On Saturday and Sunday,
October 5 - 6 2002, The city of Las
Vegas, Nevada and Nellis Air Force Base
entered the halls of Air Racing History
when World of Wings presented "Air
Racing - Las Vegas Style" at the
2002 Aviation Nation Air Show.
The air racing was indeed
superb. It certainly wasn't all show..
The race course legnth was about 8 miles, average lap
times were about 1:12 - 1:20, this
calculates to speeds of approximately 380
- 400 mph.
There were no erected pylons but the race
was run on high observability landmarks.
There was no prize money, all of the
racers were paid an appearance fee... BUT
YOU CAN"T SUPPRESS THE URGE TO WIN!
There was no predetermined winner and no
strategy discussed for racing (that I
knew about) except that on Saturday Riff
Raff was to demonstrate a Mayday.
(without ever using THE word) He never
made it to the last lap, fuel starvation
and engine surging in the fourth lap
prompted a REAL Mayday which had everyone
on the stand looking at each other in
dismay!! What do we do now? The real
object lesson came as Curt Brown realized
immediately that this was a real problem,
latched himself to Mike's wing and
shepherded him to a perfect landing.
Just before Mike touched
down, Skip Holm in Race #4 "Dago
Red" (Highly modified P-51 and 2002
Reno Gold winner) lost all electrical
power. A serious problem, as he lost all
communications and even more critically,
power for the spray bar and cooling
pumps. He was the second Mayday in the
same race and shut the overheated Merlin
down as soon as he touched down.
Were they at full power?
No... but they were somewhere between
Friday and Sunday power settings normally
seen at Reno. The fervor was on in the
pits as four dedicated crews labored into
the night over their charges and the
gloves came off in the last two laps of
the race on Sunday. John Penney had only
about 17 hours total time on the 3350 but
the crew said it wouldn't let him down,
he could smell the win and went for it.
After the group took off on Suaturday and
Sunday, the F-104 Starfighter act ran
while they warmed up and formed up to
come down the chute. Rich Perkins had
never paced unlimited's before but he did
a calm and professional job of lining
them up and leading them down the chute
at race power.
Sunday's race was one of the
most exciting I've ever called. John
Penney in race #77 Rare Bear (a clipped
wing F-8F with a 4,000 HP R-3350 driving
a P-3 Orion prop) was on the course for
the first time in 3 years. Rich Perkins
brought them down the chute to the home
pylon in his L-39 "Firecat" and
as he pulled up they were in a tight
bunch. The race settled into a 1,2 and
3,4 race with Skip Holm and John Penney
battling for the lead with Mike Keenum
and Matt Jackson trying to avoid the
dreaded last place.
John Penney took the lead in the last lap
and seemed to be pulling away from Skip
Holm but as they rounded the last turns
and approached the home pylon, Skip found
some more power and closed the gap
rapidly.
They went by the home pylon with the
Bear's engine cowling just ahead of Dago
Red's spinner. THE BEAR IS BACK!
Matt Jackson in race #5 Voodoo, held off
Mike Keenum in Riff Raff securing 3rd
place.
It was a great race!
Besides the Bear, the most incredible
round sound of the show was the P&W R
1535 Twin Wasp in Jim Wright's replica
H-1 Racer.
Many, many happy faces on
Sunday after the final race, sponsors,
politicians, investors and racers
discussing solid plans and committing to
numbers. A venue has been named, but no
dates as yet... I am sworn to secrecy on
both counts - but I can guarantee one of
the most exciting events in the world
with REAL worldwide media coverage.
The whole intent of the
event was to demonstrate to sponsors,
investors, politicians and local
government officials the power and
excitement of the world's fastest motor
sport. The World of Wings crew and the
Aviation Nation staff pulled it together
beatifully with a tremendous culmination
of the Sunday race which was as I wrote
earlier, one of the most ecxiting races I
have ever called.
It's all in the red!!!
Gordon Bowman-Jones
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