 1976 he attended his first Nats and placed 16th out of 80. Ten years later he was producing his own P-51, and in 1988 brought a new design, the Stinger, to the Rough River (KY) championship and took home the coveted Jimmy Doolittle Trophy.

Nothing feeds addiction like early success, so Duane took on ever more tasks in the racing world, including serving on AMA's R/C Racing Contest Board (15 years total, 10 as chairman); heading up the 1998 cleanup/revision of the racing rulebook with NMPRA president Vern Smith; writing the monthly racing column in Model Aviation for 5 years and covering 3 Nats (1989, 1991, 1992); and assisting Jerry Small and Dan Kane, Jr. in polishing and promoting the rules for Electric Formula 1.

Throughout these 40+ years, Duane's philosophy has always been to keep racing a subset of sport flying: To make it affordable and accessible to new pilots; to ensure that racing models "fit in" at the local field and are seen and admired rather than feared and isolated; to host local and entry-level events at every opportunity; and, as "Rocket" Ray Brown has often said, to "try and keep everybody on the same lap." Because an expert is just a beginner with lots of practice, and we can all use the practice.

Old & New Elipticals - The 2019 Q40 Estrellita is clearly a direct descendant of the 1988 Stinger for .15s.

Tailwind - A high-wing Q40? The Tailwind shows promise but was still in the thrashing & refining phase as of 2021. That's the price of innovation, and the appeal of racing for those who just can't sit still.

EF1 Loki - NMPRA recognizes that the future is electric, and Duane agrees. This EF1 Loki is Duane's attempt to keep up.

First Q40 - As a Contest Board member, Duane faced Hobson's Choice of keeping QM15 in the rulebook despite its decline or changing to a new formula with muffled .40s and larger airframes. 1994 was the year of the change, and a larger Stinger was Duane's choice for the NATS in Lubbock, TX

1993 NATS - FAI (F3D) presented new challenges. Here a home brewed Swee'Pea airframe and Dudek modified Picco .40 engine made the grade.
Front L-R: Layman, Dave Shadel, Richard Verano, Duane Gall
Back L-R: Callers Fog Tanner, Dub Jett, Jim Shinohara, Gordon McWilliams

Konrad & DUMP - Duane's longtime teammate and technical advisor, Konrad Dudek, with one of their home brewed Mustangs at the 1987 NMPRA QM15 Championship in Rough River, KY.