Drone Racing League Champion Headsup: The Interview

image courtesy Drone Racing League

Two-time Drone Racing League Champion ‘Headsup’ reflects on career in the sport

By Jim Magill

All images courtesy Drone Racing League, used with permission.

Piloting a high-speed, highly maneuverable first-person view (FPV) drone through a course of brightly colored obstacles and gates, “you truly think that you’re in the front seat of this thing,” two-time Drone Racing League (DRL) champion Evan Turner said in an interview.

Turner, who also goes by his racing name of “Headsup,” won the title February 20, at the 2021-22 Algorand Drone Racing League Vegas championship race in Las Vegas. The final heat, known as the Golden Heat, of the racing tournament pitted Turner against DRL’s longest reigning pilot, Gabriel “Gab707” Kocher.

Image courtesy Drone Racing League

The DRL, the premier global professional drone racing league, challenges elite pilots to fly custom-built racing drones traveling at speeds of up to 90…