Wednesday
Update Sheet
9:00
AM
11:45
AM
1:15
PM
2:30
PM
10:00
PM Wednesday Wrap Up
Unlimited
Class-
In
the second Unlimited class qualifying session,
the sight of Tiger Destefani and Strega being
pulled out onto the ramp sparked a flurry of
activity.
Tiger's
earlier speed of 376.377mph didn't fool anybody
for long as today's "chess game"
unfolded. Comments ranging from "Tiger's
sandbagging" to "Tiger's making
metal" summed up the mystery surrounding
"who was gonna' do what?"
As
the afternoon session began, Tiger went up and
posted a much faster 429.858mph.. Tom Dwelle
decided to hedge his bets and took another run at
it immediately after Tiger's run. Dwelle clocked
in at a potentially second place 449mph in his
second attempt but hopes for bettering his
position were dashed when he was called for
flying too wide on two portions of the course.
The time today was disallowed and Dwelle and crew
will settle for their 429.610mph, 5th place slot.
Voodoo
also went out, stirring thoughts that Button was
sending Matt Jackson out for another run at it...
Not so, Matt was flying a camera for the World of
Wings production, "People Passion Pistons
& Power" being made at Reno 2000.
Late
arrival, Jimmy Leeward, posted a 395.531, showing
his usual tight clean line in his nearly stock,
Race 9, Cloud Dancer. Jimmy was also seen
"mixing it up" with the props out on
the course in his beautiful MiG 17 during the
late afternoon "after hours" session...
Art
Vance took Furias up for another try today,
improving on his original run of 386.643mph by
over 10 mph, posting a final qualifying speed of
397.432mph. This team has had its hands full
getting Furias out of "mothballs" and
into racing trim this year... Watch for a much
faster entry in the years to come.
Howard
Pardue took the clock again today in his Sea
Fury, Race 66 Fury, improving his speed by a few
mph to 415.112. Always in the hunt, Pardue is
sitting in good shape for finishing well on
Sunday.
1999
Bronze Class winner, Vlado Lenoch in the
beautiful Race 51, Moonbeam McSwine failed to
make the cut today. With his airplane in
completely stock trim this year, Vlado was unable
to break the 300mph Unlimited Class minimum
speed.
A
late night walk on the ramp, revealed the crew
for Race 45, Risky Business, doing an engine
run-up check on repairs made earlier today. Gary
Hubler flew "Risky" but had an ADI
(anti-detonation-injection) problem.... the crew
took care of this problem and installed new plugs
in Bill Rheinschild's P-51 racer.
Bill
Rheinschild's other racer, Race 117, Bad
Attitude, carrying a qualifying speed of 387.903,
still sits in the hangar, engine on the floor,
with a flurry of work going on to repair a blower
problem... A crewman working on the aircraft
stated that an all nighter would have the
airplane ready for competition tomorrow...
T-6
Class-
Mary
Dilda and her crew, must have solved the power
loss problem, as she turned in a fairly
respectable 221.500mph, seventh place finish.
Tom
Campau turned in a third place, 229.586mph
qualifying time today after much work on the
airplane over the last three days. With so much
activity in Tom's pit.. we had worried that there
were problems in the airplane we used for our
photo shoot earlier this year but Tom assured us
all the work had been routine and things look
good for his entry Mystical Power.
With
the sixth through tenth place positions in the
T-6 Class, separated by just over one mph this
class will have some very close competition this
week, as always.
Sport
Class-
It
has not been a good week for the normally
victorious factory Lancair entry this year...
Engine problems early in the week have just
seemed to compound. Burnt pistons replaced, the
team has resorted to pulling parts off last
year's winning entry, Race 99,
"Zero-Nine-Lima."
Sport
Class pairings and final qualification results
will not be posted until after the course opens
tomorrow... allowing Pilot, Dave Morss, one last
shot at getting the Lancair entry into the show..
A
late night check into the hangar, revealed lights
out and "Zero" activity... does this
mean they could not get it done and gave up? Or
are the problems fixed? First runs tomorrow
should answer this question.
Thunder
Mustang: Lou "Sky-Slut" Meyer, flying
the extremely shiny red and white Race 69,
Thunder Rose "loafed" to a very
competitive 309.517 today, putting him in third
position. At this moment the airplane is sitting
about 30 feet away from us, looking very
impressive. Preparation work continues as of this
moment (12:20AM) but Charles Denny and Tom Giertz
tell us the earlier oil pressure problem has been
solved and they are READY for competition
tomorrow.... (oops... today)
Formula
One Class-
Ray
Cote sits in the "cat bird seat" in
this group with a first place qualifying speed of
249.838 with David Hoover close behind at
248.676...
With
only 6mph separating the top four contenders to
take the Formula One crown... close action should
be expected.
This
class has been dominated for years by the retired
Nemesis... Who will take it this year??
Biplane
Class-
Though
the difference in speed between the fastest and
slowest airplanes in this class is vast, there
are some two and three plane battles shaping up
within the qualifying times that should provide
race fans with close action...
Heat
races for all classes begin on Thursday... Stay
tuned for results and news as it develops through
the day. We will be on location at the various
photography locations on the race course
throughout the day and will try to upload some
views from the pylons as soon as they can be
processed back here at the World of
Wings/AAFO.COM Yahoo!Broadcast Headquarters,
located in the pits at Stead Field, Reno Nevada!
Click here for
final qualification results
First
Day Pairings
Unlimited | T-6 | Sport | Formula
1
| Biplane
|
