Reno 2019 ? I Blinked / Overslept !!

[Triplane102]

So..Wha...Hap.. I missed something ?

[OD/NG]

Nothing too dramatic. As far as the Unlimiteds, all of the fastest racers no longer participate at Reno. Dreadnought had the fastest qualifying time and was expected to win and did.

Here are the official results for the Unlimited Gold race:

http://reports.airrace.org/2019/2019.Un ... sults.html

In the days leading up to the final Unlimited Gold race, there was a persistent rumor in the Pits that Miss America was going to give Dreadnought a serious run for the money. Miss America, armed with a racing Merlin and a "secret" system was going to go "all out" to beat Dreadnought. Unfortunately M.A. blew her engine a couple laps into the final Gold race and didn't finish. Brent did a nice job successfully recovering the aircraft with no damage, other than the blown engine.

The other exciting event which happened before I got there was that "Sawbones", a Sea Fury, lost her canopy during the qualifying laps early in the week. Miraculously, the pilot escaped injury, as it could have been very catastrophic. So, "Sawbones" never got the chance to race. The canopy caused some damage to the tail on the way out, so there was some structural damage that must be repaired prior to flight.

There was a smattering of other "incidents", like mid-air collisions, flying too low and rules violations, but nothing that doesn't normally happen every year.

[exhaustgases]

So how many wins for Wasp Major's at Reno. I was happy to hear who won, great bunch of people and nice engine.

[kennsmithf2g]

(Safety Plane)

[GRNDP51]

Directly from Brent Hisey regarding Miss America's Reno 2019 Experience!

"This year was unique, in that it was the first time we came to Reno with the goal of winning the gold. To beat Dreadnaught, Sawbones, and the rest, was not a task we took lightly in that we had never come close to beating Dreadnaught. In the off season, several modifications to the airframe were done, thanks to the help of Dan Martin, Thom Richards, and my incredible crew led by Greg and Scotty Butler. Our engine builder, Rick Schanholzer, built a very strong engine which we felt could do around 110 inches, which coupled with the airframe changes, was hoped to get us to victory.
The flight out to Reno was uneventful and qualifying went well but checking the screens after showed what was initially thought to show bearing metal. We were in the process of putting the stock engine back in, when they found broken pads from the fingers which accounted for the metal. We made the decision to replace the fingers and keep the race engine operational and still go all out. Friday and Saturday's race went well and we were where we wanted to be on Sunday next to Dreadnaught. I did not think I could run all out for three days straight. Sunday started well but I was taken back a little when the pace plane went down but Dennis did a great job of getting us to the start. I started with full RPM and throttle but it was not enough to get around Dreadnaught so I dropped into second and kept at full power hoping to catch her or be close enough if she had a problem. I thought about pulling back the throttle to save the engine but in the heat of battle, I didn't. All was going well, I felt I might have been gaining a little, everything felt smooth until after pylon 6, i saw a puff of smoke and felt a little shake and I new it was over. As Tiger always preached, I climbed to gear speed and downwind to 14. It was shaking pretty bad by touchdown but otherwise uneventful. It looks like a piston/rod broke and poked through the case."

[phil65]

Thanks for the info...sad

Phil

[GRNDP51]

Thanks for the info...sad

Phil

Well that's RACING! Ah shoot I forgot the Unlimiteds are just a parade and I can't say that they race anymore.

Darn...

[Mark Allen M]

Expensive Parade for some of em.

[Triplane102]

Thanks for the input every one ! Yes, an expensive parade, Mark, you're so right ! So, my Thanks ! for all the owners who bought their "Birds" over to the races !
Did Joe Thibodeau Bring his New "Polished" T.20 Sea fury to Reno ? Where is his past ( Breckenridge Wrecked ) Sea Fury ? With Sanders ? Thanks again, all !

[CAPFlyer]

Joe's Sea Fury was not at the races this year. I believe he did take delivery of it since it was run by Dennis last year at Reno where the new name "On Eagle's Wings" was unveiled. As for the remains of "Seahawk", last I heard it was still at Ezell's. I don't know that there's any plans to do anything with it considering its history now.

[GRNDP51]

Thanks for the input every one ! Yes, an expensive parade, Mark, you're so right ! So, my Thanks ! for all the owners who bought their "Birds" over to the races !
Did Joe Thibodeau Bring his New "Polished" T.20 Sea fury to Reno ? Where is his past ( Breckenridge Wrecked ) Sea Fury ? With Sanders ? Thanks again, all !

As CAP said, it was not at Reno this year and they really tried to make it happen to show off the polished Fury on the course. Things got in the way, but they are ready for next year.

I think they will be using Sea Hawk for parts, seems like the general consensus is it's a bad luck airframe and needs to be treated as such, if you believe in all that mumbo jumbo haha.

[Lon Moer]

Thanks for the input every one ! Yes, an expensive parade, Mark, you're so right ! So, my Thanks ! for all the owners who bought their "Birds" over to the races !
Did Joe Thibodeau Bring his New "Polished" T.20 Sea fury to Reno ? Where is his past ( Breckenridge Wrecked ) Sea Fury ? With Sanders ? Thanks again, all !

The only other Sea Fury was "Sawbones", but they had the canopy explode during practice and were out for the rest of the event.
They did 8 multi-hour grid searches in the desert before they were able to recover all the canopy pieces. The canopy pieces also impacted the left tail causing some minor structural damage.

[Blackbirdfan]

A few highlights of what I shot at Reno.

Will

[AG pilot]

Very nice!

[garbs]

Very nice as usual, Will