Reno Air Races 2022 Qualifying Updates

[GRNDP51]

Reports.airrace.org is going through a re-design and we have to suffer with PDF reports for this year. It doesn't look like live updates will be a thing, so I'll try to update as I receive info, the old fashioned way...

F1: Fraed Naught at 249, Limitless at 248. Endeavor and Annie are standing down this year (not exactly sure what that means). 6 left to qualify tomorrow.

Nothing on Biplane yet.

[Pete]

10:40 monday morning and no qual times posted...

Hopefully they can get this stuff up in a more timely fashion this week. I check that page pretty frequently even when on site.

[Pete]

thanks GRNDP51 for the updates, please keep em coming.

[GRNDP51]

First Sport session has Lucky Girl at 321 (very fast), and Swiss Thunder just behind at 319. Gold likely going up in the second session if weather cooperates. Still nothing on Biplanes, T6 or Jets yet... Unlimiteds going up shortly.

[John H]

Thanks for these!

[greaseice]

Greetings:

Ok thanks for updating us. Yes I see the website does not have anything yet. Looking forward to later this week.

Cheers,
Brian

[shadow]

Thanks for the reports!

Speaking of the weather, how's the smoke? Anyone have any smoke forecasts?

Cheers,
Serge.

[GRNDP51]

Looks like it's raining. Gold jets are up right now trying to get some times anyway.

Some Unlimiteds took the clock. Shanty Irish backfired and sprayed fuel into the intake on startup per Dusty. Doesn't sound promising. Rushin' Thunder sounds really good and looks fast.

I'll try to get some numbers soon.

[GRNDP51]

Got Biplane Session 1 -

Second Hand at 200, Racer X also at 200. RB Special and Smokin' Hot (ex-Bad Mojo) yet to qualify. 2 others need to qualify as well.

[wadeh]

Shanty Irish backfired and sprayed fuel into the intake on startup per Dusty. Doesn't sound promising. Rushin' Thunder sounds really good and looks fast.

I'm out here early this year with a good friend (who is also my son's father-in-law). He's a retired A&P, and knows lots more about engines and airframes than I do. He's also great at starting conversations, where I'm seriously introverted. I'm learning a lot listening to the conversations that he starts.

We were standing at the edge of the ramp when they were trying to start Shanty Irish. They tried for a while to start it, and it almost caught hold a couple of times. Eventually one of the exhaust stacks blew some flames, which didn't concern us too much. When smoke started coming out of the cowl, that was a bigger deal. Some flaming debris ended up on the ground underneath, but we couldn't get a good look at it from out vantage. The fire department was out there pretty quick and got it out. After it had been back in the pits for a while, we stopped by. Apparently, it wasn't badly damaged. They said that they needed to change some hoses, but the wiring wasn't affected. I am hoping to see them back out there tomorrow.

If Rushin' Thunder is the Yak, it looked really good and fast, and sounded even better. We're really looking forward to seeing it race.

We stopped by Big Red in the T6 pits for a while. They were out today, replacing the brakes. When we came back to the campers, it looked like they were done.

We didn't see the fast sport planes fly today. Race 39, 24 and 30 are all near each other in the pits. Race 39 had the cowl of and tools underneath, which seems unusual. I normally see it in the pits all closed up and ready to go. My friend pointed the the cowl was not only not on the airplane, it was nowhere to be seen.

It started raining an hour or so ago, just before we started heading back. As I'm sitting here typing this, we just had a huge crack of thunder from very close by. And a second, farther one just now. So I am guessing that we may be done for the day.

If anyone knows if they post qualifying times anywhere we can get a look, I can stop by a couple of times tomorrow to check. I can hear the calls for the clock on the radio, but I've not heard times over the air.

Beyond that, the layout is fairly different this year. Last year, I think that we were down to 1 general admission grandstand. This year, there is less than that. There are two small stands (combined, they are much smaller than the one last year). They also set up several hundred folding chairs on the ramp in front of where the general grandstands normally go. We don't know what they are for. We asked one of the guys helping set them up, but he didn't know.

Otherwise, the field for most classes seems small this year. I think that there may even be less sport class planes than last year. The STOL drag group has lots of planes (including a couple of tricycle gear 182's), and put on a fun show this morning.

Weather wise, I was in heavy smoke all day Sunday on the drive from Ellensburg to Reno. This morning, most of the smoke had cleared out from around Stead, although it still smelled smoky. More smoke blew in, in the early afternoon. There were clouds off to the southwest all day, and they moved in this afternoon and we now have rain and lightning.