Reno Air Races
Cottonmouth #20 and the race crew - note the T shirts. |
Back in 1991 my friend Jim McRae and I decided
to drive from Vancouver to Reno to see the 28th National
Championship Air Races and the associated air show. The races featured many
well-known pilots, three time winner Lyle Shelton in Rare Bear, Bill Destefani in
Strega and Skip Holm in Tsunami. A totally new design, the Pond racer made its
debut. This composite twin designed by
Burt Rutan would be flown by Rick Brickert. This unique aircraft powered by two
6 cylinder automotive racing engines fostered hopes of defeating the much
larger war bird racers. The daily airshow included such as then current notables
as Jimmy Franklin and Johnny Kazian, Joann Osterud, Leo Loudenslagger and of
course Mr. R.A. (Bob) Hoover.
Seafury Cottonmouth Race #20 |
Jim, a longtime volunteer at sports car races
and a frustrated race driver at heart drove his new Honda Civic while I
navigated. This was the same division of talents that we had refined during
long cross country trips in his Champ. There was slightly more trepidation in
the Honda than in the Champ however.
We drove straight through to Reno and checked
into the Peppermill and slept the sleep of the just and exhausted. I had stayed
in the Peppermill numerous times in the past while in Reno on business and
while the hotel had the feature of familiarity and good rates, it was also the
unofficial hotel for some of the race teams.
After breakfast the next day we bussed out to
the race venue at Reno Stead Airport where we purchased the necessary passes
including the obligatory "pit pass". It was as necessary to get into
the pits as breathing for two aviation nuts. Besides that, we knew one of the
unlimited racers and who knew what might come out of that.
A long time friend of Jim's was a former BC
Lions football player and war bird owner, Jerry Janes. Jerry and his crew had
brought his #20 Hawker Sea Fury, “Cottonmouth” for the race week and as luck
would have it, his pit was next to Lyle Shelton's #77 Bear Cat - Rare Bear. Lyle
was to win the Unlimited race on Sunday and set a new race record of 481 mph in
the process.
Jim wangled our way on to Jerry's pit crew and
we were promptly given the “vital” task of polishing the Sea Fury. Polishing
this beast to a high gloss was to make a huge difference in the win potential.
The Sea Fury is a big plane and the task was made more challenging by the
amount of oil deposited by the 2700 hp Curtis Wright 3350-26WD. This task
occupied us for most of the weekend. Very little other work was needed as
according to the crew chief Russ Popel, “you have to come ready to race,
otherwise stay home. “ With the original
2480 hp Bristol Centaurus engine, the Sea Fury had a top speed of over 400 mph
and with the more powerful Wright it should be competitive in the Bronze and
maybe even in the Silver races This particular aircraft was one of 35 built for
the Royal Canadian Navy and still had the wing folding feature and I would be
reminded of this fact much later in the weekend.
Pond Composite unlimited racer |
The race weekend proceeded with the usual
suspects winning their respective classes. Gold on Sunday was won by Rare Bear
followed by Strega and Tsunami. The highly touted composite Pond racer suffered
an engine fire and pilot Rick Brickert declared a mayday, pulling up and out of
the race. This surprised no one in the Unlimited pits as they, the Pond crew,
had managed to alienate most of the unlimited teams and so there was little
sympathy for their misfortune. At he end of the day, some of the unlimiteds were wearing a "Pond kill" on their cowlings.
Emotions were running high in the unlimited pits |
John Muszala flew “our” #20 Sea Fury to a six place
finish in the Silver race as Jerry had come down with a bug on Saturday.
Late Sunday after the end of the Gold race as I
was focused on cleaning the last of the oil off the side of the fuselage, I was
surrounded by the noise and bustle of the crew as they packed up preparing to
go home. Suddenly it started to get dark and I detected movement overhead. I was
startled and dropped to the wing walk, fearing that something was about to fall
on me. That was not the case as it was just the outer wing panel folding up and
over me. Sheepishly I got up and finished my task, thankful that no one had
spotted my brief moment of terror.
Fans of all descriptons |
The ride home on the following Monday must have
been uneventful or perhaps I was too tired to care. It was an exciting weekend
and an exceptional opportunity to see the races from the inside.
No comments:
Post a Comment