Rare Bear, Sea Furies and others at the Phoenix 500

cadet77 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 01, 2008 10:21 am

A few shots of Rare Bear taken at the Phoenix 500.

Under the cowl in the pits.

Ztex · **Posted:** Sat Mar 01, 2008 6:37 pm

Gotta Love the Bear!

What else do you have from Phoenix?

How about the T-28 racers?

cadet77 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 01, 2008 11:51 pm

Zane, I will see what I have and get it scanned. Until then....

Fly fast, fly safe,

Larry

Mark Nankivil · **Posted:** Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:14 am

Very nice Larry - looking forward to anything else like this you have!

Enjoy the Day! Mark

cadet77 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:42 pm

Here are a few more racers at the Phoenix 500.

P-51s and a T-28

Hawker Mk. II Sea Fury N588

Hawker Mk. II Sea Fury N924G

Canso42 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 09, 2008 6:20 pm

Cadet77, got any more Sea Furies?
Canso42

cadet77 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 09, 2008 7:24 pm

A few photos of Sea Furies at the races.

cadet77 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 06, 2009 10:25 pm

Found another photo from the races. Two years of racing events here in the valley was too short. Too bad it was not well funded.
Strega. The gentleman with the shorts better have sunscreen on. Shake and bake on the tarmac.

Fly Fast, Fly Safe,
Larry

Neal Nurmi · **Posted:** Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:17 pm

The gentleman in the shorts is the Merlin legend Dwight Thorn, who very recently passed away. Dwight developed the "Mouse" Merlin -- greatly modified and strengthened, and fitted with Allison G6 connecting rods. This motor moved the racing Mustangs from 440 mph to 480+ mph and literally revolutionised the breed.

Dwight started with Unlimited hydroplanes and was in the forefront of high powered Merlin development for Mustangs from 1964 til his retirement early this decade.

A very special man. By the way he always dressed like this, in pretty much all weather...

Neal Nurmi · **Posted:** Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:21 pm

Look at the fancy prop on Howard's Sea Fury. He spent a bunch of money on that thing, only to go 15 mph slower.

I'm convinced that propellers are truly Black Magic...

Neal Nurmi · **Posted:** Wed Jan 07, 2009 12:09 am

Not great quality-wise, but here are a couple of shots of the T-28 racing at Phoenix 1995...

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Tue May 03, 2011 11:09 pm

These are awesome! And quite useful. What year are these?

cadet77 · **Posted:** Wed May 04, 2011 8:13 am

I will go back and check the neg dates. The races in Phoenix were in 1994 and 1995. The cloudy day pictures I posted are from 1994.

cadet77
Larry Welty

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Tue Sep 27, 2011 3:46 pm

Im not too knowledgeable about this race, other than we almost lost Eldridge in 94. Why did they stop having the race? Was teh event based at Phoenix Deer Valley Airport?

shrike · **Posted:** Tue Sep 27, 2011 6:03 pm

Warbird Kid wrote:

Im not too knowledgeable about this race, other than we almost lost Eldridge in 94. Why did they stop having the race? Was teh event based at Phoenix Deer Valley Airport?

It was at Williams Gateway - nee Williams AFB, now Phoenix-Mesa Gateway - at least in 95.
The primary sponsor was Incredible Universe, a consumer electronics big-box store that went bankrupt. My understanding, from the owner of the Sea Fury they sponsored, was they reneged on prize and sponsorship payments promised.

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Rare Bear, Sea Furies and others at the Phoenix 500

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