favorite reno air race moment

[lowpasskid]

Ok guys and gals,what single moment stands out in your mind for
as long as you have been going to/participating in the races?
too many to single out?I've been going since '93,missed only
two races but still have a ton to think of when it gets boring.
well??????

[Jr.]

Re: favorite reno air race moment

In 2002, my Father and I decided with my younger brother to make a guys gathering at Reno. No matter where our jobs/ lives took us, we would still make the air races together. The very first time I heard the unlimited Gold coming around the Pylon 7, I was hooked.
My favorite moment was when I took my son, he was 4 years old at the time, 2005, and to watch the races, experience the races, and absorb the races through his eyes was simply the best. We parked the car and we were walking to the entrance when Dago Red was making some early morning tuning flight. My son, Dan III, looked up, pointed it out, and said, Dad, "That's Dago Red"!. The smile that beamed on both of our faces was priceless.

Waiting for the next great moment this year at Reno 2007!

[RRMERLIN7]

Re: favorite reno air race moment

2003


DAGO RED = 507.105 MPH BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rigby]

Re: favorite reno air race moment

In 1980(I think that was the year), when Jeannie came in right before deadline and qualified.......

[flyingjibus]

Re: favorite reno air race moment

Lyle Shelton In the stands (drinking a beer I believe) with us on Sunday pre-race, talking about the size(read small) of Tigers uhm...Motor. Must of been 91 or 92.

They year (late 80's) out on the course Saturday when the Fiat passed so low I felt prop wash.

The time the Tomcat pushed the sound barrier a bit out of his way.

Too many to list....

[SpinB]

Re: favorite reno air race moment

88...the first year I was 'physically there'....

In the 'Expensive Bleachers'...the first time I heard (more like FELT)
Unlimited Gold 'Heavies' comin' down the chute! The ultimate in 'raucous
cacophonies'!!! I really thought I'd have to change my scivvies! That's
just one component that makes Air Racing incredibly addictive!!!!

[David E. Wells]

Re: favorite reno air race moment

(1...Had to be my first view of the Unlimteds (Bronze) Heat 1C in '89, my 1st year. Standing by the fence near Pylon 6. All 9 planes; including Lefty, Skip in#39, etc., got there at the same time. My buddy, John, put down his 400mm, said "HOLY S**T" and didn't pick it up again the rest of the day, we just stood there with our mouths open... (2...in '90, it was the BEAR, holding off Skip and Tiger, AVERAGING over 481! (3...THEN it was The Dwelles, TJ and Dad wing tip to wing tip in the T-6's. (4...Dennis Sanders and Mike Brown in the Sea Furies glued together for a whole race, Mike by a spinner at the finish, Dale Tucker gave me a photo of it, I had it framed, and hung it over my drawing board, I look at ti every day! I'm READY for '07!!!...D.

[race9]

Re: favorite reno air race moment

First year, '05, ridding in the fire truck after winning the bronze on Sunday.

[F-16 CREW CHIEF]

Re: favorite reno air race moment

skip holm flying mojave style in a gnat around the pylons.

[MustangFan]

Re: favorite reno air race moment

For me, the favorites are:

1999 - Watching Tiger and Bruce Lockwood in Dago go at it in the Gold final; they were as close as you could get until Tiger maydayed out on the last lap...

2005 - Same thing with Matt Jackson in Argonaut and Steve Patterson in Southern Cross in the Silver Final, except this one lasted the whole race. If Steve had one or two more pylons he might have caught him...

2006 - Just listening to September Fury come past the home straight in the Gold Final. I didn't know till then that a radial could sound like that...

Looking forward to more moments this year..

[speeddemon]

Re: favorite reno air race moment

Okay, I'll play.

35+ years is a lot of time to pick a single moment from, and there are a lot of highs and lows that I have been muddling over in my mind's eye.

A few that come to mind are:

1982 Unlimited Heat 2b. The pilots briefing the "morning after", hearing Sherwood Smooth and Buckwheat recount the events first-hand from the day before. The River House. The dead-run down into the valley with Hacker in '88 to get to Precious Metal. Hacker's "Is there anyone here you DON'T know?" comment in '03. Any time Darryl Greenamyer has taken to the race course in anything. A decade's worth of Dawn Patrols and moments spent alone in the silence of a sunrise in the Unlimited pits. "Uh, Mr. Whittington? No...um....he's not here." (Hacker will get it...) A particularly close pass by Matt Jackson in "Mis Fit" out on 'the road' in 1991. Ditto a pass by Delmar Benjamin out at Pylon 8 in 1998. "The Ride" (cue Sue Peterson....'you never forget your first'). The sheer exhileration of the 1991 Gold Final.

The saddest, most solemn moment I've ever experienced at Reno would be the Sunday morning Unlimited Pilots briefing in 1999.

But I guess if I had to boil my experience down to a single memory...to a single moment, it would be a Sunday evening a couple years back. The crowds had gone, the late afternoon sun was setting over the mountains to the west, typical 'breeze' blowing crap and flags all through the pit area. My friend Randy Goss was standing all alone at the right wingtip of Warlock, literally lost in thought...eyes glazed over, a million miles away. I was getting ready for the long drive home and came over to say goodbye. I put my hand on his shoulder, and he turned to me, literally on the verge of tears, and said "Wow....we finally won Reno."

To quote a television commercial from long ago...."Yeah....that's my ESPN Sportcenter highlight."

[Skyracer]

Re: favorite reno air race moment

The first year The Bear showed up with the three blade tongue depresser prop. OMG!!! The earth shook and you could feel the sound/compression wave. Indescribeable...one has to experience it to relate.

[BellCobraIV]

Re: favorite reno air race moment

Lyle Shelton In the stands (drinking a beer I believe) with us on Sunday pre-race, talking about the size(read small) of Tigers uhm...Motor. Must of been 91 or 92.

Let me help with your memory the year would have been 1993, as that was the only year that Lyle went down to the stands on Sunday. The Bearcat was not racing that year and we were raising money selling tee-shirts and anything else we could find. Since the Bearcat was not racing Lyle took advantage of the time to meet and greet with the fans, Lyle spent about six hours signing autographs that day and about four hours doing the same on Saturday. There are other years when Lyle went down on Saturday for the Photo op booth that had been set-up for different pilots to go to at assigned times. But race Sunday was not the time you would have found Lyle in the stands or out of his element. A Typical Sunday for Lyle involved him showing up for the pilot meeting checking with the airplane status in the early morning meeting after the first ground run of the day, visiting a little while in the pit, doing some autographs at the rope. Usually a little talk with John Tegler some time in the morning, then he would check out to one of the campers or motorhomes we had parked nearby in the area across from the pits. When Lyle was racing he was into his race mentally several hours before the race and did not like that concentration broken, and never would Lyle have had a beer pre-race. So 1993 is the best bet for that one.

[Hawkeye]

Re: favorite reno air race moment

The first one was sitting in the stands in 72 when Gunther Baltz took off down the right side of the course chasing down and catching Race 1 down the back side of the course. I think that was the first time a Mustang held together to win the race on Sunday. It was incredible to watch "Roto-Finish" accelerate like that. The other was 3 years ago when I got to ride with C.J. in the safety plane during the morning Unlimited qualifying session on Wednesday..

[Shawn Aro]

Re: favorite reno air race moment

I would say 1979 that the year John Crocker was really running good and went out to win. And the exciting moment was after the championship race they announced that Steve Hinton was alive Shawn