FACES @ THE RACES

[BuckyD]

'Face of Experience'- JOHN PENNEY

Born into an aviation family at Indio, CA. in 1947- Capt. John Penney has worn alot of aviation hats over the years, & has thousands of hours of tested experience enhancing his pilot proficiency:

Aeronautical Engineer & Test Pilot, Veteran USAF Top Gun Fighter Combat Pilot (w/140 combat missions in SE Asia) & Air National Guardsman, Flight Instructor, Corporate Pilot, Jet Airlines Captain, Sailplane Pilot, Scale RC Model Builder, Flying Warbird Museum Collection Chief Pilot, and as we all have come to know & admire him- the Unlimited Class Champion Air Race Pilot w/multiple Gold Trophy wins flying #77 RARE BEAR. John started flying The Bear for Lyle Shelton at Reno '85 & continues as Race #77's skipper today for current owner- Rod Lewis, as one of the Unlimited Class' most senior & experienced race pilots still actively-competing today. John Penney is also a 2-time Jet Class Gold Trophy Champion.

In salute of this fine gentleman of aviation, here are four RB cockpit portraits of John, presented here in chronological sequence ('naturally age-enhanced', w/each one taken about six years apart: '90-'96-'02 & '09).

Thank you- Capt. John Penney, for all you've contributed towards to benefit aviation on so many levels & your great skills demonstrated out on the racecourse. You're been one of- 'The Best of The Best'! "BRAVO!-JP"!

DBD

(& BTW-you certainly do wear your years well!)

[Bob]

Re: FACES @ THE RACES

BuckyD,
Your awsome, thank you for taking the time to put together these wonderful stories and photos.
You Da Man in my books
Bob

[BuckyD]

Re: FACES @ THE RACES

Hey Bob-

You're very welcome, & thanks in return f/your kind words of appreciation. Comin' from a real die-hard fan like you, that means alot.

Don't want to lose our focus, tho'- we all come to see those beautiful awesome airspeed machines, but it's really all about the racers & their crews, -in every one of the racing classes, who put it all out on the line to compete in the world's-fastest motorsport. Me & all my wonderfully-talented colleagues- we do have a tremendous amount of fun & excitement documenting & telling their stories for the record. Without a doubt, we're all in the middle of some really great aviation history in the making! It's our job to share it w/the rest of the world, I'd like to think, & to do our best to get it right when we pass it on.

To quote Lyle Shelton- "FLY FAST!"

DBD

[BuckyD]

Re: FACES @ THE RACES

'Faces of Great Flying Friends' -

Reno '06 NCAR AWARDS BANQUET - Sunday 9/17/06

As the '06 Awards Banquet winded down to its' close- a tight-knit bunch of trophy-bearing air race veterans posed f/a group portrait on their way out the door:

(L-R): Unlimited Class pilots- C. J. Stephens, Dennis Sanders & Will Whiteside, Aviation insurance man- Bob Cannon, UNL pilot- Matt Jackson, UNL crew chief- Larry Rengstorf & UNL pilot- Brian Sanders.

It's a well-known fact: These gentlemen all belong to the- "FRATERNITY OF FAST-FLYING"!!!

DBD

[wingman]

Re: FACES @ THE RACES

I reckon this should fit into a "faces at the Races" thread....

I'm not gonna name any names here, but at the end of a nice Sunset shoot out on the ramp, something happened. The unnamed photographer had a definite "Bucky Moment".

This phenomenon is well known to all who worship the almighty pixel...

By the way, that object in the photographer's right hand is a roll of Kodachrome -- definitely on the wrong side of a film cassette!

Neal

[BuckyD]

Re: FACES @ THE RACES

EXCELLENT- 'tripod blur', Neal! You Da Man!

DBD

[sierra fox]

Re: FACES @ THE RACES

EXCELLENT- 'tripod blur', Neal! You Da Man!

DBD

Bucky,

wasnt there a similar incident in 79, involving a certain red racer, which shall also remain nameless.....forgive me if i have my stories mixed up

[BuckyD]

Re: FACES @ THE RACES

Well, ya know Anthony, in answer to your question- an 'olde' time-worn cliche' comes to mind:

"Those who don't pay attention to history, -are doomed to repeat it." (Or something along those lines...including photographers!)

DBD

[wingman]

Re: FACES @ THE RACES

Hell, in matters photographic I seem quite able to repeat my past mistakes even when really trying to pay attention.

But maybe it's just me...

Neal

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: FACES @ THE RACES

Hell, in matters photographic I seem quite able to repeat my past mistakes even when really trying to pay attention.

But maybe it's just me...

Not just you! We've talked about camera "PRE FLIGHT" several times, yet, I still have issues with ISO settings that I've used to deal with low light for certain situations and then forgot that I changed, later in the day, when shooting AIRPLANES..

Rule of thumb... (note to self) ISO 800+ is OK for shooting pilots in a hangar doing a brief where all of them are pretending they are airplanes, doing what they are going to do later while actually flying (for a movie in this case).. ISO 800+ is NOT OK for shooting said pilots ACTUALLY FLYING LATER IN THE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I rest my case and now, TRY to do a complete, ISO included pre-flight before shooting!

[BuckyD]

Re: FACES @ THE RACES

Well, all-rightey then..."And now to return to our regularly-scheduled program thread":

But before we do, I feel compelled to respond in-turn w/a couple portait pics of my own, -revealing aafo's -'resident photo guru' to site-goers- the famous (& sometimes- 'infamous') - NEAL NURMI

Neal's a longtime airshow/air race pal (& my original 35-mm photography mentor during my rookie years of shooting 'endless miles of over-exposures').

*The first shot of captures Neal enjoying a smoke break between air racing action at Reno '84, v. well-armed w/Nikon bodies & Nikkor+off-brand- heavy-lense artillery pieces.

*Next, we'll fast-forward to Reno '06 NCAR Awards Banquet, to portray a more recent incarnation of Neal, as- "Professor Nurmi", showing the 'Ravages of Time', resultant via many years spent cooking himself out in the hot desert sun, -chasing after countless fast airplanes racing around in circles- chasing after each other!

Fortunately, Neal is blessed to have the company of his sweet & charming wife- Birgitta Nurmi (-a very talented & accomplished aviation photo-journalist in her own right & co-pictured here), to help him- "Stay-Focused", in all his endeavours, at this point in his lengthy-career (-'no pun intended', ).

Seriously now, I'm glad to say I'm blessed to have these two wonderful people as dear friends & fellow aviation photo-journalists. The Nurmis are indeed- "Two of The Best!"

Don 'Bucky' Dawson

[JCP]

Re: FACES @ THE RACES

"The Nurmis are indeed- "Two of The Best!"

I agree!

JC

[Shawn Aro]

Re: FACES @ THE RACES

oh my gosh thats my dads old doge van we had . Shawn

[BuckyD]

Re: FACES @ THE RACES

One of the neat things about going to air races & airshows, -is the variety of interesting people attending, and you never know who you'll run into, including old friends you haven't seen for awhile.

Here's my old pal- FRANK RONCO- current National Air-racing Group, Inc. President, pictured here at Reno '02, -wearing a favorite pair of Ray-Ban aviator shades & sporting his great Jerry Colonna-style handle-bar moustache.

I first met Frank on 8/20/76, when I attended my first NAG meeting (@ Sambo's Restuarant in Hayward, CA.) as a new member.

At that time, the organization was known as the "Northwestern Area Group-Chapter 1" of USARA (United States Air Racing Assn., -prev. PRPA-Professional Race Pilots Assn.). Ronco joined-up in 1974 & was elected as NAG's V.P. in 1977. On 6/1/79, when the group's name was formally-changed over to: "National Air-racing Group, Inc.", Frank was aboard as one of the original 9 board members. Over the years, Frank has worn most every NAG hat: Pres., V.P., Secretary, Treasurer & NAG Rag newsletter editor, and using his graphic design talents, designed their colorful & distinctive logos.

Born in San Francisco in 1949, Ronco grew up in Sunnyvale, CA., & according to his bio notes in an old NAG Rag issue, Frank pretty much- "lived right under Moffett Field's flight pattern & spent much of his early life watching, drawing & building models of the planes that sparked his interest in aviation". He attended his first air race at Reno '70 & afterwards joined PRPA. Frank's also been a long-standing member of the IF-1 Racing Class organization.

Before I moved to Alaska from S.F. in 1977, I'd often meet up & hang-out w/Frank & all the NAG people at most every air race & airshow event. My favorite time w/Frank was in Oct. '76, when I got invited to join him & pal-Ted Curiel aboard their friend's Cessna 210 f/ an all-nite cross-country flight fm San Carlos, CA. to Harlingen, TX., to attend the CAF Airsho '76 annual flying warbird extravaganza. Now THAT mission was quite an adventure in & of-itself (& the airshow was totally-awesome, too!)

Frank Ronco is now retired from Sears, but continues to be involved w/air racing & sport aviation. Via NAG Treasurer- Betty Sherman, word has come that recently Frank had some emergency surgery performed & we all hope he's on the mend, & wish him a speedy recovery.

Thanks for all your many years of efforts promoting the air racing motorsport, Frank, & hope to see you at Reno 2010, old buddy! Keep Your Airspeed UP in the turns!!!

DBD

[BuckyD]

Re: FACES @ THE RACES

"UNSUNG HEROES"- 'Keep 'Em Flyin'!

Reno '99 NCAR- Tue. 9/14/99- Qualifying Days

From the Dawsonian archives:

Here's a shot of a Team Voodoo crewman working into the night prepping a Team Dago Red-loaned spare RR Merlin engine f/installation in Race #5 f/qualification & racing, after Voodoo's prop & engine were damaged during the team's initial Q-trial run. (It WAS a very long night f/TEAM VOODOO, indeed! But they came through & got the job done!!!)

DBD

(Note: Coming from a v. reliable souce- this guy's definately 'NOT'- Tim McGahey, as I'd erroneously noted previously. So for now, he's -'The Unknown Unsung Hero' Can anyone out there ID him? Thanks! DBD