Not just the Unlimited Gold, but the fastest unlimited gold racers in many years
are all here at the same time. They are all healthy. The teams and pilots are
ready to race. Are you ready? This is one great week of air racing!
Did you know that you would have to go way back to 1986 to not find one of these top
air racers in the winner's circle? That's right, since 1987 Dago Red, Strega,
Rare Bear or September Fury have been the only unlimited winners! There's a very
high probability that one of them will do it again. They all qualified as the
top four.
Rare Bear was racing the clock, not just the stop watch on the course but the real
clock. They were battling time to get that winning racer back online and in the
air before qualifying was over on Wednesday. On their first flight of 2008, John
Penney took off, checked out the racer and headed down onto the course to qualify.
Penney qualified good enough to hold 4th place, which will give the team until
Friday to get more work done.
The three other teams were all rolling along very nicely. All three performed
engine runs each day, checking and re-checking screens and plugs. Team Dago Red
and Team Strega both liked the morning runs and flights, while the
September Fury Team lit up the ramp with some impressive night runs. They were all
very confident in their chances to win. All that is left to do is prove it.
The top five qualifiers don't have to race until Friday. We are not expecting too
much from the top four, maybe one of them will switch places with the other, but
nothing too fast. They would have to save the real racing for Sunday, right?
All four pilots, Dan Martin, Mike Brown, Tiger Destefani and John Penney are all
competitors and do not like to lose.
Coming down the chute, Martin has pole, then Brown, Tiger and Penney. The rest of
the field will not compete with these guys, so I will apologize now for not mentioning
them very much. I'm at Pylon 5 with Nikon in hand, watching and shooting, shooting
and watching, what a great start. Here they come around four, Martin has Brown
at his 4 o'clock and close, a bit behind is Tiger up high and then Penney. Off
Penney's right wing is Smoot in Czech Mate. What a site to behold! They are
coming fast - around 470ish.
Then Race #4, Dago Red, has a problem. The racer is shaking and Dan has to pull
back power to sort out the problem. Telemetry and engine instruments inside the
cockpit are all in the green. It is not an engine problem. The rudder feedback tells
Dan that it's a problem with the rudder trim tab. This is a problem with the P-51s
that comes up in air racing. Martin is going to fight through it, but now he has
been passed by Brown and by Penney. Tiger is very close off Martin's wing.
Martin powers back up and keeps Tiger in 4th. One lap later Dan reels in Penney and
passes him to retake 2nd place. Brown is running strong and is in front by a
healthy margin. Dan pushes on, the merlin is singing like never before. All of
the top four are still close then Tiger powers back for the last couple laps - he
has seen what he wanted to for one day and takes fourth.
Friday Gold
1st >> #232 September Fury, Mike Brown 469.7
2nd >> #4 Dago Red, Dan Martin 464.7
3rd >> #77 Rare Bear, John Penney 462.1
4th >> #7 Strega, Tiger Destefani 446
5th >> #86 Czech Mate
6th >> #105 Spirit of Texas
7th >> #13 Fury
Great race! But, Penney is having a gear problem and can only get one leg of the
Bear to come down! Fuel and ADI are both low. Penney is joined by pace pilot
Steve Hinton in the T-33 and they work on the problem. If they cannot get both mains either
up or down, the possibility of a bail out comes into play. Several tense minutes
pass by, no change. Finally, they get all legs down and locked. Penney comes in
and lands on 14 safely. Nice work everyone.
The Dago Red and Rare Bear pits are alive and active on Friday night. The shaking
of the tail of Dago Red when the trim tab broke has jarred loose some of the bondo that kept this slick
racer slick. They have to fix the rudder problem and the cracked and broken bondo
joints. Dago's rudder is too far gone to fix quickly. They need another rudder.
Dan calls friend Ted Contri who has 2 P-51s in the Carson Nv area. He is a really
nice man and lets Dan use one of his rudders to finish the races. Meanwhile, the
Rare Bear team is filing and triming away in the gear wells of the Bearcat to
make sure the gear problem is in the past.
Saturday is shaping up for another good race. But, how much racing will go on?
I asked Dan about his 2nd place position before the race and he was content but
would love to get the pole back if possible. He added that 1,2 or 3 going into
Sunday would give him a chance to win. Hmmm, I'm thinking we might not see that
much racing, maybe Tiger will challenge Penney for third, but Dan will probably
stay in 2nd and try to hold off Penney and Tiger.
Well, let's race and find out. Coming hard down the Chute, Brown pulls on the
field and gets a good lead by pylon 4. Martin is in 2nd with Penney and Tiger
close behind. Lap 2 at Pylon 4 and Brown has increased his lead a bit, Tiger is
very close to Penney and high. Brown is flying a wide and low line down the valley
of speed. He is coming right by us (we were on the fenceline for this race). Martin
is running a tighter line and is cutting into Brown's lead a bit each lap. Tiger
is sizing up Penney and will pass him very soon.
Tiger is also sizing up Martin and Brown, watching their lines and taking notes.
Last lap, Brown is still in the lead, Martin closing in, Tiger and then Penney.
Coming around pylon 6, Martin keeps tight and pushes down hill for more speed.
He has enough I think. They are comin' right by me during the pass! Martin gets
safely by Brown and into pylon 7 and holds him off till the checkered flag. Woohoo!
What a race!
Everyone pulls up to cool down, but Martin keeps going. He must be having too much
fun! Actually, he could not hear well, because the canopy kept sliding open during
the race and even a small opening at 470 mph can be very noisy. Martin is looking
good (racing all by himself) and he pulls up just around pylon 6 to cool off the
Sparrow merlin.
Saturday Gold Heat
1st >> #4 Dago Red, Dan Martin 472.7
2nd >> #232 September Fury, Mike Brown 472.1
3rd >> #7 Strega, Tiger Destefani 468.3
4th >> #77 Rare Bear, John Penney 467
5th >> #86 Czech Mate
6th >> #105 Spirit of Texas
7th >> #13 Fury
8th >> #14 Bearcat
Sunday, final day, Gold Final. What a day it is. Perfect weather, fast racers,
life is good. Watching the Saturday race out at the fenceline, I was able to notice
Tiger hanging back with a great view of the other guys. I thought after race that
he might have more room in front of the black handle on the left than the other
guys did. I knew Martin had some more, but not how much and would it be enough
to hold off three past champs? All top racers are in good shape and the crowd is
eager for a close exciting finsih to an awesome week of racing.
Coming down the Chute, Brown's Sea Fury always gets a jump on the P-51s and he
does again, but Martin holds him off and keeps the inside line. Rounding pylon
8 Tiger has passed Brown just like Martin did yesterday (he was watchin'). Tiger
sets aim on Dago and Dan is smashing the throttle by now trying to hold him off.
Martin has about a half a pylon lead coming across home pylon.
Past 1,2,3 and then Tiger comes up an over Martin for the pass. Tiger likes the high
line and uses it often. Strega is running great and creating good boost. Martin
is also running very good, but not as fast as Tiger. Passing home pylon Tiger is
a half a pylon ahead of Dago now. Brown is third racing close
to Penney. The rest of the field is out there somewhere, but not contesting the
top four.
Then trouble, smoke then Rare Bear is a mayday. Penney pulls off the course passing
pylon 2 and sets up for a mayday landing on 14. Penney is a pro and he handles
it and gets down safely. The race continues, Tiger, Martin, Brown, 1st 2nd and
3rd. Brown is close to Martin, but Martin keeps him away.
That's the last of the excitement for this race. They stay in place and
the race is done. Tiger does it again!
What a way to retire from air racing. Bill "Tiger" Destefani wins the Gold at the
2008 Reno Championship Air Races. This is his 7th win! The last was a long time
ago in 1997. What a fantastic job Team Strega and Team Dago Red have done to get
the inlines back on top. Last year the round engine fans were digging the graves
and engraving the headstones of the merlin racers - not so fast! The inlines are
back and they want more.
1st >> #7 Strega, Tiger Destefani 483
2nd >> #4 Dago Red, Dan Martin 474.3
3rd >> #232 September Fury, Mike Brown 473.8
4th >> #86 Czech Mate 424
5th >> #105 Spirit of Texas
6th >> #13 Fury
7th >> #71 Sawbones
8th >> #14 Bearcat
9th >> #77 Rare Bear, dnf
Next year? I'm still worked up over 2008. What a great week! Fantastic racing!
Let's do it again next September, Ok?