MARYSVILLE – Longtime video gamers Daniel Muir and Casey Regan have a new passion – racing drones. “It totally got me off video games,” Regan said. “It got me out of the house.” Muir added, “It’s all I do.” Both said their wives and kids also are involved. “It’s a big family community,” Muir said.

Regan added, “We’re friends first, competitors second.” Both will be competing this weekend at Xfinity Arena in Everett at a Pro Aerial League event.

Muir said the main racing will be how many laps your drone can go around an obstacle course over the hockey rink in two minutes. If you miss even one gate, your are disqualified for that race, unless you go back through it. All of the 36 pilots will use the same type of drone, so maneuvering skills are of the utmost importance.

Daniel “Absolute Mayhem” Muir of Tulalip has only been racing a few months. He started off on a simulator, and his interest grew from there. He said a person can get into the sport for about $300, but he has invested about $1,000.

The equipment includes a drone with a camera on it, and headgear with an attenae, which allows pilots to see exactly where they are going as if they were on the drone themselves. The analog devices are in real time.

Muir, who built his first drone, said they are very durable. The propellers are the only things that break very often, even though drones can crash going as fast as 70 miles per hour.

“It happens,” Muir said of crashes. “You’re going back and forth, passing each other, six at a time.”

While some of the drone racers have experience as pilots, neither Muir or Regan, of Lake Stevens, does. “This is the closest I’ll be to a pilot.”