OK - I haven't been there in years, but these are my best recollections. I'm sure some corrections will be necessary:
You will park generally east - southeast of the general admission area unless you have other arrangements. Main gate brings you in near the middle of this area. As you enter, marvel at the infrastructure that is there basically for this event only, and imagine what it would take to put it all together somewhere else if Reno Stead ever becomes untenable. The entire spectator area is situated south of runway 8/26, with the finish line at show center. For most of the day, the sun will be behind you. There is no real good place to stand in the front row here.
Regarding General Admission, there are reserved boxes on the apron, reserved bleacher seats in the huge grandstand in front of you, and free seating in a smaller (but yet still massive) bleacher section to the east. Sounds like you'll be mostly in the pits, though. GA is where most of the food, beer, clothing, and trinket vendors are. As you stand there, the starting Unlimiteds will come over your right shoulder and fly away from you towards the guide pylon.
Proceed west (left) to get to the pit gate, where you will have to show your wristband. This will be a complete change from GA - more corporate suite-type spaces and some A/C manufacturers advertising their wares on your right; hangar space and food vendors on your left. About halfway down you will get into the Unlimited/T-6 pit area, where each team has their work space. Some are quite well funded. You can walk right up to the perimeter of any of these and take photos or chat with the crews (unless of course they are moving an aircraft in or out). Now that you are past the corporate boxes, you can go right out to the edge of the apron and stand as long as you want. Gets pretty crowded here during bigger races, though. Very little general seating over here, and almost none with shade. After the Unlimited Gold race, you can go out onto the apron and congratulate the winner.
Hangars at the far west end are Biplane, F-1, and Sport Class pits. Hangars to the south are apparently privately owned/rented. If you're lucky, the MB-5 replica may be out. There is a wide walkway in between the pit area and the south hangars; trams run back and forth almost constantly. About halfway into the Unlimited pits, there is a small shack on your right. This is sort of an information service and they post the latest daily schedule on the window every day. You can get a good idea looking at Airrace.org, but these postings will be the most up to date. Take a cell phone photo of it.
As I said, the Unlimited starts will come from the south, over the far east end of the bleachers. T-6 starts come in from the west, right down runway 8.
Regarding photos, I'll second BBF's comment about 500 mm lenses. I find the best place to take race photos is the west end of the free bleacher section. If you want to see the most 'rabid' race fans anywhere, try section 3 for a few hours! From there, you can catch all of the take offs before they bank away from you, one right after another. After any unlimited race, the planes are all milling about in cool down mode and there may be some minutes between the arrivals. If there is any kind of Warbird show during the day (like when Texas Flying Legends were there), you can get good shots of them landing if you walk all the way to the east as far as you can go (well past the last General Admission stuff). Wouldn't want to watch a race from there though.
All I have for now. Let the corrections begin!
_________________ Chris
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