Shawn Time machine

[BellCobraIV]

That is pretty complete but with names wrong. Bob Gunderson was before 1972, and never raced the airplane. It was Ralph Rina who raced it from 1973-86 or so. Ralph was a very serious racer, and took the Reno Championship twice, in 1978 and 1984. There were also numerous second and third place finishes, and top qualifier a couple of times. Race 73 is also notable for having won Golds on both the somewhat suicidal 3 mile IF1 course and the much more sedate 5 mile course.

Great Racers -- both airplane and pilot.

Ralph Rina kept his T-6 in Compton in Hangar P1 (The Bearcat's former long time home) Which Lyle subletted to him until 1980 When I finally moved all the Bearcat parts out of the hangar with my friend Tim

[wingman]

First built as a T6, but the Navy ended up with it and made it an SNJ. Bob Gunderson bought it in '72 and it raced as Miss Everything from 73-86. in 1990 it appeared as race 59. Later named "Blue Bayou" 1991-92. Raced as "Two of Hearts" from 1996-2007. Returned in 2009 as "Margarita". 2012 it as "Dutchman". In 2010 it returned as "Tin Lizzy" In 2012 it returned as "Miss Evelyn Rose". 2015 saw a minor name change to "Miss Evelyn Rose Two of Hearts" Currently owned by Rose Farms Inc, Tallulah, LA

A long and impressive racing history.

Will

That is pretty complete but with names wrong. Bob Gunderson was before 1972, and never raced the airplane. It was Ralph Rina who raced it from 1973-86 or so. Ralph was a very serious racer, and took the Reno Championship twice, in 1978 and 1984. There were also numerous second and third place finishes, and top qualifier a couple of times. Race 73 is also notable for having won Golds on both the somewhat suicidal 3 mile IF1 course and the much more sedate 5 mile course.

Great Racers -- both airplane and pilot.

[RAD2LTR]

First built as a T6, but the Navy ended up with it and made it an SNJ. Bob Gunderson bought it in '72 and it raced as Miss Everything from 73-86. in 1990 it appeared as race 59. Later named "Blue Bayou" 1991-92. Raced as "Two of Hearts" from 1996-2007. Returned in 2009 as "Margarita". 2012 it as "Dutchman". In 2010 it returned as "Tin Lizzy" In 2012 it returned as "Miss Evelyn Rose". 2015 saw a minor name change to "Miss Evelyn Rose Two of Hearts" Currently owned by Rose Farms Inc, Tallulah, LA

A long and impressive racing history.

Will

[wingman]

So no takers on the history of this very interesting airframe?? Here it is at Reno 1981. This was not the end of the story....

[wingman]

Lincoln? 1976 I believe. First race I ever saw and we were inside the course, pretty cool. Bomber race was a highlight.

I was going to ask the same thing. I didn't think they had T-6s at Lincoln, though. It turns out I was wrong and there were indeed T-6s.

This could be a good quiz question -- who can tell us what eventually happened to #73 -- the second aircraft in line in Shawn's photo?

[Leo]

Lincoln? 1976 I believe. First race I ever saw and we were inside the course, pretty cool. Bomber race was a highlight.

[Shawn Aro]

here is a photo my dad took it was the only air race located in California other them Mojave and Bakersfield