Speed Trials in Alabama? Could be

[Bob Axsom]

I picked this message interchange off of an SARL message site:

Unfortunately, that date conflicts with another event in Lebanon, TN (outside Nashville). It is a warbird fly-in that I have already committed to...and several of the Memphis crowd will likely attend. (P-51, P-47, Sea Fury, B-17, and many others will be there...maybe after the race y'all'd like to come by?!)

--
Jeff Linebaugh

Jeff,
Sorry about the date conflict. That's about my typical luck. If
everything works out we plan to have a xc race first and then a speed
dash event. We are working on the waiver right now. Jim ( host) has
booked a guy to do a short airshow act and the Red Thunder formation
team says they will do their act too. SARL will be the main event and
we have control over the schedule. If any of your war bird friends want
to buzz down from Lebanon and go thru the speed trap or make a fly by
they would be welcome, we would just have to copordinate it. There will
be some spectators at the airport. Jim already has an acro box at his
field and a good relationship with FSDO so we are optimistic. This is
shaping up to be one of those good old home grown grass roots type of
activities that the EAA has forgotten about.

details will emerge when they are available.

Chris Murphy race34

The event is scheduled to take place on June 13 in Courtland, Alabama. And it is being called the Tennessee Valley Air Race. I plan to go. This will Allow everyone to get an official speed under similar conditions. It seems to me that this kind of straight line, two pass, pure speed competition would have a lot of appeal to the experimental aircraft community but what do you think?

Bob Axsom

[Christopher Murphy]

I just made a trip to Courtland to survey the area and start planning. We have a hotel set up at a good rate in Decatur, Al. Courtland is sort of out in the country so we sacrificed proximity to hotels for an excellent place to run our race. I am so excited about this event and the potential for a really excellent event. The really great thing, is that everyone invloved with the event has a "can do" positive attitude.

Chris Murphy Race 34

[rv7boy]

The Courtland airport (aka Lawrence County Airport) 9A4 was built in WWII as a bomber training base. My dad said he well remembered B-24's flying into Tennessee on their training runs. After the war ended it sat vacant for many years, but in the 60's and 70's there were drag races there. The runways are concrete, and a friend who ran a hot yellow GTO on many strips said he never had as good traction as he had at Courtland.

In the late 70's, the Tennessee Valley Authority had an interest in building a coal gasification plant there. It never happened. Our local RC club, the Decatur Model Airplane Club, used to get permission from TVA (like 15 pages of paperwork every month!) to go out there one weekend a month. We used to have some big name flyers come to our pattern events...like Joe Bridi from California, and Dave Brown from Cincinnati. We had some good times there. Some of the old buildings were still standing, and yours truly nearly crashed a Kaos into one of the old brick chimneys which stood about 50 feet tall.

All the old buildings are gone now, and the airport has a really good FBO with SS fuel, and some nice hangars. There are two active runways, and it is sort of away from the beaten path, but it sounds like it would be an ideal place for you guys to use for your purpose. I hope to be able to go out and watch. Hope the weather cooperates.

Best wishes,

[Christopher Murphy]

The Tenn.Valley Air race and speed Dash and Airshow event has really delveloped into what we think will be a fun event for participants and spectators alike. We expect a crowd of 2-6,000 spectators if the weather is good and the field for the race is shaping up too.

Come out and race or watch the RV's and Rockets run the speed dash course.

info at www.sportairrace.org or www.tvacenter.com

Chris Murphy

One of the RV-4's will do an acro demonstration after the race too.

[Bob Axsom]

The cross country race and speed dash are for real and the field is impressive.

Bob Axsom

The following racers have registered for the Tennessee Valley Air Race as of 2 June, 2009:

Race # Name Aircraft Class
Race 44 Lynn Farnsworth Lancair Legacy "Miss Karen II" Unlimited
Race 14 Wayne Hadath F1 Rocket "Little Bit" Sport FX
Race 58 Mark Frederick EVO Rocket "Pesky!" Sport FX
Race 109 Tom Martin EVO Rocket "Evo One" Sport FX
Race TBD George Fisher EVO Rocket "Midnight Mistress" Sport FX
Race 26 Mike Thompson RV-6 "El Lento" RV Blue
Race 71 Bob Axsom RV-6A "Blue Bird" RV Blue
Race 34 Chris Murphy RV-4 "Mister Twister" RV Red
Race 41 Cam Benton RV-4 RV Red
Race 83 David Adams LongEZ Sprint
Race 90 Dennis Collins Lancair 235 Sprint
Race 98 John Keich Midget Mustang Sprint
Race 141 Pete Larsen KR-2 "Plane Lucky" Sportsman
Race 30 Marvin Guthrie Bonanza FAC1RG
Race 121 John Dawson Beech Sierra FAC3RG
Race 448 Jim Porter Cirrus SR20 "Plane Jane" FAC3FX
Race 112 Stu Morse Grumman AA5B "Tiger Lily" FAC4FX