Photo of Saturday's UNL finish?

[wingman]

Re: Photo of Saturday's UNL finish?

Was Strega overtaking Voodoo before the dive at the end? On TV it looked like Tiger was pretty much running even with Steve for the second half of the race. How did it look in person?

Neal

[Idaho_cowpony]

Re: Photo of Saturday's UNL finish?

The Last lap:
(As I remember it...haven't had the chance to watch video yet..)

Start of the last lap... Tiger was gaining big time, then he went WAY WIDE into #2. Actually...he was a bit wide through the home-stretch too...

This is okay.. It's a MUCH FASTER line that what Stevo does heading into #2. (Now..Stevo does super-super from about pylon 4, through 8..)

This gave the perspective that Tiger lost a bunch of ground.. but in fact, heading toward 4/5 he probably had 35mph or so on Stevo. AND HE HAD MORE ALTITUDE. The combination led to extreme speeds for Strega down the valley of speed, and he was once again gaining fast. He passed Stevo in the dive, at the home pylon..and won.

Best race Ever.


Now.. Stevo flies a solid, consistent race. Very consistent. But Tiger had the faster airplane, just a couple more years, and the guts to give us that show on Saturday.

I'll never forget it.

- Joseph

[Box A35]

Re: Photo of Saturday's UNL finish?

Neal,
How did it look in person? It looked like Tiger was flying a very loose line, even went wide at the end of the white flag lap and it looked like there wasn't much chance of him catching VooDoo. Then Strega ducked back in, flew a tighter line, seemed to "cobb it" (maybe VooDoo let off a bit? - don't know, don't care. It was awesome....) and was a little loose coming up and down a bit and probably had VooDoo by 10-20 mph trap speed at the finish line.

There will never be a closer race. If so, it could never be scripted, and if it were, it couldn't turn out to be closer.

For being 6 years out of the saddle, and flying at this level...... and living up to his reputation. Awesome, just AWESOME!

From the naked eye you just couldn't tell who won. Strega clearly had speed on Voodoo at the Home pylon though.

To purists, fallout of 2011 and the "new" and "improved" rules be damned (yada yada yada), Tiger won that race. That's all, but yet we know he was officially DQ'd. In any other year pre '11 though, ho-lee-**** - Tiger delivered true to form, and crossed the finish line first.

You will watch from about 6:30 on many times, over and over. I have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_4BUvGU8co&feature=youtu.be

[1:1 Scale]

Re: Photo of Saturday's UNL finish?

Start of the last lap... Tiger was gaining big time, then he went WAY WIDE into #2. Actually...he was a bit wide through the home-stretch too...

He must've been futzing with his lucky pliers...

[Jim58]

Re: Photo of Saturday's UNL finish?

I have watched this over and over....maybe its just my eye....but it looks like Steve is in a slight nose up attitude already at the home pylon....already beginning his exit from the course....

does anybody else see this? or is it just the nose down attitude of Tiger that gives the illusion?

[badman]

Re: Photo of Saturday's UNL finish?

I have watched this over and over....maybe its just my eye....but it looks like Steve is in a slight nose up attitude already at the home pylon....already beginning his exit from the course....

does anybody else see this? or is it just the nose down attitude of Tiger that gives the illusion?

Looks the same to me - like he started his pull-up BEFORE he got to the home pylon. I wonder if anyone was talking to him on the radio about how fast Strega was closing and how close he was at the end? And, while the Voodoo tail cam shows the shadows really nice, did/could Steve see them?

[Ken Adkins]

Re: Photo of Saturday's UNL finish?

Just re-watched the video of Saturday's Gold race. Was Tiger DQ-ed for flying high the entire race, or was there one specific lap/pylon that they dinged him on? Sure wish this would have been the race for the trophy on Sunday!

[Baerclawz]

Re: Photo of Saturday's UNL finish?

From our vantage point in the pits between Argonaut and Sawbones' pits we were
all wondering at what point Steveo knew that Strega was a non-factor due to the
altitudes he was flirting with and the extremely wide line he took over the valley
after the front stretch. A few of us also thought he may have cut 8 at one point.
We also know how much faster a "looser" line can be, just watch Skip circa 2003.
How much of his speed came because of the course deviations?

Don't get me wrong...the last few laps were still the coolest I have ever seen.

[Big_Jim]

Re: Photo of Saturday's UNL finish?

Was Strega overtaking Voodoo before the dive at the end? On TV it looked like Tiger was pretty much running even with Steve for the second half of the race. How did it look in person?

Neal

Heres' what Hacker and I saw from 2, Neal. Tiger, after the first lap or so, was consistently closing, but it wasn't until coming down the VoS to take the white flag that he started making a move to pull even with Voodoo. He pulled close crossing start finish but as he came our way it was noticeable that he went high and wide...to the point where both Hacker and I thought he was pulling out, and thought we heard the motor dying on him. So we were somewhat surprised that by the time they got to 4 and 5 he was diving back down and making another run at him in the VoS for the finish.

This is the series of photos...not all of them in focus, unfortunately. I was out of my element without my iPhone.

[wingman]

Re: Photo of Saturday's UNL finish?

Nice set of photos. I do sympathise with you, having to make do with a camera instead of a telephone, though. Sometimes life is tough.

So the general impression was that Tiger was slowly closing before the final lap? So running maybe 490-495 laps? It could have been very interesting if he had not blown Pylon 2.

Neal

[JMS]

Re: Photo of Saturday's UNL finish?

From my perspective from the High G Ridge I recall the gap between the two planes being cut in half before the dive heading to the Home Pylon.

No one has mentioned the use of NOS. Anybody have any thoughts? Quite a few years ago I recall Strega was second and I heard on the radio from the pits the call for NOS. As it turned out I believe the leader cut a pylon and Tiger had a front row seat and didn't have to give anything more for a win.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Photo of Saturday's UNL finish?

I watched from just about the beginning of the big grandstands (west end of them) what I remember seeing was something of a three stage approach by Tiger.. Looked to me like he held ground back a bit early race, waited till Stevo backed off a bit, then came on strong.. but not as strong as he could.. again, only my perspective, but it looked like he picked the area where it would be hardest for the crew to be spotters and tell Stevo where Tiger was, VOS... he then poured on even more and, I'd love to talk with Steve, but it almost looked like that sly old Tigerman had a major plan to try to outfox Kerch in that he made his move, but it wasn't his move.. I think he just might have caught them out a bit on just how much he had and was willing to put out..

Never let the truth get in the way of a really good memory!

That's how I saw it.. Also looked like Sherm went to the same school and was using similar tactic...

[CJAM427]

Re: Photo of Saturday's UNL finish?

A friend shared this photo with me,
I think this is my personal favorite of them all.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/50393882@N00/15114594097/in/photolist-piSJTF-ph7Aks-------p2CfeX-piHDun-piYbQS-p2vojj-pgXC4W-pj16wz-p2utJR-p2v9Z5-p2uQSc-p22CvS-p233en-pgu8tJ-p2338k-p21JgT-pieN8a-p22ANJ-p21YWA-p21YUS-p21Wn7-p22HzP-p1KLfb-phXrXn-p1Kzf4-phXxyn-p1JLsD-pgcDZN-p1KCWH-p1K4sG-phXBav-p1K7ob-pieUyR-p1KA37-p1D95E-phS9Ba-p1DUN4-p1CR6i-pi739U-phLws6-p2EndU-pj7Ndj-phXukD-pieZhi

[wingman]

Re: Photo of Saturday's UNL finish?

Outstanding photo -- the best so far.

Neal

[Reever]

Re: Photo of Saturday's UNL finish?

A friend shared this photo with me,
I think this is my personal favorite of them all.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/503938...-phXukD-pieZhi

That is so FREAKIN close! Great shot!