Images From The Pits, And The Unlimited Upset!
AVweb’s Expanded Reno Coverage (by contributing writer, Tim Kern)
People who havent been there ask what the Reno Air Races are like. Theyre unique; theyre not “like” anything else – but to compare, say, Oshkosh to Reno, you might think of the relationship between the Detroit Auto Show and the Indianapolis 500. If that doesnt help, just come to the races, and youll understand.
Sport Class
The drama this year was heightened by the first public appearance of the Nemesis NXT, perennial Formula One winner Jon Sharps brainchild, a kitplane designed to race in the Sport Class. Unfortunately, Sharp didnt even try to go fast in the first qualifying (yet posting a third-best 324 mph), so we wont know how fast he can go, because he had a minor gear failure on landing, and skidded to a sickening halt at the end of the session.
“I expected to see the gear legs out on the desert when I climbed out of the plane,” the unhurt Sharp told me, “but when they lifted the airplane up, the first thing somebody said was that both gear were in the wells. I said, ‘YES!”
The Nemesis NXT, with its twin-turbo Lycoming 540 putting out a reported (and believable) 600 hp, went back to the paddock, where it will be repaired, and flown home, in about two weeks. The original special scimitar Hartzell prop wont fly again, but Sharp says the prop-maker has him taken care of. Obvious damage was to the port wingtip, oil cooler, and prop. Lycoming and Sharps team changed the engine, and the original is on its way back to Williamsport for a look-see. A Lycoming engineer said it will never race again, “but we will run it a lot, probably in the [test] cell.”
The fastest Sport Class plane to date came out of forced retirement on Wednesday and broke the 350-mph barrier. John Parkers Thunder Mustang, Blue Thunder, qualified at 349.507, and ran a reported 354 in the heat race Thursday. Parker, who didnt fly last year due to a ban (now resolved), was happy to show off his gorgeous V-12 machine, and to beat Darryl Greenamyer, last years class winner, in his first heat. Greenamyer had a problem in the heat, though, even as he was (some said) catching the screaming Thunder Mustang. “Prop governor went away,” the master told me, shortly after he landed his snarling Lancair.
On Friday, supercharger guru Rick Schrameck loaned Greenamyers team the prop from his own airplane, and Darryl used it to blow past Parker, registering one unofficial lap at 363 mph. Parker, for his part, had three gallons of oil outside, and only something over five inside. “We lost oil out of a plug on the PSRU,” he revealed. He expected to have everything cleaned up and shipshape by race time. “Were going to do some more forensics, but were not too shabby.”
Making things interesting on the normally aspirated side of Sport Class were the friendliest of deadly rivals, Lee Behel and Mike Jones. Behel flies a Lancair Legacy with a Continental 550; Mikes Glasair has Lycoming factory support for his 580. Jones got stuck in traffic in qualifying, and posted a disappointing 291 mph, to Lees 312, but as Behel said, “You wont find two more closely matched planes out here.” Unlike the hyper race planes in front of Behel (Parker, Greenamyer and Sharp), he points out that his and Joness planes are closer to “real-world” airplanes. A look at their scimitar-blade Hartzells, though, shows that both pilots are looking for speed – and theyre finding it.
Behels plane reveals many non-stock tricks, too, just like on Greenamyer plane. “Look here,” Andy Chiavetta (of Aero Chia) said, pointing near Lees exhaust tips. The floor of the cockpit had been modified to accommodate Aero Chias carbon cowl flaps. Further inspection of the cowl revealed a bigger than normal spinner with smaller “and more efficient” inlets, products of Chiavetta’s hand. Inside the cowl, there is a special plenum box, too. Chiavettas set of speed mods could go on just about anybodys Lancair, but he hasnt yet figured out how much to charge for them.
“Most innovative” award in the class has to go to the quick White Lightning of Will Mathews, who won Silver in 2002 and sat out 2003 while he was getting a new liver. This machine is the only “twin-engine” entry in the Sport Class. In the back-seat area, Mathews has installed a 60-hp 2si (the brand name) two-stroke engine, just to run the supercharger. Its unusual (“and its really noisy in there,” Will told me), but effective.
It pays to have experience with the rules. On Saturday, Mathews’ two-stroke didnt work, and Mathews, thinking any finish in his heat race was better than a DNF, ran very slowly. So slowly that he lost his spot in the Silver race. (Had he DNFd, his old time would have qualified him, and he would have raced Sunday.)
Going really fast, quietly, was Craig Shermans Glasair III, who qualified at nearly 304 mph. The Zivko Edge 540 was represented twice at Reno: once by aerobatic champion (and Red Bull series racer) Kirby Chambliss, and in the Sport Class by Roger Claypool, who ran his Brain Damage at 280.231, not bad for a “stunt plane.” Two Swearingen SX300s went plenty fast, too — and a Reno is likely the only time youll see two of these still-advanced birds together.
Unlimited, Last Week
The two top guns in Unlimited, Skip Holm in Dago Red and John Penney in Rare Bear, again took the top two qualifying spots, with Skip less than 1 mph faster, at nearly 491 mph. Penney took Lyle Sheltons Bear back to the hangar for… something. It wasnt in evidence in the paddock. Holm, too, had his share of problems. “On August 20,” Holm said, “with maybe 8 or 9 hours on the engine, we had a look at the fuel filters. One was clean, one was filled with metal – bronze, from the main bearings. It needed a new crank, and all the rest – crankcase, blower – had to be cleaned.” After that, going into Provo, Utah, Holm had an engine failure while there happened to be an airplane that had ground-looped stuck on the runway, with more airplanes waiting to take off. Holm had to look for an alternate, fast.
“It doesnt coast very good,” he revealed. “I had to use all my concentration to get over this dike.” It was close: “I dove at the dike and then put the flaps in and pulled the scoop up. I just got over that dike and got the tailwheel down, then the mains. I got into the gravel, and it peppered the outside of the airplane.” (Dago Red sported numerous patches, nearly invisible from a few feet away, that testified to a rough summer.)
Then, flying an F-100 to Reno for exhibition, Holm had another event. He blew a tire on landing, and “I put a wheel off” the runway, Holm said. It had been a rough month for the reigning champ. “Im all dirt-ed out,” he said, and looked forward to greeting the throngs of Young Eagles that he invites to every appearance.
Penneys problem turned out, after many hours of head-scratching, to have been a supercharger that committed suicide. Once that was diagnosed, the Bears 3350-inch engine was cleaned out, the supercharger was replaced, and the crowd favorite was ready to race, for a whole day. On Friday, the team replaced the #9 cylinder, which had demonstrated a leaky exhaust valve. One team member noted that, “Still, were in much better shape than last year,” when the Bear qualified first and finished second in the Gold.
Stewart Dawson, flying his Sea Fury, Spirit of Texas, had a loose valve guide on Friday. “I was smoking a little out of the right side of the engine,” he said. He elected not to start in his heat, and so was bumped from the Silver to the back of the Bronze heat. In order to get back into Silver, he had to win his Bronze heat, from the back, and he did it. His speed in that race made him third-fastest in Silver (where the rules still make him start from the back). If he were to win the Silver, he would have the option to abandon his Silver placing (and title, and prize money) to get into the Gold race (where he would start — you guessed it — from the back). When he won the Bronze, he was automatically bumped; if he were to win Silver, he would have the option.
Also having exhaust valve trouble was Dreadnought, twice-champion in the 80s, back and ready, albeit some 20 mph slower than in her prime. Chuck Cabe, legendary wiring guy, is the crew chief. “We had a little piece of, probably the spark plug, break off and get stuck between the exhaust valve and valve seat.” After a cylinder change early in the week, Dreadnought ran like a clock. A very big, very noisy clock, that is ready to capitalize on any mistakes in the very front.
Sherman Smoot, flying the (for sale) Yak-11, Czech Mate, qualified fourth and ran over 440 all week. His strategy for the race? “Just run the best power setting, and fly the best course I can … and stay out of the bad air.” Czech Mate is the smallest airplane in the Gold field, but its pretty trouble-free, running a “tiny” 2800 up front. “I dont look at the engine instruments much” during the race, Smoot admitted. “It doesnt do much good; theyre all up there,” close to the red zone.
Sunday’s Unlimited Racing — And the Big Upset
Dago Red was first across the line at the Reno Air Races, but pilot Skip Holm didnt win. He cut pylon #4 early in the race, and the 16-second penalty was too much to overcome, even if he knew he had cut it (a fact which is not known at press time).
That meant that Rare Bear, with John Penney at the controls, was the winner. In fact, if Mike Brown (September Fury) had been two seconds quicker, Holm would be have finished third.
Holm and Penney led the whole race, and Brown was by himself, alone in third. As the eight laps unwound, the quick pair were never more than two seconds apart, and they ran away from September Fury, which itself was pulling away from the smallest Unlimited in the race, Czech Mate. Just a second behind the little Yak was two-time winner Dreadnought, a huge Sea Fury. Nelson Ezell, in his Sea Fury, led three Mustangs: Brent Hiseys Miss America, Curt Browns Voodoo, and Daniel Martins Ridge Runner III, which was never in the chase, and was lapped on the third lap, and twice more. The first five machines were so fast that they all lapped the back four.
Rare Bear, with six wins, is now tied for overall wins in Unlimited, with Dago Red, which first won in 1982, and Strega, which won in 1987 and five times in the 1990s.
