Light-hearted fan regrets

[Coug86]

With the highlight of the year soon to be upon us I thought it would be fun to remember back to some of the sillier things we've done as fans that we would NEVER do again. Things like...

1988. My first Reno. My wife, very young daughter, and grandfather are along. We were there all day Saturday and Sunday. It is late on Sunday and my grandpa is getting nervous about all the traffic that will be headed back down I-80 immediately after the races. So, not wanting to make a big fuss, I give in and agree to leave early. As we are packing to leave people are looking at us like we've lost our minds. As we're packing the car and getting ready to go I look up and what do I see but Lefty Gardner doing his magic in White Lightning. I had never seen a P-38, let along see one fly! And I read later that we missed a GREAT Unlimited Gold final. GRRRRRR. I "redeemed" myself the next year, and 9 more times since, and have NEVER left early since that first year.

[MRussell]

Re: Light-hearted fan regrets

Wow. I would never get over that.

[wardog]

Re: Light-hearted fan regrets

don't remember the year off hand, but we showed up for qualifying. my ex decided 'nothing is going to happen', so he didn't bring the camera. so, I have no pictures of me getting a cockpit overview of the P-38 by Lefty

[ignomini]

Re: Light-hearted fan regrets

Mine would have to be '04. Checked the weather before leaving and packed t-shirts, nothing but t-shirts. On Sunday I'm wearing a borrowed windbreaker and freezing my n*&s off. When Dago crosses the line first, I skipped the festivities (Bear fan) and bolted for the parking lot. While stuck in traffic I hear about the pylon cut on the radio...grrrrrrrrr!

[SCEPTER]

Re: Light-hearted fan regrets

I missed last years gold finally....grrrrrrrrr.Had to be at work at 5:00am monday.I'm still regreting it. I did not think Dan was going to push the bear very hard......live and learn

[jarrodeu]

Re: Light-hearted fan regrets

I also packed only tshirts for 2004. Froze my butt off.

Jarrod

[Fence Sence]

Re: Light-hearted fan regrets

I had a regret last year but could not let myself live with it longer than 5 minutes, so I made it right. My father is the only one with regrets now. Poor guy, he still feels terrible.

On Saturday last year, right after the unlimited gold, my father did something we both regretted. This was the end of our forth day on the fence line. If you know anything about the fence, you it has grown in popularity and shrunk in usable area. This has forced a lot of people into a small space. Lots of people bring their dirt bikes and ATV's for the kids to ride. Well after four days of eating dust kicked up by all the ATVs, my father decides he's going to give a little dust back. The very next ATV that came buy got a face full of dirt kicked up by my fathers foot. Unfortunately for all, the face belonged to a 10yo girl. I'm standing on top of my camper watching my father do this inexplicable deed when, from about 100 yards away I hear,"HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE DOIN'! HEY! HEY YOU!" My father looks up at me and says,"Son, I think I got a problem." "I know, I see it." I jump down from my camper and my father, a friend of mine and I are walking toward one pissed off father and about six of his friends. We're all jawing and posturing at one another then the shoving and pushing starts. Dogs are barking and wives are screaming and chaos is about to break loose. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and we were all separated and went back to our respective camps still pretty fired up. My dad pulled out about as fast he could and left me to pack up the rest of my stuff for the day. My wife was watching me like a mother watches her child playing next to a freeway just in case I decide to go play chicken. "Maaan, I gonna park here tomorrow and so are they. I can't just let this whole thing hang like this." Without saying a word, I head straight over to the opposing camp. My wife is TRIPPIN'. She thinks I'm headed over to kick some ass or have mine handed to me. I spot the angry father and yell, "Hey, come hear." We walked up to each other and at the same moment stuck out our hands and gave each other a good ol' mans hand shake. I apologized to him, he apologized to me and we decided that my father was the original jack ass and we were both jack ass wannabe's. We agreed that we are air race fans and silly beefs would not be kept. My father has yet to apologize. Stubborn old man.

[MRussell]

Re: Light-hearted fan regrets

Wow that's a good one.

Last year, we ran into a guy who was having an epic battle with his wife (now probably ex-wife) on Friday afternoon at the races. They had a big disagreement, she threw a fit and demanded to leave the races before they even began. So, this poor, sad guy sold us 4 Saturday/Sunday grandstand tickets and a 3-day VIP parking pass for less than $100. He was sad, but he made us very happy!

[SCEPTER]

Re: Light-hearted fan regrets

Wow that's a good one.

Last year, we ran into a guy who was having an epic battle with his wife (now probably ex-wife) on Friday afternoon at the races. They had a big disagreement, she threw a fit and demanded to leave the races before they even began. So, this poor, sad guy sold us 4 Saturdnay/Sunday grandstand tickets and a 3-day VIP parking pass for less than $100. He was sad, but he made us very happy!

I invited my wife to Reno this year and she said, "NO-WAY,thats a guy trip".
I love my wife.

[flyingjibus]

Re: Light-hearted fan regrets

I skipped the year that the Migs and Sabre mixed it up around the course. I still hear about it from my dad.

[TOR_DP]

Re: Light-hearted fan regrets

Last year while shooting the teaser for TOR, got given a Section 3 T-shirt.... Put it on backward by accident.... Had to walk off the ramp backward to try to redeem myself... STILL paying for that one.


Jerry Beck II
DP, 1st. AD
Thunder Over Reno

[AirDOGGe]

Re: Light-hearted fan regrets

1985, most definitely.

I got a few days of hands-on time with a friend's Panasonic videocamera & portable VCR the year before in '84, and I was hooked. Portable video recorders for consumers were still somewhat new at the time.

And so, in the summer of 1985 I purchased and brought my own brand new VHS stereo Hi-Fi portable vcr and a rental of one of the new "small wonder" RCA cameras. I also brought a stereo mic on a telescopic boom, a car battery for a week's supply of portable power, a dolly to mount and move everything around with, etc... I was all geared up and ready to shoot some great video....

....it didn't work out that way.

Much of what I shot was poor or unwatchable. The small hand-held video camera resulted in very shakey scenes when using the telephoto. This was years before anti-shake lenses and video cameras became available.

The larger camera I tried the year before was an on-the-shoulder model that allowed one to hold it steadier and allowed this video-rookie to shoot much smoother video, especially when zooming in on aircraft on the opposite side of the track.

-

In addition, I had some problems determining when the camera was signaling me when it was in RECORD or PAUSE mode. I lost out on some great racing action footage, but I got a couple hours of close-ups of the inside of my camera bag, if anyone is interested...


This was my payback for not getting enough practice time with unfamiliar equipment before an important event.

.

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Re: Light-hearted fan regrets

I had a regret last year but could not let myself live with it longer than 5 minutes, so I made it right. My father is the only one with regrets now. Poor guy, he still feels terrible.

On Saturday last year, right after the unlimited gold, my father did something we both regretted. This was the end of our forth day on the fence line. If you know anything about the fence, you it has grown in popularity and shrunk in usable area. This has forced a lot of people into a small space. Lots of people bring their dirt bikes and ATV's for the kids to ride. Well after four days of eating dust kicked up by all the ATVs, my father decides he's going to give a little dust back. The very next ATV that came buy got a face full of dirt kicked up by my fathers foot. Unfortunately for all, the face belonged to a 10yo girl. I'm standing on top of my camper watching my father do this inexplicable deed when, from about 100 yards away I hear,"HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE DOIN'! HEY! HEY YOU!" My father looks up at me and says,"Son, I think I got a problem." "I know, I see it." I jump down from my camper and my father, a friend of mine and I are walking toward one pissed off father and about six of his friends. We're all jawing and posturing at one another then the shoving and pushing starts. Dogs are barking and wives are screaming and chaos is about to break loose. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and we were all separated and went back to our respective camps still pretty fired up. My dad pulled out about as fast he could and left me to pack up the rest of my stuff for the day. My wife was watching me like a mother watches her child playing next to a freeway just in case I decide to go play chicken. "Maaan, I gonna park here tomorrow and so are they. I can't just let this whole thing hang like this." Without saying a word, I head straight over to the opposing camp. My wife is TRIPPIN'. She thinks I'm headed over to kick some ass or have mine handed to me. I spot the angry father and yell, "Hey, come hear." We walked up to each other and at the same moment stuck out our hands and gave each other a good ol' mans hand shake. I apologized to him, he apologized to me and we decided that my father was the original jack ass and we were both jack ass wannabe's. We agreed that we are air race fans and silly beefs would not be kept. My father has yet to apologize. Stubborn old man.

Winner! I don't think anybody could top that story

[King]

Re: Light-hearted fan regrets

I could tell the story about being in a bar at the Hilton with my crewbuddy and a certain unlimited pilot hitting on a young lady in the bar..............I kinda got pissed off and mentioned to the young lady about the pilots wife upstairs...................all hell broke loose and I have never seen so many tables turned over trying to get to us.............but I won't mention that one.

Good story tho!

[Fence Sence]

Re: Light-hearted fan regrets

I could tell the story about being in a bar at the Hilton with my crewbuddy and a certain unlimited pilot hitting on a young lady in the bar..............I kinda got pissed off and mentioned to the young lady about the pilots wife upstairs...................all hell broke loose and I have never seen so many tables turned over trying to get to us.............but I won't mention that one.

Good story tho!

Don't be that way, tell it.