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Bob Axsom

Well Known Member
The last Air Race of 2008 will be held on November 22 in Taylor, Texas (near Austin). There are two classes for RVs, Blue (360 cu in) and Red (320 cu in). Mike Thompson and I are entered in the Blue class but there are currently no Red entries - of course it's early. Check the full list of classes at www.sportairrace.org under Mission and the latest entry list, race course description and rules under Calendar of Events and Rocket 100. I think Mark Frederick is the organizer and since he is the F1 Rocket Boss and that is why it is called the Rocket 100. Wayne Hadath has committed to fly his F1 Rocket from Canada to participate.

Bob Axsom
 
I believe Mark has about 7-9 Rockets coming down. Don't know if all will enter the race. I timed last year's race and it was fun, but I can't make it down this year. Mark does host a great cook out so if you can go, you should!
 
Mark Manda where are you?

Mark that must have been terribly disappointing flying all the way to Taylor, Texas earlier in the year only to have the race cancelled by weather. Maybe things will be better this time.

Bob Axsom
 
Georgia racers?

Hey Bob -

How do we get a race in North Georgia? Looks like a lot of fun. I'd help put one on if there are any interested RVers (or others) around here...
 
Contact Mike Thompson

Mike Thompson is the director and founder of the Sport Air Racing League. It is only two years old but it has sanctioned 15 - 20 races. His contact information is at www.sportairrace.org. I would certainly come to Georga for a race.

Bob Axsom
 
HOT! HOT! HOT!

I just got back home from Kansas City and checked the entry list. There were three SARL (Sport Air Raceing League - www.sportairrace.org) grand championship trophies awarded last year and Chris Murphy and I are tied for the third place award this year. A week or so ago I checked and if there is one this year, I saw that Chris was not going to make the last race so I thought I had it in the bag. Then I saw recently that "The Nuisance" (John Huft in his super fast RV-8) has entered with Mike Thompson and I in the RV Blue Class. That automatically pushes me down at least one place in the race (from 100 pts down to 80) but not to worry, Chris isn't coming so I will finish 80 or 60 points ahead of him. I just checked today's update and I see that Chris IS coming. OH ME! But wait, Cam Benton must have fixed his canopy and has also entered the last race in the RV Red Class. If I can manage 2nd over Mike (a 50-50 possibility) and Cam beats Chris, I'm still tied with Chris. This is getting exciting.

Bob Axsom

The following racers have registered for the
Rocket 100 Air Race as of 4 November, 2008:

Race # Name Aircraft Class

Race 74 Duncan Sutherland SX300 "Shadow" Sport
Race 79 Jim Robinson Glasair III Sport

Race 14 Wayne Hadath F1 Rocket "Little Bit" Sport FX

Race 51 Rick Pellicciotti Long EZ RG RG Red

Race 18 John Huft RV-8 "Nuisance" RV Blue
Race 26 Mike Thompson RV-6 "El Lento" RV Blue
Race 71 Bob Axsom RV-6A "Blue Bird" RV Blue

Race 41 Cam Benton RV-4 RV Red
Race 34 Chris Murphy RV-4 "Mister Twister" RV Red

Race 729 Chester Jurskis Bonanza S35 "Trixie" FAC1RG

Race 77 Jim Huff Bonanza "Whatabeech" FAC2RG

Race 448 Jim Porter Cirrus SR-20 "Plane Jane" FAC3FX

Race 112 Stu Morse Grumman AA5B "Tiger Lily" FAC4FX
 
2009 races

Hey Bob
Since I've exhausted all the sensible mods, I guess I should get into racing with you. I went to Reno for the first time this year and caught the bug.
Is there a list of races for next year yet?
Best regards
 
Not Yet

Mike Thompson organized and and holds everything together through his www.sportairrace.org website. You have to open the page and ckick on Calendar of Events. Sometime in the next few months a growing list of races will start appearing. There is a list of racers that are members of the Sport Air Racing League and there is a path through the home page where you can join as well. There is no charge. You can request a race number and if he can Mike will assign it to you. If it is not available you and he will agree on some number that is available. You do not have to be a member to participate in the races but you do have to be a member to earn points toward the championship. This year races were scheduled for Taylor 100, Texas in the spring (100 miles);Texhoma 100, Texas; Big Country Air Fest Race Dyess AFB, Abilene, Texas; BigCap 200, Wichita, Kansas; Colorado 150, Denver, Colorado; AirVenture Cup, Mitchell, South Dakota; Denton Air Race, Grace Flight air race, Sherman, Texas; Memphis 100, Tennessee; Rocket 100, Taylor Texas (November 22, 2008 you can get in this one yet). Mike Thompson is the man to talk to that can give you the straight story. He can also tell you what he has shaping up.

I know the feeling and it is a great experience with a great bunch of pilots.

Bob Axsom
 
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Rocket Race

Hello Bob,

I hadn't realized that there was a trophy to be won or a chance to win it. There is about a 10 percent chance that I will make the race in Taylor. I have a trip on the next day that I can't get out of, so good weather has to assured for me to fly down there. Mike says Cam Benton is bringing his -4 to race so it would be fun to see how he matches up with "Mister Twister"

I flew home from Memphis over your neck of the woods.....what a pretty part of the country!

Good luck in the race.

Chris Murphy RACE34
 
The entry list as of 11-15-08

The last race of the season will occur next Saturday morning 11-22-08 at Taylor, Texas. If you can enter that would be great (www.sportairrace.org) but if you can't you can come out and see the race from some point around the 100 mile course. The course is defined at the above website. I think the best place to go in the latter case is anywhere around the Hutto water tower. On the west side i=of this tower is the start and finish line and the planes will be operating at max speed.

Bob Axsom

The following racers have registered for the
Rocket 100 Air Race as of 15 November, 2008:

Race # Name Aircraft Class

Race 74 Duncan Sutherland SX300 "Shadow" Sport
Race 79 Jim Robinson Glasair III Sport

Race 14 Wayne Hadath F1 Rocket "Little Bit" Sport FX

Race 91 Bruce Hammer Glasair I TD "Red Dog" FX Blue

Race 51 Rick Pellicciotti Long EZ RG RG Red

Race 18 John Huft RV-8 "Nuisance" RV Blue
Race 26 Mike Thompson RV-6 "El Lento" RV Blue
Race 71 Bob Axsom RV-6A "Blue Bird" RV Blue
race 888 Rust Hall RV-4 RV Blue

Race 34 Chris Murphy RV-4 "Mister Twister" RV Red

Race 83 David Adams Long EZ Sprint

Race 729 Chester Jurskis Bonanza S35 "Trixie" FAC1RG

Race 77 Jim Huff Bonanza "Whatabeech" FAC2RG

Race 448 Jim Porter Cirrus SR-20 "Plane Jane" FAC3FX

Race 112 Stu Morse Grumman AA5B "Tiger Lily" FAC4FX
Race 519 Chad Maisel Diamond DA40 "The Diamond" FAC4FX

Race 146 Philip Goforth Merlin IIIC "Merlin" Twin1-T
 
Fast Lancair 360 entered

I checked the entry list at www.sportairrace.org this morning and found that last year's champion Larry Henney has joined the merry group for one more fling around the course. If James Redmon in his Berkut 360 and Don Saint in his Glassair signup for a full return of last years champs that would be great. I made up my turn check list this morning between 1 and 3 AM so I'm nearly ready to go. Still have to clean the blue bird and program the GPS. Turn check List:

Ski Lake Initial Point
- Climb to 1300ft
Fly 270 deg. to lake
Turn 173 deg.
Fly toward right side of
Hutto water tower
Freq. 122.8

Start Line
Turn: around Hutto water tower
Turn altitude: 1100 ft.
Freq: 122.8
Call: “Race 71 approaching
Start”
Depart heading: 088 deg.
Leg 1 Altitude: _______(900ft Min.)
Change Freq: 122.9

Turn 1
Turn: around Caldwell runway & Ramp
Turn altitude: 1400 ft.
Freq: 122.9
Call: “Race 71 approaching Turn 1”
Depart heading: 007 deg.
Leg 2 Altitude: ____________(900ft Min.)
Freq: 122.9

Turn 2
Turn: around Hearne terminal building
Turn altitude: 1400 ft.
Freq: 122.9
Call: “Race 71 approaching Turn 2”
Depart heading: 273 deg.
Leg 3 Altitude: ____________(900ft Min.)
Freq: 122.9

Turn 3
Turn: around Radome
Turn altitude: 900 ft. min.
Freq: 122.9
Call: “Race 71 approaching Turn 3”
Depart heading: 201 deg.
Leg 4 Altitude: 1100 ft
Change Freq: 122.8

Finish Line
Altitude 1100 ft.
Freq. 122.8
Call: “Race 71 approaching finish”
Turn to Taylor Airport
Left Traffic 35 or right traffic 17
Freq 122.8

​

Bob Axsom
 
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Don Saint is in the race now

Just checked and found the Don Sqaint has signed up so the entry list is now at 19! It should be great with three groupings of speed at the 300, 250 and 200 MPH nodes.

Bob Axsom
 
Great day. I got called by the avionics shop this morning telling me to bring my plane in for the Static system & xponder check. As a retired guy, I was sitting at the kitchen table eating my corn flakes in my pajamas so there "bring it over right now" instruction required some adjusting to... but I did it. Then they called telling me the static system leakes around the Altimeter Bezel but they wanted me to come witness the test .. . I'm struggling with my wind matrix for Saturday's race but again I disengage my mind and drive back to the airport and verify that the altimeter is leaking around the bezel. Then I get back home and I'm struggling to get my head back into the wind planning and my wife has the radio on in the other room tuned to 106.5 mHz - they play really fine music (www.variety1065.com) for us folks in northwest Arkansas. As I struggle I here a very pretty lilting song playing with the line "There are nine million bicycles in Beijing" that I have never heard before comes on the radio. We were in Beijing last month and I stopped everything to listen closely ... wow, beautiful! I e-mailed the station and learned "That was Katie Melua with 'Nine Million Bicycles in Beijing.' " I never heard of either but I now have it on order through amazon.com. Well things were so swell by this time I had to go to www.sportairrace.org and check to see if there were any new entries for the Rocket 100 Saturday. Lo and behold were! One of them is an RV-8 in the RV Red class against Chris Murphy. It will really be interesting to see how an RV-8 and an RV-4 stack up against each other with an O-320 in each. A new Tailwind entry is taking on a Long-EZ in the sprint class as well. Here is the latest and Mike Thompson tells me some last minute Rockets are expected to enter. It surely can't get any better than this - 21 entries - 6 RVs - wonderful day.


The following racers have registered for the
Rocket 100 Air Race as of 20 November, 2008:

Race # Name Aircraft Class

Race 74 Duncan Sutherland SX300 "Shadow" Sport
Race 79 Jim Robinson Glasair III Sport

Race 14 Wayne Hadath F1 Rocket "Little Bit" Sport FX

Race 52 Don Saint Glasair IIS TD FX Blue
Race 91 Bruce Hammer Glasair I TD "Red Dog" FX Blue


Race 36 Larry Henney Lancair 360 "Wildfire" RG Blue

Race 51 Rick Pellicciotti Long EZ RG RG Red

Race 18 John Huft RV-8 "Nuisance" RV Blue
Race 26 Mike Thompson RV-6 "El Lento" RV Blue
Race 71 Bob Axsom RV-6A "Blue Bird" RV Blue
Race 888 Rusty Hall RV-4 RV Blue

Race 08 Brian Jones RV-8 RV Red
Race 34 Chris Murphy RV-4 "Mister Twister" RV Red

Race 004 Larry Schleinat Wittman Tailwind Sprint
Race 83 David Adams Long EZ Sprint

Race 729 Chester Jurskis Bonanza S35 "Trixie" FAC1RG

Race 77 Jim Huff Bonanza "Whatabeech" FAC2RG

Race 448 Jim Porter Cirrus SR-20 "Plane Jane" FAC3FX

Race 112 Stu Morse Grumman AA5B "Tiger Lily" FAC4FX
Race 519 Chad Maisel Diamond DA40 "The Diamond" FAC4FX

Race 146 Philip Goforth Merlin IIIC "Merlin" Twin1-T

Bob Axsom
 
decision time

Hello Bob,
Wow, I would really love to go against an -8 with the 0-320. I competed with one ( 0320 RV-8) in 2003 AV Cup and our speeds were identical for one of the legs. Here's the rub. We are having low ceilings, -FZDZ, here, forcasting improvement here for tomorrow but high winds at surface in nw texas at my refueling stop. I will make the go/no go decision tomorrow AM. Oh, and its cold here too, 20deg F.

I am wondering about John Huft and the Sutherlands and what kind of weather they will have.

Good Luck and have a safe race.

Chris Murphy race34
 
A little OT for Bob A.

Say, Bob...

I have a couple of those little streamline covers for my tank drain valves. Will they get me a tad of airspeed or just cosmetic?

Thanks,
Jerry
 
Tomorrow and the Vent covers

The weather is looking good for us tomorrow and Saturday so I don't anticipate having to cancel. Hope you and John and Duncan make it as well.

John Huft has streamlined everything on his plane including the drains and vents. It can't hurt unless you put them on out of alignment with the flight path. I've been looking at mine this year and I have some radical changes in mind but they may never come out of the oven.

Bob Axsom
 
Polen Special is in

Getting ready for breakfast and checked the entry list one more time and I find that another Bonanza and the Polen Special are in the race. This will be something to see.

The following racers have registered for the
Rocket 100 Air Race as of 21 November, 2008:

Race # Name Aircraft Class

Race 74 Duncan Sutherland SX300 "Shadow" Sport
Race 79 Jim Robinson Glasair III Sport

Race 14 Wayne Hadath F1 Rocket "Little Bit" Sport FX

Race 52 Don Saint Glasair IIS TD FX Blue
Race 91 Bruce Hammer Glasair I TD "Red Dog" FX Blue

Race 31 Dick Keyt Polen Special Polen Special RG-T Blue

Race 36 Larry Henney Lancair 360 "Wildfire" RG Blue

Race 51 Rick Pellicciotti Long EZ RG RG Red

Race 18 John Huft RV-8 "Nuisance" RV Blue
Race 26 Mike Thompson RV-6 "El Lento" RV Blue
Race 71 Bob Axsom RV-6A "Blue Bird" RV Blue
Race 888 Rusty Hall RV-4 RV Blue

Race 08 Brian Jones RV-8 RV Red
Race 34 Chris Murphy RV-4 "Mister Twister" RV Red

Race 004 Larry Schleinat Wittman Tailwind Sprint
Race 83 David Adams Long EZ Sprint

Race 53 Dale Burgdorf Bonanza V35 FAC1RG
Race 729 Chester Jurskis Bonanza S35 "Trixie" FAC1RG

Race 77 Jim Huff Bonanza "Whatabeech" FAC2RG

Race 448 Jim Porter Cirrus SR-20 "Plane Jane" FAC3FX

Race 112 Stu Morse Grumman AA5B "Tiger Lily" FAC4FX
Race 519 Chad Maisel Diamond DA40 "The Diamond" FAC4FX

Race 146 Philip Goforth Merlin IIIC "Merlin" Twin1-T

Bob Axsom
 
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