The Spirits of St Louis has a brand of pylon racing designed to encourage novice and experienced sport pilots alike to race with common sport planes and spec’d power combinations. It’s a low-pressure racing atmosphere and when the racing is over the same planes can be “sport flown” every day. We have tremendous fun racing these planes together. If you’re not involved, you are honestly missing something.

The pylon course is left up all season so you can hone your flying skills at any time. We have also codified a handicap system to help newcomers be competitive and give the more experienced pilots a real challenge. If flying pylon is not for you (can’t imagine why), we are always looking for folks to help count laps and watch for pylon cuts…come on out and watch/help. Each race will be posted on the website with the Contest Director listed with contact info. Just reach out to the Contest Director to be hooked up with a great seat, line you up on a duty and maybe even cover your lunch!

2026 Six Event Championship Series will continue

We are finalizing the 2026 competition rules Jan 20 and plan to have the updated official version posted here by Feb 11. We will have a racer meeting at B. Halls at 7pm on Jan 20 with the purpose of hearing and agreement on the final draft of proposed competition rules to be presented and accepted at the Feb 10 club meeting. The Feb 10 meeting will be an up or down vote without debate. The Jan 20 racer meeting will essentially be a regular club meeting, but narrowly focused on general agreement for our racing program rules and processes in 2026. The 2025 rules are included below for reference, but expect an updated set to be in place soon. More updates and news on this process can be found here

2026 Pylon Championship Series Race dates are below. Rain dates are the following Saturday. If you would be interested in being a CD or official help for one of these events, please reach out to president@spiritsofstl.com and you are encouraged to come to the Jan 20 racer meeting for awareness of the rules and processes that are agreed upon.

Date – Race Event – CD
May 16 10am – Pylon Race Event 1 – Dave Harrington
Jun 20 10am – Pylon Race Event 2 – Dan Morrison
Jul 18 10am – Pylon Race Event 3 – CD needed
Aug 15 10am – Pylon Race Event 4 – CD needed
Sep 19 10am – Pylon Race Event 5 – Steve Cross
Oct 17 10am – Pylon Race Event 6 – CD needed

We score visually, so Paint Schemes must be unique

To facilitate identification and judging we are asking all racers to submit photos of the top and bottom surface of their aircraft. On race day, your aircraft will have to be uniquely identifiable in flight. If your scheme is deemed too similar to another, the option is to apply a colored adhesive sticker to bottom and top of one wing. Check out everyone’s Paint Schemes.