Reno Air Races 2007

[427TJ]

One of the great Unlimited Championship races occurred last Sunday at Reno and I almost missed it. I couldn't get on a flight out of Sacramento on Sunday morning so I grabbed a Hertz-Taurus and sped up to Reno for the Sunday show--it was a beautiful drive up through the Sierras too. Anyway, a friend of a friend races an SNJ (T-6 Texan) and I met up with them and got in for free (ka-ching). My close friend Paul (ex-USAF pilot and current WWII fighter flyer) met me at the gate at noon with my wristband, he gave me a full briefing on the goings-on and pits scuttlebutt, and we spent the day walking the pits and watching the show from the roof of our buddy's motorhome in the pits. "Rare Bear," the highly-modified #77 Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat and current world speed record holder for propeller-driven aircraft (538 mph), was rumored to be having carburetion problems and had made several hurried test flights on Sunday morning before I got there. It looked as though Mike Brown and his modified British Hawker Sea Fury "September Fury" were going to win the Gold race with ease. At about 3:30 Rare Bear was buttoned up and towed out of its hangar where it had been getting plenty of attention and the excitement then began to build. Approaching 5:00 the crews towed the racers out for the briefing in front of the crowd and then they were airborne. Rare Bear took-off and joined-up in formation in third position with the R-4360 Sea Fury "Dreadnaught" in second and September Fury on the pole. Pace pilot Steve Hinton lead the pack down the "chute" from the south and cut them loose. What a sound. They boomed onto the course at close to 500 mph and as they rounded the top/north end of the nine-mile pylon course it was Mike Brown being pressed hard by Rare Bear! John Penney in Rare Bear had quickly flown around Dreadnaught to take over second and was coming in close on Mike Brown as the pace lap unfolded. All of a sudden everybody began to realize at once that whatever had been the problem with Rare Bear all week it looked like it had been cured. WHAM--they went past the crowd at about 480-490 to finish the pace lap and Rare Bear was all over September Fury:



On the next lap Rare Bear had actually flown around September Fury and had taken the lead! The whole place was on edge as Rare Bear roared down the west chute and rounded Pylon 8 toward the crowd and then the Bear belched out a plume of black smoke:



That shot above was almost exactly my vantage point for the race, by the way. My buddy and I thought, Oh shi*, there goes the Bear's engine. No...he's still in it and he's still pulling away! Lap after lap (eight total) Rare Bear slowly extended his lead until the checkered flag fell. WHOOPIE! The Bear won it again, average lap speed 472! Mike Brown in September Fury had maydayed-out on the final lap and had pulled up so it was Sherm Smoot in his bad-ass little R-2800 powered Russian Yak who got second place. Matt Jackson in Dreadnaught had crossed the line second but was penalized for flying too wide on the east side of the course so he dropped back in the standings.

As we quickly headed for the exit we saw Rare Bear still booming around about 3000 feet overhead at what looked like race speed. Rare Bear's throttle had stuck at race power! He sped around overhead for about 10 minutes with Steve Hinton in his T-33 pace jet close in formation and John Penney was finally able to get Rare Bear on the ground safely.

The photo below shows Mike Brown on the left and John Penney on the right celebrating one of the best, most exciting Unlimited Championship races in Reno Air Races history.



And to think I almost got on a plane and went home to Seattle on Sunday morning.

[SS427]

Thanks for the great photos and story. Some day I will get to that race. Bad enough I won't be making it to the Gathering of Mustangs next weekend. As you said, the sound of those birds going by is like nothing else.

[ORIGLS6]

Cool shots Bill. Those things give me chills!

Did I miss something? Why is the flag at half-mast?

[SS427]

Likely because they lost a couple of pilots at this years event due to crashes though I don't think you can legally fly the flag at half mast because of that.

[JRSully]

Didn't they stop those unlimited races for a while.? too many accidents somebody told me. Last one I saw was in Phoenix back in the mid 90's. very cool stuff to watch, now if they would do it with F-14's.....

[rich p]

Looks like a friend on mine took his P-51 "Cripes a Mighty" and was selected as the Overall Winner and Best Military winner of the RR Heritage Trophy at Reno this year

I told you the prices of these planes were going up in Value when he climbed into the cockpit..

Here's the Link and his NAME !!!

http://www.heritagetrophy.org/sp_winners_circle_lp.php

[SS427]

Is this the same Bill Wiemann of musclecar fame?

[rich p]

Yes thats Bill W

[427TJ]

[ QUOTE ]
Didn't they stop those unlimited races for a while.?

[/ QUOTE ]

The National Air Races were halted after the 1949 Cleveland event, flown over the outer suburbs of Cleveland, when Bill Odom crashed in his modified P-51C. Odom had flown erraticly throughout the event, some saying that he was in over his head flying the modified Mustang fighter--Odom having been a medium bomber pilot during the war. During the final heat the airplane went out of control rounding a pylon and crashed into a house, killing a woman and her baby. The air races were revived in 1964 at Reno Sky Ranch by rancher and sportsman Bill Stead. (Bill Stead's brother, Croston Stead, was killed while in the USAF and nearby Stead AFB, the current site of the Reno races 1966-present, was named in his honor.) Bill Stead was also an unlimited hydroplane racer and several of the hydro guys jumped onto the air racing bandwagon in '64, bringing with them the hydroplane system of point allocation, etc. Bill Stead hired hydro driver Mira Slovak to fly his F8F-2 Bearcat and Slovak won the inaugural Reno event in 1964. Korean war F-86 Sabre ace Bob Love, in a borrowed P-51D, actually beat Slovak across the finish line but the cumbersome hydroplane points system awarded Slovak the win on the basis of higher cumulative points earned dusing the event. They hydro points system was abandoned for the '65 Reno races after several pilots protested.

[SS427]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes thats Bill W

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow. I had a lot of respect for him as a Musclecar collector but had no idea he was into Warbirds as well. If I ever have the pleasure of meeting him I will now have even more to talk about.
Rick