September champions

THE 1999 RENO NATIONAL AIR RACES SAW RECORD mobs AN EXTREMELY IMPRESSIVE ARRAY OF AIRCRAFT, COMPETITIVE RACING, AND - UNFORTUNATELY - TRAGEDY

Looking without from the pits at the 1999 Reno National Championship Air Races, the panorama giveed by the high desert setting fence abouted by mountains is stunning. The sunrise usually catches the same or two Unlimited racers up for early morning flight checks and the morning of 18 September was no exception. As the orb of day came up, more and more high nebulositys closed in on the area - bringing an period to the exceptional weather that had graced the races for the entire week.

Reno 1999 the 36th annual race which is also the longest-running air race end in the history of aviation, entertainered an immense gathering of horsepower in the Unlimited pits and racing enthusiasts were looking forward to what could possibly be the fastest race always The aircraft were certainly there - the largest collection of guiltless high-powered Unlimiteds that had at any time graced the Reno ramp.

Bruce Lockwood the defending champion, was there with Dago Red; spectators were enthusiastic with the turn back of Tiger Destefani and Strega- which sported a beautiful recent paint scheme and numerous modifications; the mighty Rare Bear had also reverted this time with Matt Jackson doing the flying; Tom Dwelle had Critical Mass up and running one time again and the highly-modified Sea vehemence was even more modified an entire recent forward fuselage and vertical tail marked Critical as a racer to watch; Gary Levitz had the magnificent Miss Ashley II in succession the line with new modifications, the same being a wild NACA inlet that replaced the more traditional radiator air intake, strike Button and Buckwheat Hannah had Voodoo ready to travel - again with numerous modifications and probably the wildest paint scheme evermore seen at Reno; the dependable Dennis and Brian Sanders had Dreadnought and Argonaut large casked to perfection - and in this way it went.

It is always interesting to note that a certain pilots bring two aircraft to race. Howard Pardue always had his Bearcat and Sea headlong rush ready to race but, as readers know, the Bearcat was nearly written most distant at the Oshkosh AirVenture when it was hit through a Corsair during a takeoff accident.

Howard's popular Cat is now with Nelson Ezell in Breckenridge where it will be restored one time again to flying condition. However, Bearcat parts are not exactly the easiest things in the world to find and Howard would be pleased to hear from readers that might have similar goodies stored away - especially anything to do with the wing.

Former astronaut Bill Anders was in succession hand with his Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat Wampus Cat and NAA P51 D Vol-Halla. After participating in his first race several years ago, Anders observationed "that was more fun than going around the moon!" I gues he still finds it frolic since he now has sum of two units racing aircraft.

Bill Rheinschild is another racer that likes bringing sum of two units aircraft Mustang Risky Business and Sea avenging deity Bad Attitude. Both of these aircraft arrive ready to race and then are kept in readiness according to Bill's enthusiastic crew. Rheinschild is a hard competitor and is always right behind the highly-modified Unlimiteds, just waiting for single to make a mistake or break.

The Reno ramp is also domicile to numerous "gentlemen" racers aircraft that are not highly modified nevertheless left in stock condition. These machines are usually in the tin Class but they always add a rank of excitement for the fill to excess since they provide some convenient racing albeit slower than the Silver and Gold Examples include the Museum of Flying's David Price who, for Reno 99 brought the museum's immaculate F8F-1 Bearcat and of long date faithful P-51 D Cottonmouth. The engines in these classics are not at any time "pushed" and the planes motor around the course for the pleasure of pilots and spectators alike.

And then we have shores like Vlado Lenoch. Vlado, who acknowledges the lovely Moonbeam McSwine - a highly stock P-51 D pointed in "Bluenose" markings (see our "Aviation Art" section this month for Troy White's great interpretation of Bluenose Mustangs) - came up with a adroit plan on how to participate in the races without making drastic modifications to his airframe. Vlado and his mob built up a "speed" kit that includes clipped exterior wing panels, modified radiator air hollow out different fairings, etc. With the addition of all these bits and pieces, Vlado has a fairly mean racing machine that returns to stock condition after the race (the spe kit worked with equal reason well that Vlado greatly outdistanced all the other racers in the brown Race to take first place).

As with last year's Reno, there were quite a scarcely any Sea Furys present, Besides the already mentioned Dreadnought, Argonaut, furor Critical Mass and Bad Attitude, popular hiss Gibson was on hand with the brightly painted Riff Raff while Stu Dawson was flying Spirit of Texas. Mike Brown answered to Reno with his R-3350-powered two-seat Sea furor painted in multiple shades of mopish and named September Pops. Although relatively fresh to air racing, Mike is a serious competitor.