Warbird Information Exchange

This is a freakin joke. Read the part about how high they will be. You know how small flames shooting out the back of an EZ at 5,000ft will be. What a dam joke.

Put them 50ft off the ground, like REAL air racing, maybe you got something.

Doomed to fail. I know if they do race at Reno, I'll be sure to spend that time back at the car taking a nice break. I will not watch this farce.

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"I love the smell of racing gas in the morning"
www.timadamsphotography.com

marine air..... do you mean the ground bound nascar assn. is going to contribute to the rocket engine racing bird races?? think about it... it would be an entirely new avenue!!!!!!!!!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Did you read that the race is at 5,000 feet? I think my friend said the guy mentioned it would be at 2,000 , or maybe it was 1500 feet agl. Also he said the speed of the racers would be around 300 kts. and then he said he wasn't sure that maybe they said 200 kts. My cell phone battery died so I will have to call him back for more clarification.
My impression, right or wrong, was that NASCAR being the fastest growing sport, with huge sponsorship and celebrity investors would be the target market. The small size of the aircraft with the noise and relative speed and the thrill of the emergency landings and the blasts of rocket power for lead changes, I think is geared to the same sort of fan. I believe they are basing it on the same winning marketing formula that is working so well in Racing.
I'm not a race fan but have attended some local ARCA, Indy and Busch series races at the new Nashville Speedway and I understand the entertainment value. It would be interesting to know if they would have these races at airports with an airshow environment or if they could somehow host them at the racetracks. This would be a ready made infrastructure.

excellent point!!! already made bleachers concession stands, parking etc, only makes sense, but faa flight restrictions, adjacent homes, public buildings, etc, nixes that idea to a pipe dream at best

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

I called my friend back and he confirmed that they plan to conduct the races at 5 to 6000 feet . He also said that they were definitely going after the Nascar crowd. The flight testing is at Mojave and it's possible a race could be conducted there. That's about all he remembered.

I have never chimed in on the air racing topics because I haven't been to Reno but one friend of mine that has been going about 30 yers says they have gotten darn boring. Another friend of mine that has been going about 5 years says they have gotten paralyzingly boring. Everything Nevada has to offer he already has a line on here so he was bored.

As a kid I knew a couple of guys here that had built and raced Formula Vee racers and also one of them used to enter his Pitts S-1 in the bi[plane races. They were WW II pilots and veterans. One of them was an airline pilot and the other worked for the postal service. That's the way it should be; a couple of guys at the local airport can buy expendable parts and engines and put something together. YOu shouldn't have to be a mega millionaire with "old money" just to own a race plane.
My suggestion to rescuscitate the now dead sport of air racing is to have some NEW CLASSES BASED ON EXPENDABLE AIRCRAFT AND POWERPLANTS. Remember after WW II these Corsairs and mustangs had no practical civilian purpose and you could pick them up for salvage values. The warbirds need to be relegated to the concours type racing and flown by well heeled aristocrats.
Imagine if you had new categories based on say highly modified Mooney's or Cessna's or Piper Navajo's or even something with throw-away types such as a Cessna 152 class. There also need to be some categories for the most popular sport planes (aircraft where there is already great interest) like the RV-3, RV-6's etc. Ands a jet class or two. WHat's more throw-away than Mig 15's and 21's, or Iskra's ??. There are a bunch of them in the country and not even museums want them.
Up the prize money. Wasn't the prize money last year for the gold something like $140,000? That stinks!! But that would more than cover an old aero commander or dog Navajo purchase price.
In the 60's Walt Ohlrich, a U.S. Naval Aviator bought a surplus Bearcat and raced it at Reno. On a government employees salary!! That's the way it should be!!! You should be able to scrounge through Trade A plane and behind the hangars at your airport for parts. The civvy birds would help capture the public's imagination. These are just my thoughts. I would love to air race but it's unrealistic with the current set up.

Once again at 5,000-6,000 feet an EZ will be a spec in the sky. Take your average NASCAR hillbilly fan and tell him your going to build a track, BUT the closest seats will be almost 1 mile away. See how many tickets you will sell.

Reno, boring? Sure some races are a parade, but for the most part these guys are pushing these planes to the limit. I love airshows and old warbirds, but I go to Reno to see these airplanes pushed to the limit, and flying LOW.

A 152 class, you want to talk about boring. Sport planes racing? They already are. There are 5 classes at Reno. Biplane, IF1, Sport, T6, and Unlimited. You can get into IF1, and Biplane fairly cheap, can you win, no, but you can have a hell of a lot of fun. 152's? Way to slow, even the slowest biplanes, Sport, and IF1 planes look like they are smoking. THe only way a 152 looks smoking is if it is on fire.

Some examples, your basic Pitts,


You want to win Biplane, then you need something like this,


IF1,


Win IF1, well here you go


Sport, how about a Harmon Rocket,



How about a built to the hilt Lancair,


Everybody knows we can't race the old warbirds forever, but Rocket racing is doomed to failure. I may eat my words someday, but I doubt it.

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"I love the smell of racing gas in the morning"
www.timadamsphotography.com

Great photos! I was just trying to think like a Nascar person thinks- crowd appeal and John Q. Public who is not a pilot. Some pilots today do not identify with taildraggers or 60 year old designs. I found that out as an instructor when I realized that not every one has a passion for old airplanes, they just want the status of being an owner and they want to fly from Point A to Point B (the beach.) with their wife or girlfriend.
How do you make air racing more identifiable to the ticket purchaser, the t.V. viewer etc. THat is where I was suggesting the twin engine types as most people have flown a commuter airline somewhere. The C-152 was just a thought to a couple of junkyards I have been to. They always have C-152's C-172's Mooney's and Bonanzas laying around these are what you see at every G.A. airport. Plus the average new or low time pilot can identify and imagine himself flying something with a nosewheel, highly modified of course.
The jets are of course for pure speed and noise. Everyone has fantasized about being a jet fighter pilot at least once in their life.
The races have become too refined, too predictable, too little prize money, too little of the unknown each year. Too safe, for Bubba the spectator. Nascar fans love the unexpected thrills and crashes.

I hate to admit it, but I enjoyed the XFL, for betting and playing the little game at Bw3's while drinking beer!

That is completely false!

A bit late here, but don't forget the L-39 Jet class. By the way, nice pictures Tim.

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Roger Cain
www.sfahistory.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Stearman/


We must limit politicians to two terms:
one in office and one in jail.