Four Little Indians Out Now...

The unlimited class, and Brent Hisey in particular, got another black eye today... Miss America was on the course this morning getting some time on the new racing Merlin when a quick series of problems struck Hisey as he was coming down the Valley of Speed. (When WAP has actually spoken to Brent, we will share the story, but most people at Stead do not know the real chain of events.) What it looked like what that he burned a piston, but that was not the case. Miss America did not have a lot of speed at pylon seven when smoke started coming off the aircraft. Hisey pulled up to a 5 or 10 degree nose attitude and flew wide around the pits and grandstands. Now trailing heavy white smoke, Hisey set up for runway 32. Still a bit south of the field, he dropped the gear and flaps, but he was getting quite low.

Hisey came over the east end of the airport really low, and was doing his best to merely get to the runway. He did, but the racer wasn't lined up... With next to no airspeed and heavy white smoke coming from the cowl *over* the canopy, the Mustang gave up flying and hit the runway, bouncing. At this point, it looked like he was merely a passenger... The airplane continued to veer off the runway into the dirt and sagebrush, and up a berm of dirt. The right main gear dug in and snapped off, spinning the aircraft around to face south. This looked like a normal mayday up until the last moments, and it looked like it was going to be a very ugly ending... Thankfully, Miss A stopped right side up.

Emergency vehicles were on the scene quickly and foamed the aircraft, as a small fire was still smoldering. 

Miss America was hurt bad; but thankfully Brent Hisey is ok. The airplane can be rebuilt; Brent can not. Everybody at Stead is extremely thankful that he is ok. The damage is quite major... The right gear was torn off, the wings were damaged, the tail and tail cone were bent, and the prop/engine are toasted.

WAP will hopefully talk to Hisey when he makes himself available. As of 730 pm today, the aircraft was being worked on out on a dirt road near the point she came to rest. NOTE: Please visit RARA's web site for some of the most dramatic photos of this mayday. www.Airrace.org. 

Czech Mate Out For Sure

Owner John Moore and the Czech Mate team are playing their cards safe; they have withdrawn from further competition this year. The R-2800 and its propeller are suspect after Monday's overspeed and mayday. It's funny how the story grows as it spreads through the fans... Smoot surmised the prop ran away to something like 4,000 rpm. Today, a fan described the event and how the tachometer was stuck at 4,800 rpm. Oh well! Race system guru and all around Nice Guy Pete Law said that the R-2800 manual calls for an engine teardown if the engine goes over the 3,300 rpm neighborhood. There is another limit just a bit higher that calls for a mandatory teardown. It's pretty certain this limit was achieved. 

Tige or No Tige?

"The Thrash" is on. An empty Strega pit means the Witch is in a hangar awaiting her new engine parts. Danny Martin offered parts from his engine and some cowling panels so Strega could make the show on Friday. Crew members have been dispatched to Hollister and should be back at Stead.

Sleeper

The rest of the day was almost a sleeper in terms of the unlimited class. Ike Enns, Dave Morss, Hoot Gibson and a few others chose to qualify again and bump their speeds up. Bill "Rhino" Rheinschild took Risky Business out during the afternoon session and put some power on the Merlin. He literally screamed by us outside of pylon six and was making some major speed... Soon after, Risky clawed for altitude as Rhino called a mayday... Nothing major, as he flew around for several minutes afterward. The problem was merely some high temps at race power, so some radiator/coolant tweaking is in order. She'll be more than ready come race time. September Pops has also been getting a lot of attention, and she was absent from her pit this evening.

The Color of Money: GREEN

What's polished and green and makes a really cool sound when it goes by at race power? Precious Metal took to the course again this morning and looked/sounded great. Ron is happy with the racer, and his crew is hard at work tending to minor maintenance items and polishing the plane.

You Be The Judge...

That's right... A very interesting end result to the unlimited qualifying. The 400 mph neighborhood looks like the corner of Homeboy and Amigo avenues. Hoot Gibson, flying Riff Raff, said that he is really looking forward to possibly being in the gold race come Sunday. He's going to have some stiff competition from Stewart Dawson, Gary Hubler and Randy Bailey. Gibson went out again today and put another 5 or so mph onto his qual speed.

In race number order:

There are no Bears in Reno

Rare Bear did not make her 1700 qualifying dealine today. The crew was still "in the thrash" to get her in flyable shape, but a Rare Bear supporter at the hangar said there was a problem with the landing gear, and the FAA was taking a close look to sign off the racer to fly. There is hope amongst the crew that a vote by the unlimited pilots might allow Rare Bear to participate in the races, even if she has to start at the back of the bronze pack and work her way up. Time will tell; good luck to the hardworking crew!

...And Finally

It just works out some times, doesn't it? Thanks to owner Bill Rogers and pilot Art Vance, WAP had the opportunity to shoot Furias overhead Stead after today's events. Special thanks to camera pilot Jim Eberhardt for doing a smooth and professional job! (To the homeowners in Lemon Valley; if you find my hat, will you please drop it off at the Press trailer? Thank you.)

All Stories and Photos Copyright by Scott Germain - WarbirdAeroPress.com 2002. All Rights Reserved.