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Race of the Also-rans

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  • Race of the Also-rans

    So Marvin\'s taking his seat in the great ready room in the sky last week has this old brain churning. When he won in 1976, it wasn\'t because he was the fastest. It was because when all the hotdogs were done blowing up engines, shucking blower gears, and straying off the race course, he was the first legal finisher to cross the line.

    Thunderbird was then, as always, a stocker. Might have had a beefed up Merlin, but make no mistake. She was stock.

    Same thing when Kenny Burnstine was handed the big trophy through the back door two years earlier in Suzy Q. He was 3/4 the race course behind the people who should have won.

    And then there is my buddy Skip Holm. When he won in old Joe\'s Healer up in Canada, he was the plane in the entire field with the least number of pylon cuts--on a day when nobody could find the race course.

    Marvin, Kenny, and Skip. All three pretty good sticks. Three bone-stock Mustangs who all ended up with big championship trophies.

    Four lap Saturday night trophy dash on the current race course at Reno for a $500K winner-take-all. Lefty in Thunderbird, Burnstine in Suzy Q, and Skip in Healer. $500,000 prize for the guy who gets there first.

    Who and why?

    I know my answer, but I\'m not saying.

  • #2
    Re: Race of the Also-rans

    Do they all get to have the same motor? If so I'd be inclined toward Skip -- he flies the best and most consistent course I've ever seen, I think...

    Lefty would be right behind, and very close...

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    • #3
      Re: Race of the Also-rans

      Yikes!

      It would be a three way tie!

      Miss Suzy Q first because Ken only raced her for two years. Qualified at 392 the second year out, impressive for a stocker.

      Thunderbird second because while Lefty's (RIP) average speeds in the T-bird were respectable at the high 380's, and he had the balls to fly it tight and low, I never thought he had the killer instinct in competition.

      Healer last because Skips averages in the bird were in the mid to low 390's on a good day, the first two years it raced. Then averages dropped very low into the 330's toward the mid 1990's.
      '71 S.D.1000, '85-'91,'94',95,'97-'99,'02,'04,'06,'08,'10,'13,'14 NCAR.

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      • #4
        Re: Race of the Also-rans

        Skip with owner Joe Kasparoff, with both looking a bit bemused after finishing 4th or 5th or whatever and winning at Moose Jaw. I do think we should have more races sponsored by beer companies -- I did enjoy that aspect of the Moose Jaw experience...

        Neal
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        • #5
          Re: Race of the Also-rans

          three way tie but i am leaning torward skip (just a great pilot)
          http://www.rarebear.com



          chris

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          • #6
            Re: Race of the Also-rans

            Just wondering, is Kasparoff still around? Not involved with anything in vintage aviation I suspect?

            T J

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            • #7
              Re: Race of the Also-rans

              Originally posted by T J Johansen
              Just wondering, is Kasparoff still around? Not involved with anything in vintage aviation I suspect?

              T J
              Believe Joe K's deceased fm cancer a few years back. ( )

              DBD

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