Furias owner, Bill Rogers told AAFO.COM today that there will be a "driver" change for his R-4360 powered Hawker Sea Fury at the upcoming Reno National Championship Air Races, held this year from September 11^th through the 15^th, at Nevada’s home of the "Worlds Fastest Motorsport."

Caldwell, Idaho, ag-pilot/flying service operator, Gary Hubler will be the man to fill the seat vacated by Art Vance. Vance has served as pilot for the "Rogers - Stolzer Furias Air Racing Team" since they acquired the airplane from the Lloyd Hamilton estate early in 2000. Vance also serves as President of the Unlimited Air Racing Association.

Hubler is most well known for his very successful International Formula 1 racing career and is the current champion of that racing division. Gary has also been making quite a good showing in the Unlimited division over the past two years flying as backup pilot for Bill Rheinschild’s P-51 Mustang Air Racer, and as first pilot for the team’s Sea Fury, "Bad Attitude." Hubler turned in a very fast qualifying speed of 398.550 in the virtually "stock" Sea Fury last year while at the same time, he was in the process of taking top qualifying position, and posting first place finishes in each IF1 heat race he participated in. Hubler finished the season as IF1 Champion, posting a 249.56 MPH overall win for the year in that division.

Gary began racing International Formula 1, in 1984 and in addition to his Unlimited racing experience, he has also raced in the T-6 division. With total flying hours in excess of 17,000 hours, and 17 years of Air Racing experience in several divisions, his absolute sweep of the 2002 IF1 division competition, and his very respectable showing in the Unlimited division, Hubler will certainly be a man well worth watching as the 2003 Air Racing event unfolds this September at the Reno Stead Airport!

Rogers also told AAFO that the changes to "Furias" for this year are relatively minor, with general skin smoothing and dent removal being all that he will "admit" to for the team’s off season preparations on the colorful raceplane. This might well be taken with a grain of salt, as Bill is always very fond of telling us, whenever we’re foolish enough to ask about his team’s off-season progress,… "Oh, we’re down to paintin’ ground equipment." With this highly motivated and skilled team, only what you see on race day can be believed. With a new pilot and a year of time spent with the racer, the results this year for the Rogers - Stolzer Furias Air Racing Team should be very interesting indeed.

For event and ticketing information, visit the official web site of the Reno Air Race Association at http://airrace.org/

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