Hoot Gibson Wins Reno Unlimited Race (Corrected)

Retired astronaut Robert "Hoot" Gibson won the Unlimited Gold title at the National Championship Air Races in Reno on Sunday with a course speed of 488.983 mph. He flew the highly modified P-51 Strega and was substantially faster than Stewart Dawson in the also highly modified F8F Bearcat Rare Bear. He recorded a time of 471.957 mph. Dennis Sanders was third in the Hawker Sea Fury Dreadnought. Steve Hinton, who'd won the ultimate prize at Reno for the last six years, didn't finish. Eyes are always on the Unlimiteds but they aren't the fastest aircraft at Reno.

Pete Zaccagnino posted the fastest time of the day in a de Havilland Vampire at 502.370 mph in the Jet Class. In the Sport Class, John Parker went 377.403 in Blue Thunder II and in the Formula One race it was Steve Senegal in Endeavor at 239.432. Tom Aberle won the Biplane Class at 245.109 but set a record in qualifying at a blistering 284.454. Dennis Buehn flew Midnight Miss III to a win in the T-6 Class at 238.073.

The earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Jet Class winning aircraft was an L-39.