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Friday Sept 17, 2004
Bill Pearce notes

So Greenamyer blasted past to a 342.087 mph race victory. Blue Thunder lost power during the race and finished at 332.670 mph. John Parker declared a mayday with smoke in the cockpit and dropping oil pressure. Upon landing it was evident that oil had come out of the engine.

So here are the questions:

Why did Blue Thunder lose power?
Where did the oil come from?
How low did the oil pressure get?
Was the engine damaged?
Can we fix it?

On a side note the Blue Thunder shirts are going fast. Stop in to grab yours soon.

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Friday Sept 17, 2004
Naomi West's notes

Correction from yesterday Last report of Ridge Runner having an Engine Change was incorrect, it was a prop change in Voodoo's pit.

The engine was actually put into Merlins Magic, with help from the Furius boys. Bill Rogers is enjoying the Races - no stress!!

Miss America pulled out of the Bronze race today due to oil on the windscreen. At the time of this writing, the cause was still unknown to this writer.

Rare Bear ran a fantastic second place in the Gold heat race. After the race, the team said that they felt good about the plane and they were doing some compression checks.

The wind was blowing very hard by the end of the Unlimited Gold heat race and all of the landings were pretty rough due to cross winds.

Word is out that if the winds continue and/or increase to 35 knots then the racers will not be able to race. Keeping fingies crossed that it doesn't get that bad!

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Thursday Sept 16, 2004
Bill Pearce notes

Blue Thunder won the Sports class race 1A. No official time yet but unofficially..... wow. It is all made possible by ERC Racing Fuels, Hartzell Propellers and Ryan Falconer Racing Engines. And thanks for cheering us on. Blue Thunder ran like a watch and no problems were encountered.

Greenamyer had trouble starting for the race and his engine quit as he was taxiing out. Greenamyer later pulled out with trouble (burned piston maybe). He was in second place, about 10 seconds behind the leader at the time. His crew chief Andy Chivatte (sorry I don't know how to spell his last name) said that they would be back in the air this evening.

NXT is being built up and I have it on good authority that it will taxi under it's own power soon. They will borrow a prop from a former sport race plane that is not racing this year; American Air Racing's Glasair III, Race 300.

I spoke with Patricia and she said that the plane is in good shape, with only three body parts that need replacement: gear door, oil cooler scoop, and wingtip. They are in positive spirits and are a great goup of people.

Pardue in the Bearcat was first across the line in the Unlimited 1C.

There is a biplane that ground looped on landing and is in the infield. Pilot okay. I don't know who it was.

Big Bossman ran with a new tire and no problems.

Rare Bear has what appears (to me) to be the blower section out of the plane. They are working hard and I know that they will be in the air soon.

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Thursday Sept 16, 2004
Naomi West's notes

Precious Metal pulled off the course due to a faulty spray bar and hot temperatures but once he leveled out, the spray bar started working and all was well. Buccarelli landed safely and says "Hello" to his lovely wife.

Ridge Runner is getting a complete engine change tonite but no reason was given.

RareBear: work now limited to blower section. if all goes well, airplane should be ready for flight Friday.

D. Greenamyer had a run-away prop in the fourth lap and landed safely. Not sure if he will be able to run tomorrow.

J. Parker was miles ahead of the pack with almost a minute lead at the finish line. 654.225 (Parker) 747.158 (Behel)

D. Morss had a great run in Thurs Sport Heat 1B race and won the race with a 9 second lead.

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9:00PM: Rare Bear Not Out Of Race! Crew working on fix overnight, ground tests followed by flight test (if all goes well) scheduled for tomorrow AM.

6:00PM: Naomi West reports that NemesisNXT has pulled up pegs and abandoned camp. Apparantly the damage to the airplane was too great to attempt a fix at Reno Stead prior to race day. We wish you well Jon and Trish!

4:53PM: Precious Metal, who ran great in the afternoon session, has some kick ass shirts for sale. But don't forget about Blue Thunder's shirts!

Sept Pops popped. Plane and Mike are okay but there is damage to the cowling. Don't know how serious.

Dreadnought replaced at least one cyl. last night and flew today; sounded good.

Rare Bear is being worked on.

Riff Raff is running a Skyraider style scoop and seemed to be running very well.

Sparky has jelly beans smeared all over it. Looks good! (Jelly Belly sponsorship).

Ridge Runner running like a wild boar! Welcome back Danny.

NemesisNXT as of 5:00 PM was still by runway 8. It looks like the prop did strike, but I'm not 100% sure. Team NXT has packed up their pit area. I know the Jon and crew will get her back and she will be better than ever. I am very glad that Jon appeared to be okay and wish the team the best of luck.

At the first sport class session, Greenamyer, Sharp, and Parker lined up together. There was so much excitement and anticipation that these three planes, pilots, and team brought with them to the line. My heart goes out the NXT team!

Greenamyer qualified at 347 mph in 2nd place.

John Parker in Blue Thunder qualified 1st in the sports class at 349.507 mph. That also makes Blue Thunder the fastest normally aspirated aircraft in the world. Also the fastest recorded Sport Class speed in the RARA database!

Bill Pearce

11:45AM: Direct to you from Reno-Stead Airport, both Naomi West and Bill Pearce just reported in that Jon Sharp had a left main gear collapse on landing at Reno Stead. No report on damage to the airplane, however Sharp is OK, Repeat Jon Sharp IS OK! Pictures and damage report on this exciting entry (NemesisNXT) let's all say a little "no damage" prayer and hope that Team NXT can get her in the show!

Earlier Updates:

• Official sources at Team Rare Bear report problems in the engine. Source of problem was unknown at time of statement from the team. Work underway to isolate and repair the problem. Team sitting well in second place qualifying position presently. This would give them until Friday to find and repair the problem.
• Czech Mate is reporting a bent landing gear strut. The team reports that the problem is repairable and they expect to fly later today
• Dreadnought undergoing cylinder change... no word on why.

Please note: AAFO.COM will do our very best atttempt to verify the accuracy of all reports prior to publishing to this update list. In the event we manage to get something wrong, corrections will be made as soon as possible.