Welcome to Torrey Pines GullsTom Minegar – Co-Modeler of the Year – 2008
Tom Minegar grew up in Orange County in the late 1950s and 1960s in a time when the area was still very rural and filled with citrus groves. A neighbor who owned a large orchard also owned private aircraft including a helicopter and Beechcraft twin. That same neighbor routinely offered to take Tom and his brothers up for rides. The rides led to interest in U-control, and Tom went through a series of Cox .049 U-control models that lasted only one circle. But it was still fun..
While in high school, Tom met his future wife Debi, and after high school he attended Cal State Long Beach, earning a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1973. This was unfortunately also at the same time as the Vietnam War but Tom managed to avoid the draft long enough to see the end of the war stateside. For a time, he considered becoming an attorney, but realized after getting accepted to Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount Universities that law wasn’t for him. Instead, he recognized that while accounting was nice; in order to get into top managerial positions, a CFO would be the way to do it. This led to a master’s degree in accounting from Cal State Fullerton.
Tom and Debi were now married and living in Orange County, and started to raise a family. When Tom’s son Tyler was 10, Tom bought a Cox .049 U-control for Tyler and they got it to fly. Even more than one circle. Tyler decided to try a solo for the first time and the model began to porpoise on the line and then made a crazy uncontrolled flyover and, well, that was the end of Tyler’s interest in U-control. But by the time Tyler was 12, he dragged Tom into Frank’s Hobby Shop in Orange, California, with an interest in getting a powered RC model. Tyler said, “dad we can do this for $150 and I have $125 – all you have to do is put in $25.” And thus began a journey that was definitely more expensive than $25 but more rewarding than either imagined at the time.
As Orange County grew, the Minegars decided to move to Carlsbad in north county San Diego. They moved again once to another home in Carlsbad, where they have lived since. By 1994, Tom and Tyler began flying with the Palomar RC Flyers club at their field near Del Mar off Via de la Valle. Learning to fly with the club, everyone was welcoming and happy to have young and enthusiastic members. Tyler especially took to the club and its membership. Throughout junior high school and high school, Tom and Tyler kept flying RC with the Palomar club, with great discussions and father-son opportunity. They were interested in all types of RC flying.
One day they decided to check out the RC activity at the Torrey Pines Gliderport. There they saw a variety of planes, including a special scale plane built by master craftsman Sal Peluso. Sal was a member of the Torrey Pines Gulls and also the Torrey Pines Scale Soaring Society. His model included a small pilot in the cockpit whose head would turn along with the rudder. Tom tried to figure out how this was possible. Where is such a small servo under the pilot? Tyler figured it out quickly. “The servo is in his butt dad.” Some quotes are timeless. The Minegar’s joined the Gulls and began flying at Torrey as well as with the Palomar RC Flyers.
At about this same time Tom’s friend Parviz Kaimab became involved with the TPG and volunteered to be club president. Given Tom’s knowledge of accounting, Parviz asked Tom to consider also serving on the board, which Tom did as secretary and also later as treasurer. And also, about this same time, Cliff Hunter, Keith Finkenbiner and others were searching for a new thermal field for the club. A first try at the San Marcos Landfill didn’t pan out, but when the County offered the Encinitas Landfill the team of Cliff, Keith, and Tom Minegar didn’t waste any time. In light of their efforts to secure the field for the club, all three were given Modeler of the Year Awards in 2008.
While Tom enjoyed flying at Torrey and also occasionally at Dave’s Beach in Carlsbad, when Tyler graduated and went off to college, Tom had additional free time and got more into aerotowing, mainly with friends at the Palomar RC Flyers club. This included scratch building a scaled up “Cloud King” along with John Cutler and using that as a tow plane. The plane still gives many fun tows.
Tom and Debi recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and their son Tyler is now a Vice President of a local drone company. For many years Tom operated three businesses, a Farmers Insurance agency, an independent insurance agency, and a financial advisory business. While still enjoying time working, he has more free time to also enjoy RC at present, flying mainly with the Palomar RC Flyers in north county.
