Going Out On
On The Limb
The Hangman's
Prediction List
With
the start of competition for 2001 right
around the corner, it’s about time
we stick our necks into the proverbial
noose and take a look at what the
prospects are for this year.
Before
we get too close to putting anything
around our necks or climbing too far out
on the limb, let’s start by taking a
look at what we do
know.
Strega-
 Lean and mean, Bill
"Tiger" Destefani and "The
Witch." With many years of
competition under his belt, this
ferocious competitor has to go on the
list as the one to beat in any race he
enters. One of three nearly identical
"clipped" Mustangs currently
running at Reno, the Strega/Tiger
combination will be hard for any
airplane/pilot combination to beat. The
only disadvantage that might be counted
against Tiger’s chances to pull off
his seventh championship this year would
be the timing of getting the final
funding needed to get the airplane ready.
But Tiger and Team Strega are used to
last minute preparations and they
indicate they will be ready for action by
entry cutoff. Tiger has said this will be
his last race as a pilot and he never
enters a race with any other intention
than winning it; as his last race, this
one simply has to be special. Tiger makes
no secret that he feels the number one
qualifying slot is "owned" by
him… look for him to qualify well,
if not in the top position, somewhere
very close to it… Or will he play
cagey and save his engine for later in
the week? Either way he goes at it, if
Strega stays healthy, Tiger is always
tough to beat.
Dago
Red-
 A week ago, this
team would have been described as the
runaway favorite. A week ago, Tiger was
describing his chances of appearing at
Reno as "it would take a miracle for
us to get there and that miracle gets
bigger every day." Now with the
Strega Team making preparations to get to
Stead, Skip Holm and Dago Red will have
their work cut out for them.
There is
no question that Dago Red Air Racing is a
well prepared team, and there is also no
question that Dago Red is a very fast
airplane with a very good pilot. Taking
home the gold three years in a row places
the marker very high in the expectation
column for this team. But they have yet
to finish a race against a healthy
Strega… If both these airplanes stay
in one piece for the week of racing, it
would be easy to say "it’s
anybody’s guess." Not making
any "predictions" within this
part of our report is difficult but
looking at track record alone, there is
not too much speculation involved in
naming the above two competitors as
"favorites" for Sunday's
finals..
That is,
unless the next player on our list can
manage to thwart their plans.
Critical
Mass-
 Here is an airplane
that we’ve yet to see full bore.. or
have we? Last year, after Tom got by the
traffic and had nothing but air between
himself and the Skip Holm/Dago Red - Matt
Jackson/Voodoo battle ahead of him, he
appeared to have Critical Mass moving
ahead and closing the gap rapidly.
Tom’s ADI problems did not allow him
to continue at that rate but… to
many casual observers, he was moving up
handily.
Critical
Mass throws an unknown into the mix.
There are those that will tell you that
the airplane will "hit a wall"
and will never exceed or match the speeds
of the fast Mustangs. Even her pilot, Tom
Dwelle will tell you that he can’t
run by them… Many of you will
remember the sandbags in his pit a few
years ago.
That said,
Tom’s got a great engine in the
airplane and a great crew behind him.
Depending on what strategy he uses, he
can "pester" the Mustangs all
week... or: If he manages to get a good
qualifying position and should manage to
win or take second on Saturday’s
heat.. or somehow get in front on
Sunday.. Watch out! It’s going to
take a lot of power to get around him
without breaking something!
Voodoo-
 Bob Button and the
crew of Voodoo have put enough magic into
this airplane to deserve taking a little
back out and they just might do it this
year. Over the last several years, Voodoo
has seen her share of bad luck and
Matt’s start in the Gold race last
year, plus the "snot ball" in
the ADI hose once he did get started,
seemed to be a continuance of that luck.
But… It is important to remember
that of the top three Mustangs entered
into competition last year, the Hovey
powered Voodoo was the only one to fly
home on her race engine. Despite some
bearing delamination encountered in last
year’s race, a problem that
continued recently through the
replacement of those bearings with yet
another delamination, this team will be
ready for action. Bob Button told us last
week that Jack Hovey had a handle on it
and they were ready to put the engine on
the test stand. "We’re going to
put three hours on it and fly it"
said the colorful owner of the most
colorful airplane on the ramp.
We have an
interesting mix in the Gold Contender
list this year to be sure…
Precious
Metal-
 New owner, new
pilot and crew and just about a truckload
of engines to play with. In the able
hands of her former owner, Don
Whittington, "Precious" has
been seen in the 450+ region.
This
airplane and Ron Buccarelli would simply
have to go on anybody's list as a dark
horse. The airplane and her pilot seemed
to be doing pretty well getting round the
pylons last June at "new guy
school" and Ron and his team
certainly seem to be doing their
homework. Buccarelli has been out to the
west coast at least twice to test and fly
the airplane and now the entire crew has
come out early for nearly a week’s
worth of preparation prior to Reno. Not
to mention Ron’s visits with Reno
race veteran Art Vance to learn more
about pylon racing.
Ron and
his crew pushed hard to get to Reno last
year but were unable to get the last few
details completed in time. This fact has
given them an entire year of additional
time and they do, indeed, seem ready.
The list
of reasons to keep a close eye on this
team is long.
There is
nothing quite like the sound of all those
extra cubic inches stacked on top of the
already beautiful V-12 Rolls Royce engine
song and lots of cubic inches can
make reliable power. This airplane has a
great combination; a big engine and a
slick airframe to boot.
There’s
a lot of cubic inches sitting in the pack
this year, let’s throw some more
into the mix!
Furias-
 With her
owner —as cagey as any Texas card
shark you could imagine— departing
from his traditional "Down to
painting ground equipment" pre-race
statement, to last week’s
"I’m up to my ass
painting ground equipment," the
"mysterious" Paine Field gang
are not letting much out of the bag this
year.
Judging
this airplane’s potential by last
year’s performance would be a
mistake nearly as big as the engine
mounted on her nose. With little time to
get her ready for flight, let alone
racing, the smoky oil streaked racer that
flew the pylons last year will very
likely be replaced by a far more
competitive airplane this year. But how
much time to work their magic have they
had? We have not been up to see for
ourselves and the last guy we sent up
(Kraz) has not been seen or hard from
since! Was Bill sandbagging us last week
when he described his new
"zero-time" Dallas Aeromotive
R-4360 powered airplane?
Laughing
heartily, Rogers told us, "After
spending the last year working on this
project, we’ve come to the
conclusion that Pratt & Whitney
really knew how to build an aircraft
engine.. I just wish somebody could tell
me what Hawker was thinking!"
Do any of
you remember the last time Bill and the
crew were smiling really broadly..
Remember, never trust a guy from Texas
when yer playin’ cards with him and
there's no question, Reno is a Poker
match to be sure.. Or should we take Bob
Menalski’s "Size Matters"
statement made in the same conversation
as the key to knowing what's up-up North?
If we print this, will they ever let poor
Kraz out of the closet in the hangar?
There are
many competitors this year that are
simply going to have to fall into the
"unknown" category —
that's what makes Reno.. Reno!
Miss
America-
 "Look for Miss
A in the 440’s to 460’s"
Brent "Doc" Hisey told us early
last week. Backing this up,
"Doc" added, "We think our
Rick Shanholtzer engine is going to be
evil, REALLY EVIL!" There you have
it from the man himself.. how can we add
anything to that!
Has anyone
else noticed how crowded it’s
getting on this limb?
Czech
Mate-
 Another "snake
bitten" team that has yet to show
its full potential. When we checked in
earlier this year at Stead during the
engine installation, Larry Klassen told
us "it's got more in it." How
much more? As always with last few
pre-Reno weeks, the rumors fly higher
than the racers on the course and this
year is no exception. Earlier this week
the "word" was that Czech Mate
had lost a cylinder or two.. backtracking
this one was a little hard because all
the teams are busy enough to not check
email and cell phones can go unanswered
when you're up to your ass painting
all that ground equipment.. But we
did get word that this rumor can be put
to bed. Airplane healthy, test flights
underway...
How fast?
Early in the life of this airplane, The
late Bob Yancey turned in a very
respectable 439.543 in the '93 Unlimited
Gold final race. Sherman Smoot managed a
423.459 during qualifying at Reno '98, so
the airplane has shown itself to be a
solid high "mid 400+"
contender.
But much
has been done since we last saw this
airplane healthy and ready to run with
the big boys.. throw yet another unknown
into the mix.
September
Fury-
 Fast out of the
box, but it broke. 2000 saw the debut of
this much anticipated new racer from the
Sanders Bros. Camp. Mike Brown posted a
very respectable 433+ speed last year,
not at all bad, especially for an
airplane debut but the engine did not
hold together.
A year of
intense work, many airframe
modifications, a new engine and a very
skilled pilot —with Unlimited Gold
in his eyes— could make September
Fury a very potent threat. As with
Precious Metal, analyzing this
airplane’s chances this year has us
dealing with many unknowns, potentially VERY
fast unknowns. If Mike and his crew can
keep her healthy… excuse us, the
limb is cracking!
Risky
Business-
 What can we say,
always a threat, always there.
"Rhino" has a lot of time on
the course, he has a slick airplane and a
great crew. He’ll be in the mix but
where? Top of the Silver? Bottom of the
Gold? The old friendly rivalry between
The "Rhino" and "Doc"
Hisey will most assuredly be a different
story this year than last….
Fury-
 Not much news leaks
out of the Pardue camp during the off
season. What magic might Howard and his
crew have worked on "Fury"
during the many months since Reno last?
We saw the airplane daily last month at
Oshkosh during Howard’s beautiful
aerobatic demonstration flights.. It
sounded good as usual… the list for
slots in the final race on Sunday seems
very long.
Ridge
Runner- When we talked with Dan
Martin back in May at the Doolittle
Raiders Reunion, he was not at all
definite that he would not be there,
saying "at this time last year I
wasn't going either".. Not on the
entry list this year but do we count out
an appearance by Dan anyway?
Another
unknown!
The
Rest- Certainly the airplanes
mentioned above do not complete the list
of who could wind up in the Gold on
Sunday. Names like Dave Morss in another
unknown commodity, the Yak-3M Russian
Roulette, Stu Dawson in Spirit of Texas,
John Bagley in Southern Cross and a host
of other teams who have had one full year
to improve and refine in their quest for
speed!
The only
thing anyone can be truly sure of this
year is, that it is going to be one hell of
a race week!
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The
Hangman's Predictions
Who will qualify
where?
Who will finish where?
AAFO.COM's
Wayne Sagar & Mark S. Daniels
put on their best target shirts,
stick their heads in the noose
and climb out on the limb. The
first annual Crow Bar-B-Q will be
held just after dark on Sunday!
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