FURIAS RETURNS TO RENO
New
Look, New Pilot, New Owners and New Crew
Bring MORE POWER
To Reno 2000
Reno
Stead Airport September 10, 2000
With
her 4360 cubic inches of "sheer Fury"
purring smoothly, a freshly painted "Race 15
- Furias" swept into the race site today,
accompanied by T-6 Race 9 "Lickety
Split."
Bill
Rogers and the Furias racing team had been
pulling their hair out attempting to get the
airplane out of the weathered in Seattle area
since Thursday... When the skies finally
cleared... Furias race pilot, Art Vance was not
available...
A
quick call to Bud Granley put him in the seat for
the ride to Reno, giving "Lickety
Split" alternate pilot, Jeff Wright, the
driving duties for Race 9.
After
an overnight stop at Klamath Falls, Oregon,
Granley and Wright, along with AAFO.COM
photographer Naomi West, made the rest of the
trip to Reno.
Furias
joins the only other active competitor running
the massive 4360 radial engine, the Sanders Bros.
"Dreadnought" bringing the unmistakable
sound of the big engines to the race course at
Reno, Nevada in stereo.
Earlier
this week, our reporter, Keith Krasnowski,
visited the very busy Furias Race Team at their
hangar in Seattle... Only to find his camera and
freedom in jeopardy! Through a long series of
negotiations with the very secretive "Skunk
Werks North" security office.. we were able
to secure release of our weary reporter today and
received these photos with explicit instructions
attached...
**EYES
ONLY**
"if
you ever want to see me again... DON'T MAKE THESE
PUBLIC PRIOR TO FURIAS LANDING AT RENO!"
Make
no mistake... I've been locked in "the
room" a time or two myself, with a
reporter's busy mind bursting with information
simply not able to be released.... Well... Here
we are.. the airplane is sitting on the ramp and
not only do we have pictures from just prior to
her leaving Seattle... but our artistic reporter,
Keith "Kraz" Krasnowski had plenty of
time to doodle while awaiting his freedom...
With
the airplane now safely in her slot on the ramp,
we are free to release the "spy photos"
as well as photos taken by Naomi West and our
ramp reporters who were patiently awaiting the
arrival of the newly painted racer..
In
other news today
All
classes took the course for practice runs as the
course was opened for the first time at Reno 2000
today. Home pylon is up and it's starting to look
like RENO!
Our
remote location server access "glitch"
has a "work-around" in place, the rest
of the AAFO.COM coverage team is set to arrive
tomorrow (Monday).. we're up to speed for the
first day of qualification runs..
With
tomorrow's temperature predicted for 88 degrees
and reasonably calm winds until afternoon, look
for some fast speeds being set early in the
day....
We
will post qualification speeds throughout the day
tomorrow...
Most
racers are here, with a few notable exceptions...
The Thunder Mustang "Thunder Rose" is
holding in Winnemucca, Nevada, with a broken oil
line.... Dave Morss paces impatiently waiting for
his factory Lancair entry to arrive..
Stay
tuned... as the drama of RENO 2000 unfolds.
Special
Thanks To Keith Krasnowski and Naomi West
Wayne
Sagar
|
