Air Classics: September champions

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

Looking out from the pits at the 1999 Reno National Championship Air Races, the panorama offered by the high desert setting surrounded by mountains is stunning. The sunrise usually catches one or two Unlimited racers up for early morning flight checks and the morning of 18 September was no exception. As the sun came up, more and more high clouds closed in on the area - bringing an end 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 event in the history of aviation, hosted an immense gathering of horsepower in the Unlimited pits and racing enthusiasts were looking forward to what could possibly be the fastest race ever. The aircraft were certainly there - the largest collection of pure high-powered Unlimiteds that had ever graced the Reno ramp.

Bruce Lockwood, the defending champion, was there with Dago Red; spectators were enthusiastic with the return of Tiger Destefani and Strega- which sported a beautiful new paint scheme and numerous modifications; the potent Rare Bear had also returned, this time with Matt Jackson doing the flying; Tom Dwelle had Critical Mass up and running once again and the highly-modified Sea Fury was even more modified an entire new forward fuselage and vertical tail marked Critical as a racer to watch; Gary Levitz had the magnificent Miss Ashley II on the line with new modifications, one being a wild NACA inlet that replaced the more traditional radiator air intake, Bob Button and Buckwheat Hannah had Voodoo ready to go - again with numerous modifications and probably the wildest paint scheme ever seen at Reno; the dependable Dennis and Brian Sanders had Dreadnought and Argonaut tuned to perfection - and so it went.

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

Howard's popular Cat is now with Nelson Ezell in Breckenridge where it will be restored once 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 such goodies stored away - especially anything to do with the wing.

Former astronaut Bill Anders was on 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 commented "that was more fun than going around the moon!" I guess he still finds it fun since he now has two racing aircraft.

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

The Reno ramp is also home to numerous "gentlemen" racers aircraft that are not highly modified but left in stock condition. These machines are usually in the Bronze Class but they always add a degree of excitement for the crowd since they provide some good 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 old faithful P-51 D Cottonmouth. The engines in these classics are never "pushed" and the planes motor around the course for the enjoyment of pilots and spectators alike.

And then we have guys like Vlado Lenoch. Vlado, who owns the lovely Moonbeam McSwine - a very 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 clever plan on how to participate in the races without making drastic modifications to his airframe. Vlado and his crew built up a "speed" kit that includes clipped outer wing panels, modified radiator air scoop, different fairings, etc. With the addition of all these bits and pieces, Vlado has a fairly mean racing machine that reverts to stock condition after the race (the speed kit worked so well that Vlado greatly outdistanced all the other racers in the Bronze Race to take first place).

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

The Russian contingent is also another factor in the Unlimited races. A few years ago, it would have been almost unthinkable to have imaged numerous Soviet designs parked in the racing pits. Well, nothing stays the same and this year we had Tom Camp in his Yak 11 Maniyak, Dave Moss flying Yak 9 Rush-N-Roulette, and James Nezgoda in his Yak 3UA The Ranch.

Unfortunately, Nezgoda's plane was written off during the takeoff run for his qualifying flight on Monday, 13 September. Although heavily damaged, the aircraft will probably be repaired.

The theme for Reno 1999 was "Heroes of Flight" and honored the 30th anniversary of America's first manned flight to the moon. Numerous astronauts attended the event and lucky spectators were able to obtain their signatures on posters. Also, former astronauts were out there racing - Bill Anders and Hoot Gibson - around the pylons. The Reno Air Race Association had also scheduled an intensive airshow display including the USAF Thunderbirds, Canadian Northern Lights (two of their five aircraft were written off in a taxiing accident after their display at Reno), Hoover in the Shrike Commander, Tim Weber in a Yak 55M, and Wayne Handley in the Oracle Turbo Raven (which, unfortunately, was written off in an airshow accident at Salinas, California, two weeks later. Wayne was injured but is recovering). Combined with the Texan, Biplane, and Formula One racing, there was always something in the sky for spectators to watch. One new team appearing at Reno was a pair of MiG 17s flown by Randy Howell and Jerry Gallud. Painted brilliant red, the aircraft are sponsored by Stoli Vodka and put on a very nice flying display. A third MiG 17 was displayed in downtown Reno, giving the sponsor a lot of bang for his buck.

Getting back to Saturday morning, it was time for the ten o'clock pilots' briefing so we trundled off to what author Bob Gandt calls "the room of hard benches." Having all the charm of a junior high locker room, the room serves as the briefing center for pilots. Art Vance does a great job of running the morning event while the pilots are brought up to date on any problems that may have happened the previous day. There is also an accurate weather forecast which for Saturday - did not look any to promising. Reno 1999 featured a shortened course for the Unlimiteds and this did not seem to be of much concern to the pilots nor did it seem to hamper overall speeds. Before and after the briefing, the pilots make jokes about each other and generally, in a goodnatured way, denigrate

everybody's flying capabilities except their own, of course!

By the time the Bronze Race rolled around, it was cloudy, cool, and a bit windy with just a trace of showers. However, this did not put off the racers and when Steve Hinton pulled up in the T-33 pace plane with "Gentlemen, you have a race" the racers were fighting it out (Bill Rheinschild in the Sea Fury nosing out Stu Eberhardt). The same was true with the Silver and there were a couple of Maydays - Reno 1999

saw numerous engines problems as well as a couple of complete failures (Bill Rheinschild once again taking the honors, this time in the Mustang and nosing out Mike Brown).

All during Reno, Bob Hannah had been having nothing but problems. First, a broken oil line fried the highly modified Merlin in Voodoo and Bob had to make an emergency landing - an event that was soon to become common with the popular pilot. The crew rushed to get another Merlin (an extra from Dago Red) in the aircraft along with a borrowed propeller and Bob got airborne to qualify with just seconds to spare - thrilling the crowd and fellow pilots alike. From then on, it was one problem after another as Bob and Voodoo's tireless crew battled to keep the highly modified racer in the air but Bob kept working his way up the Reno food chain hoping to get Voodoo in Sunday's Gold.

For Saturday's Gold, the weather suddenly improved and sun bathed the ramp while a rainbow stood brilliantly in the distance. The Gold Unlimiteds were ready to go and we spent some time photographing the aircraft and talking to the pilots. Gary Levitz was by his P-51 R and he took a few minutes to point out some of the aircraft's new features and explaining the aircraft's history. In 1991, Bill Rogers contacted John Dilley with the intent to design and build a second generation Vendetta, a modified Mustang which featured a Learjet wing and horizontal. Vendetta had been heavily damaged in a crash landing and a deal was struck that saw the Lear wing and canopy from Vendetta on its way to Paine Field in Washington. Bill obtained P51 D blueprints from the NASM and built a completely new fuselage, entering into a partnership with long-time friend Gary to create the new racer. The Rolls-Royce Griffon powerplant and contra-rotating propellers came from a Shackleton patrol bomber. The beautiful cowl was hand-built in England while the custom radiator came from Georgia Mae. The motor mount was designed and built by Gordon Cole, the cockpit was moved aft, the wing redesigned to incorporate a new fuel tank system, and the leading edges and wing tips were redesigned to allow the wing to fly at an even higher speed.

The vertical tail was a new-build P-51 H unit while the main landing gear was built up from Cessna 421 gear strengthened with Cheyenne parts and fitted with tires from the nose gear of a Grumman Gulfstream. Gary also explained the new NACA intake for the cooling system before the word for pilots to start their engines was given.

This was a heavy-duty race with Strega, Dago Red, Dreadnought, Critical Mass, Ridge Runner, Rare Bear, Spirit of Texas, and Miss Ashley II set to do battle. As Steve Hinton brought the racers down the chute, it was clear that this was going to be a fast race. Tiger immediately took the lead and as the racers completed the first lap, the unthinkable happened.

It appeared that Miss Ashley II simply exploded. I was watching the plane with Skip Holm from atop the Museum of Flying's trailer. At first I thought it was a midair but Skip quietly said, "No, it's something else." One minute the plane was complete, intact, and entering a turn..the next moment pieces were fluttering through the sky while the main portion of the craft plunged to earth, starting a fire. The crowd was silent and stunned.

However, the race went on. Matt Jackson was behind Gary and had to maneuver to miss airframe parts. Tiger won the race but when the pilots landed and exited their aircraft, many were ashen. Lockwood looked 20 years older. The show was over for the day.

At Sunday's pilot briefing, a grim Art Vance went over details. It appeared that a structural failure in the beautiful racer had caused the death of the respected pilot (see accident summary in "Warbird Report"). After the briefing it was out to the pits. The weather was fine and the stands were packed ("We're looking at over 160,000 people," commented Bill Eck. "It may well be a record year.")

As with previous Reno's, the races were interspersed with airshow acts and Vlado Lenoch came out on top of the Bronze Race - beating his closest competitor by nearly 20 mph and proving that his speed kit works! For the Silver, Bob Hannah, Bob Button, and the Voodoo crew proved they had what it took - Bob taking the checkered flag in first place. Into the afternoon, it came time for what the crowd was waiting for - the Gold Race. The weather was beautiful and the forecast of high winds and thundershowers had not yet materialized. The launch brought that incredible sound of the world's most powerful piston engines roaring across the desert and bringing the spectators to their feet as they cheered their favorites. Right from the start, Tiger took the lead but Lockwood kept pressing him on the theory that Tiger's potent Merlin would melt down (see Bruce's account on the race elsewhere in this article). Brian Sanders kept a close watch on Bruce, just waiting for the right chance. The eight laps go by in just over eight minutes at Gold speeds ("It seemed like eight years to me," Bruce later commented). Dago was closing on Strega when Tiger suddenly pulled up and out on lap eight (a torched piston) and Bruce took the checkered flag for his second Reno win as the crowd went wild.

The Gold was a race to remember in a year that was filled with triumph and tragedy. The FAA is closely investigating the loss of Miss Ashley II while some residents of nearby Lemmon Valley are protesting the races. The races are a. major economic impact for Reno and were at Stead long before housing and industry started encroaching on the area. Hopefully, these problems will be worked out in the favor of the races. Reno 2000 is currently scheduled for 14 to

17 September. AC