Reno Air Race Oops

[Bryan Wood]

Sunday while visiting with a friend in the Sport Class hanger at the Reno Air Races he told us about an incident that happened on Saturday. While servicing the oxygen on the P-51 Merlins Magic somebody made a pretty bad mistake. The bottle was a built in and apparently WW11 vintage, composite/glass, or whatever they used back then and was rated at 400 or so PSI. While filling the bottle to 2000lbs it exploded and blew the airframe into two pieces right behind the pilots seat. What a freak thing to happen!
Luckily nobody was hurt, not even the person who was servicing the bottle.
The plane was tucked away and out of view Sunday so I didn't see the damage. Most likely the pictures will be hitting the net soon.

Other news is that a Lancair took the gold with the Nemesis NXT not to far behind. The thunder mustang was pushing hard in second for most of the race but had to pull up and out about 2 laps before it ended. In the Unlimited Gold Sept. Fury won with Strega (P51) had to mayday and pull out after 5 laps.

The fastest lap time of the day was an F-18 Hornet that did one lap for a demonstration and ran 679mph. He was basically in a steep turn for most of the course. I don't think I ever even saw him with wings level.

All in all a neat day. For those of you who haven't attended it would be a great trip in your RV.

[rv6ejguy]

What was the word on why Darryl Greenamyer did not race? The Sport Class guys had it easy this year! Sad to hear that Strega had to pull out again this year. Someone needs to keep those round engine guys worried. Sad day in Merlin land.

[Todd]

Poor Merlin's Magic. First a blown engine and then a blown fuselage. She was sitting in the pits on Sunday and I had a chance to look the sorry bird over. She wasn't exaclty torn in half, but it did look like something definitely blew up inside the fuselage. Big hole torn in both sides of the fuselage and the rear fuselage beneath the horizontal stab. was pretty bent and twisted.
Darryl did race in the Sport Gold Sunday and he won it ( no surprise there) with Sharp in 2nd and Parker in his Mustang in third. Parker had 2nd but had to pull back and take 3rd for some reason. Too bad Dago is still in hiding and Rare Bear ate a valve during qualifying. They really battled it out 2003 and put on a great show!
I agree, that f-18 was awesome going around the pylons! I really enjoy watching the Cessna jet fly the pylons though..just looks so funny to see a biz jet rounding the pylons! If you haven't been it's definitely a must see next year!-Todd

[flymustangs]

Not exactly, but close. Darryl's plane did cross the line first in the Sport Gold, but it was being piloted by Rod Von Grote. They made a big deal out of the airplane being equiped with telemetry so the ground crew, including Darryl, could tell Rod how much to push it.

I didn't say he won the race because he cut a pylon, which dropped him into second behind John Sharp in Nemesis. I'm still not sure why Darryl didn't fly.

[Bob Axsom]

I read this in a couple of places on the internet so I assume there is some truth to it.

Sport Class

First-place finisher Rod Von Grote in Race 33 cut a pylon to give Jon Sharp in "Nemesis" the win with an official speed of 360.389 mph. The cut put Von Grote in second with an official speed of 358.557.

Bob Axsom

[Todd]

Ohh, your right. Now that I think about it I do remember seeing John on the fire engine. I as wondering what he was doing there. Thats strange that Darryl didn't race. I was in the pits all day Sunday so I didn't get a chance to hear if the announcer said anything regarding it. Hope all is ok with him.

[JoeBlank]

Folks,
This event is a must see for those that have never been. As far as I know, these races are the fastest motor sport racing event in the world. It's also a great place to fly your RV to, and it is also easy to become a repeat attender. Although you cannot land at Reno-Stead Airport (K4SD) due to the TFR where the races are actually held (unless you are a competitor), there are a number of other airports fairly closeby (KRNO, KTRK, KCXP) that you can land at and rent a car. Fairly cheap rooms, eats, and gambling in the city of Reno also.... And of course the sound of those Merlins and huge radials being pushed faster than they were designed to go....WOW!
The airshow segment of the races always draws the top acts, (Thunderbirds, Blue Angels, Snowbirds). During the sunday show, we even got a flyby from John Travolta in his B-707 as he was headed into Reno. Too cool!

http://www.airrace.org/indexJS.php

I've listed the top 3 finishers in the Unlimted and Sport Gold races from Sundays Reno Air Races. You can find the official race results here:

http://www.airrace.org/2006ResultsQuery.php

Sport-Gold (Top 3 Finishers)

1. Nemesis NXT - Jon Sharp 368.389 mph
2. Lancair Legacy - Rod Von Grote 358.557 mph (cut pylon 6, lap 1, 12- second penalty)
3.Thunder Mustang - John Parker - 350.340 mph

Unlimited-Gold (Top 3 Finishers)

1. September Fury - Michael Brown - 481.619 mph
2. Dreadnaught - Matt Jackson - 453.559 mph
3. Czech Mate - Sherman Smoot - 445.817 mph
(After closing to 2nd place Strega Mayday'd out in lap 5)

Hope to see you there next year...

Joe Blank
RV-6
N6810B

[RV8N]

I'd like to see some pictures of the damaged P-51. Anyone got some?

[n8zg]

Joe,

I'm sure it was an oversight, but you didn't post the results of the best class.

Friend, mentor and RV-8 builder Gene McNeely walked away with 3rd place Gold.

T-6 Class, Gold:
1: #6, Six Cat, Nick Macy, 235.609
2: #43, Midnight Miss III, Dennis Buehn, 229.100
3: #90, Undecided II, Gene McNeely, 222.926

[JoeBlank]

Originally Posted by n8zg

Joe,

I'm sure it was an oversight, but you didn't post the results of the best class.

Friend, mentor and RV-8 builder Gene McNeely walked away with 3rd place Gold.

T-6 Class, Gold:
1: #6, Six Cat, Nick Macy, 235.609
2: #43, Midnight Miss III, Dennis Buehn, 229.100
3: #90, Undecided II, Gene McNeely, 222.926

Didn't know. My apologies and congrats to Gene! My questions is, when are they going to open up an 'RV' class? They'll probably have to add another day to the races and more ramp space for 400-500 RV's though ....

Joe