It's Thursday - We're RACIN'!

Finally - an uneventful day at the 39th Annual Reno National Championship Air Races! After two years with no air racing, all of the races went off without a hitch, and there were no major problems with the racers. Without a lot of news to report, today's installment will be picture heavy.

Unlimiteds

John Bagley walked away with the Medallion race this morning with a speed of 355.996 mph in the former Bob Hoover Mustang. Unfortunately, the radio chatter indicated this was less of a race than a parade. It is, however, early in the racing schedule. Dan Martin finished second in Brian Adams' Flying Dutchman P-51. The bronze race was Ron Buccarelli's very first unlimited race, and he did a very nice job of joining up, coming down the chute, and racing. He kept the power down to be conservative, and finish second at 378.563 mph. Leading the entire race was Joe Thibodeau in his quick #21 Sea Fury at 386.543 mph. The Silver heat today featured five Sea Furies beating up on Rhino is his Mustang... All was going well during the first few laps of the race, until radiator problems again plagued Rheinschild. He had to bring the power way back when the temps rose, and he ended up keeping fourth place after dropping back from second. Nelson Ezell flew Dawson's Spirit of Texas Sea Fury and won handily at 404.635 mph. The best racing in the class today was between Hoot Gibson in Riff Raff, and Art Vance in Furias. The two were close during the entire race. Both finished right around 400 mph; but it would seem Furias has "some" left for Sunday.

Mike Brown's September Pops is at the east end of the field getting a new R-3350; she'll be dropped back in tomorrow's standings since she was a DNS today. Best of luck to pilot Randy Bailey in making his way up through the pack. Miss America was just a few doors down in a secure fenced area. The crew was busy taking the aircraft apart and ready for shipment off site. Jimmy Leeward was also suppose to race today, but he returned to the ramp and shut down after he encountered a problem.

You Wanna Make a Bet?

Mike Brown is a very quiet man. His actions speak, period. My bet is that Sunday he will speak very loud. Just my two cents worth. All seems well in the September Fury pit after some minor ignition problems were encountered and fixed.

Airshow

You like noise? Come to R2K2 and you'll be in hog heaven! F-16's, F-104's, a Hawker Hunter and several civilian acts are looping, rolling and blowing things up between the races. The Starfighters are a new act to the Races, and it's pretty neat to see the -104's, even if the show seems sedate. Although not part of the airshow, the Hughes Racer replica arrived yesterday and is on hand for a speed record attempt during the early morning hours tomorrow. The east end of the field contains the military aircraft on display, as well as entrants to the Rolls Royce sponsored Heritage Trophy. There are some truly remarkable restored aircraft here; Richard Bertea's F7F Tigercat, Tony Banta's P-40E, a Lockheed Electra, John Bagley's P-63 and a really neat looking Cessna 195 painted up in military markings.

How Was Your First Race?

Ron Buccarelli had a great day today; he flew a good race and was fun to watch on the course. He took a few minutes to talk about his experience around the pylons.

"I am very excited and very happy to be here! I wanted to get a race under my belt so I could officially be a race pilot. It was not an easy road, and I feel like I have earned what I accomplished today. We want to run a safe race, and be here on Sunday. We've overcome a lot of hurdles, and this day is an especially good day for me. My mom and dad are here, my brother was here yesterday, my partner Jere (Creed) is here, and a bunch of people from Ft. Lauderdale are here. The crew made it really special for me to go out there and be in an air race," he said.

"The airplane really ran well, and I ran a clean race. I didn't cut any pylons or any deadlines, and I didn't turn into anybody. I survived it. I had a lot of butterflies, but I feel good about it. But as soon as that canopy was closed, it was all business," he said. "Instinct and skills came into place and there were no more butterflies. I could hear Art Vance "talking" to me, even though he really wasn't. I heard him in my head, and I have learned a lot from him. I took advice from a lot of race pilots, and they were all "talking" to me while I was running around the course."

What about tomorrow" A lot of fans know that Precious Metal is capable of speeds around 430 mph - at least.

Buccarelli smiles and says, "We may start turning the machine up a little bit." 

As for the race, he recounts his experience. "First I lined up on Steve (Hinton), he's the perfect pilot to be a pace plane pilot. Joe Thibodeau lined up really well on Steve, and I got in line behind Joe. I think I was flying a little bit abreast instead of echelon at first, so Steve told me to get back and I got back. Everything looked good, and Tom Camp was on the other side of me. Ike (Enns) was out there, too," he said.

"Coming down the chute," Buccarelli says, "Steve had it around 300; I'm not sure. I was trying to not get ahead of the pace plane, and it was difficult. I kept pulling the power back and wasn't really sure when Steve was going to say, 'Gentlemen, you have a race.' He did give us a little heads-up, then let us go."

You think there was a big smile under that oxygen mask?

"Oh, I was smiling for sure! I gave it some power, and I'm not sure, but it looked like I was a little close to Joe Thibodeau. It looked like he was coming into me, and I didn't want to go into Tom, so I raised the nose some and let Joe go underneath me and I went high until we turned around four, then I came back down around five. I hope I didn't get in Tom Camp's way. I'm not sure what Joe was looking at, but I had the guide pylon and I was going for that. These things are a big deal to me, but I'm sure that happens every single start. I've been there now and it's under my belt, and I know what to expect."

During the start, Camp was able to slide under and inside of Buccarelli and snatch second place. Buccarelli would have none of that.

"We went around, and it was pretty easy to pass Tom; he was a gentleman about it," he said. "I just went around the outside so there was no issue there. I wanted to get in closer to where I could pass Joe Thibodeau. I was gaining on him a little bit, but there weren't enough laps to catch up to him. I wasn't going to turn the airplane up any more than I had promised the crew. We had a conservative power setting."

Buccarelli tips his cap back a bit and considers his next statement.

"In this race today, I learned that you have to get a good start. The airplanes are so evenly matched, it's all pilot skill, and pilot skill will not get you around the other airplane doing the same speed you are. I think you have to get the advantage at the start. The more experienced pilot can get me on that. I'm not going to be aggressive and hurt anybody; I'm here to race a clean race and for everybody to know what I am going to do."

"After the first lap, it was actually kind of boring," he laughs. "I was just trying to play catch up to Joe. I was totally unaware of what was going on behind me. the only other airplane I saw was Joe. I was making sure the airplane wasn't going to overheat at those power settings. I was fiddling around with some things; the tweedle valve, and I have a manual coolant door, so I cracked that a little bit to see what it would do to the airspeed."

Overall, his first race was extremely successful.

"I think I went in pretty prepared, having gone through the Pylon Racing School. That prepared me better than anything could have. Qualifying was a real eye opener. I'm gaining experience all the time, and that's what makes it so fun. We're looking forward to racing again tomorrow!'

Greenamyer Returns

Darryl Greenamyer returned to pylon air racing today; and handily won the second Sport class race. For the majority of the race, he hung back behind the Thunder Mustang. After having enough of that, he added some power and scooted up to first place. I'm sure he felt right at home there! Unfortunately, he cut a pylon and was dropped to third.

...and Finally

Ramp Rumors notwithstanding, it looks like Strega will not make it into the show for this year. Problems were encountered with the parts that were to replace the damaged Strega components. 

Work continues on the Rare Bear; today she was washed and pulled out for an evening run. Even though "just a little" power was run, the Bear sounded strong. The noise generated next to the aircraft was unGodly... Pilot John Penney was in the cockpit performing the runup and spray bar tests. After shutdown, the crowd at the show line gave the team a deserved round of applause.

It happens... Matt Jackson had a bit of a stack fire when he cranked up Voodoo today... He kept the Merlin spinning and got a start out of it, but the damage was done - paint had been burned off below the left bank of stacks. It's only cosmetic; she'll run tomorrow.

The first jet race was run today; and it was actually pretty cool. A lot of people had said that the lack of speed and noise would be a detriment to the new class. Not so! This was some close-in flying, and people were really enjoying it!

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