Some old Reno pics

[Jan]

One of Mac's first flights in the repainted racer, Eufala, Alabama, 1974. Now you know what it is.... (John Tegler photo)

[Jan]

The same fast racer getting closer to completion in Eufala, Alabama in 1974.... (John Tegler photo)

[Jan]

A fast racer making a transition to something new.... in Eufala, Alabama, 1974. That should give y'all a clue... (John Tegler photo)

[Russ Craig]

DITTO!!

[RAD2LTR]

This thread is made of the stuff that makes this site awesome. Thank you to all who are participating here. I'd love to see more threads like this.

thanks again,
Will

[Jan]

Great images Neal. They look as good to me as today's digital photos or better. No, not quite as sharp but richer somehow. Anyway, that's my take.

Terrific history John. Good stuff on "Z". Dad had the connection to drag racing but you illuminated it further. Eric and I have always like a plethora of motorsports including drag racing. If you haven't done so already, read Tommy Ivo's book - TV Tommy Ivo: Drag Racing's Master Showman. It's terrific.

Interesting to have a bit of insight into how Z worked and how the people he brought on - Nixon, Scoville, etc - operated. I guess the egos there, like the talent, could have been pretty considerable. Cool to know how Zeuschel acted as a springboard for other folks' careers.

Also very interesting about Larsen, Shaw and Foxy Lady. Somewhere among Dad's taped interviews is one with Burnstine. I remember hearing it decades ago. I doubt there were many people that actually interviewed him at the time. He had an interesting way of speaking and was a joker/humorous.

Since the last photo showed Foxy Lady before it was fully "Foxy Lady", here's another as it was getting its full artwork in the pits at Reno 1974. No Hebrew Hornets here, just the (mostly) naked lady... (Photo, John Tegler)

[wingman]

Mac McClain -- Reno 1980

[wingman]

I quite agree with Greg Shaw about the blue stripe. This airplane was beautiful.

[BellCobraIV]

Somewhere in one of the books I have, there is a pic of the Bear with that 3 blader under race power. There was a stripe on the airplane which began on the cowling and ran down the sides which was displaced the full width of the stripe. The stripe appeared to be a couple inches wide....little bit of torque there---- Way back when one was allowed to stand on the ramp leaning up against the fuel truck during the races, when that Bear Cat came down the deadline runway and was running good and right, the ground beneath your feet would shake. The concussion/shock waves off that thing was something else...

The rotary offset at full tilt was around 1 3/4" so pretty close. An experience I had was when we did a test flight profile with the 3 blade where Lyle was to make a pass down the runway with the Nitrous on at about 300' above the ground level. I was quite used to the Nitrous Oxide passes from the 3KM run standing at the end of the runway with a radio reminding Lyle, Nitrous on, Nitrous off, to preserve as much Nitrous as possible. This was in preparation for the case of another airplane beating the 3KM and us having to re-establish the record. Standing on the end of the runway with the Bear at speed with the 3 blade, it literally sucked the air out of my lungs. It was such a high. Impossible to really describe, maybe the same as swimming with Great White Sharks in a giant seal suit.

[BellCobraIV]

A clean Mustang with Jim Larsen mods... Had a Hovey motor... Borrowed a Zeuschel spinner.

Jan,
NO doubt that Jim Larsen did the actual design of the modifications that ultimately turned into multiple clones of Foxy Lady. Greg Shaw had a very detailed 1/24 scale model that he shared with Kenny at the Sky trails restaurant before Reno in 1973. That model was surprising similar to Larsen's ultimate airplane. Rooster or the egg, or just natural progression.

I still have two of the Hebrew Hornets from the tail that never got used. As the Planes of Fame Museum gets closer to opening in their new location I've decided to donate a good deal of the "Treasures" in the chest to their air racing section.

[BellCobraIV]

It seems incredible that one shop could do this many engines (plus spares) of this caliber in a year. How many people worked for Zeuschel Racing Engines during this period -- say 1975 to 1980? Did Dave give all 5 teams personal support during the race week? Did he ever get accused of favouritism or conflict of interest?

As incredible as it seems, perhaps the rearview mirror of history will make things clearer...As explained to me by several of the main characters each with his own slant, which I will filter.

Dave had an innovative and quite successful drag racing career as a West Coast racer. However it was a "Z" motor with Frank Cannon in a Woody Gilmore chassis in December of 1964 that the first backed up 1/4 mile pass to break the 200 MPH barrier occurred. (Note there are East Coast guys that previously "claimed" the time slip, however the timing units that were used are highly in doubt.)
Dave had built Merlins for Bob Nordskogg in Unlimited Hydroplane racing. Dave went on one of the first drag racing tours with his Cadillac and TV. Tommy Ivo all over the country. So Dave had the reputation to attract talent. Randy Scoville and Mike Nixon both worked for "Z" at the beginning of this time frame.

So the talent in the shop (and the egos) was very high. They could each handle their own projects and Dave could feel free to go out and get new work. So they had the ability to do the work and get the work. Mike Nixon would ultimately be given the opportunity by Don Whittington to leave and start his own shop out at Chino after a Zeuschel motor in the ME-109 had metal in the screens on the way to Reno. Randy Scoville would later take over the Griffon project on the Red Baron and Dave continued on. I think that Ricky was coming in the door around the time a lot of this was going on.

Hope that offered you answers.

[Jan]

"Half the racers here are running serious Zeuschel racing engines. It's interesting that the bottom airplane years later proudly carried the Race number of the rearmost airplane here, and the pilot of the former later did quite well in the latter."

McClain went from "Escape I" to "Jeannie" two years later.

[Jan]

A clean Mustang with Jim Larsen mods... Had a Hovey motor... Borrowed a Zeuschel spinner.

[wingman]

And this is the start of the Championship Race on Sunday. Clay Klabo at airline altitude (he is the only airline pilot here). Clay was actually the top qualifier. Bottom left is Mac McClain, next to Cliff Cummins in Miss Candace and Don Whittington in the lovely Precious Metal. The Red Baron is probably out of the frame to the left, and Putman and Lefty to the right.







There were seven Racers in the 1977 Championship Race. Five of the top six were powered by Zeuschel engines. The three fastest were over 424 mph. The Red Baron set a new race record speed. All five of the Zeuschel engines ran over 380 mph. This was a really fast race by 1970s standards.

It seems incredible that one shop could do this many engines (plus spares) of this caliber in a year. How many people worked for Zeuschel Racing Engines during this period -- say 1975 to 1980? Did Dave give all 5 teams personal support during the race week? Did he ever get accused of favouritism or conflict of interest?

[wingman]

So this was my first Unlimited pylon photo -- the beginning of the first race I ever did from a pylon. This is when I discovered that Pylon 1 was not necessarily the best place to do starts from. I was quite green at this point -- knew nobody except Tegler and I had only spoken on the phone with him before arriving at Stead. I didn't know anybody in the press corps to ask anything -- it really was winging it.

Half the racers here are running serious Zeuschel racing engines. It's interesting that the bottom airplane years later proudly carried the Race number of the rearmost airplane here, and the pilot of the former later did quite well in the latter.






Here is the second Friday heat race. It looks like I figured out that Pylon 2 might work better. This was Darryl's first race in the RB-51. Again half the visible racers are powered by Zeuschel.