Rare Bear WINS!!!! Dago cuts pylon...

[Firecat]

Re: Rare Bear WINS!!!! Dago cuts pylon...

Dave/All,
Do any of you have any good pic's of our formation on Sunday? I was flying lead, and I retire from the Air Force next week--it was a very special day for me. I was in A/C 129. Plus, I finally convinced the Air Boss to let us tear up the pattern and spray noise on everyone! We were actually throttling back at the departure end before our closed pulls to keep from over-g'ing the jet (9 G's).

My wife was in the stands, but just sat and watched...didn't even think to get out her camera!

Here's a shot from the #2 position on Friday:

Skip.......... check your email in the private messages area, we have plenty of pix for you..... great job! Firecat

[Kevin L]

Re: Rare Bear WINS!!!! Dago cuts pylon...

There was a reference on the September Pops/Fury site to paint damage on the gold racers on sunday due to the weather conditions. Did the Bear suffer any damage from the combination of high speed and heavy rain?

Kevin

[AirDOGGe]

Re: Rare Bear WINS!!!! Dago cuts pylon...

What a race that was! I thought Dago had made six in a row, until the radio announced that there may be a change in the finish positions....As sad as I felt for Skip having one taken away, it felt great to have John and the bear win for a change...Mr. Penney and the Rare Bear team earned their win all the way to the end!

The weather?

MAN, did I freeze my tail feathers off this year out on the back stretch...When I saw that storm coming down the slope of the mountain behind the grandstands, I was worried that the gold race would be cancelled (if the winds had hit 35 mph, that would have happened). It felt strange to see so much scheduled stuff happen AFTER the unlimited gold race (F-4 flight and the jet race finals)... a new experience for me for sure!

I ended up watching a portion of the unlimited gold race from inside the truck, just popping out when Dago/Bear came close, then jumping back in to thaw & dry out until they came around again.

It was also unusual to watch Steve Hinton lead the racers towards the RENO end of the field on Sunday while positioning them for the air-start, in order to avoid the storm....When they came down the chute, I could not even see them until they were on the track proper, as the low-hanging storm cloud sat right in the middle of the field by that time, and it almost seemed like they were racing around it!

I actually enjoyed the sport class gold race as much as the unlimiteds this year, as the racing action was even closer, with Greenamyer and Parker swapping first place back and forth....At first I thought the Thunder Mustang would simply out-power the Lancair, but Daryl had a suprise for all of us when he took the lead back and started to pull away...Incredible machine, incredible pilot.

P.S....I encountered snow early Monday morning while passing through Truckee on the way back to Calif.....It was only a few inches and was no trouble at all.

[Randy Haskin]

Re: Rare Bear WINS!!!! Dago cuts pylon...

BTW: Did everybody enjoy the Eagles on Sunday? We were getting 8 to 8.5 G's in the pattern.

500 foot initial and burner closed? Damn, I'd get raped by my ops officer if I was doing that.

It did look mighty cool though!

[mgbf4u]

Re: Rare Bear WINS!!!! Dago cuts pylon...

500 foot initial and burner closed? Damn, I'd get raped by my ops officer if I was doing that.

It did look mighty cool though!

I thought the C130 was cool when it took off WITH the wind. I have never seen that before.
But the F15s were hot! People jumping when they flew past. The coolest thing I ever saw was an F16 coming in low, slow and dirty. Clean it up, light the afterburner and go vertical . Clean out of sight in Ft Worth.
I was hoping that F/A 18 would do that.
It wasn't funny when I heard the comment a few times, referring to the combat jets as the best tax dollars we ever spent. I can't imagine some people who would terrorize a group with aircraft like that. They even have now seen demonstrations of the capabilities of these aircraft up close and personal. Yet they persist. Must be politics, I can't believe Randy and his boys would be missing any targets.
S!

[Bear Wrench]

Re: Rare Bear WINS!!!! Dago cuts pylon...

Stacy-it was clear at the Fan Party how much Lyle, John and the crew love you and wish you could still be there full time. My wife even said if she won some money (she didn't) she would hire you away to work for the Bear full time (as she knows I am absolutley ueseless other than to be a "fan sponsor".)

Ron Henning

Ron, Thanks alot for the kind words! You know, I'm ecstatic for John Penney, Sharon Coates, the crew and all the loyal Bear fans. But I think the person I'm the most happiest for is Lyle Shelton. He could have pulled chocks on the Rare Bear racing program a long time ago. With all the ups and downs that the team has gone through over the years, he still hung tough and found a way to get the Bear back into the winners circle. Good for him!!

Stacy Thomas

[Unregistered]

Re: Rare Bear WINS!!!! Dago cuts pylon...

We were between Pylons 6 and 7, and from our vantage point, and video tape replays, it looked like the Bear had passed Dago Red and then it appeared , from afar, that DR accelerated again and repassed the Bear, when in acuality Dago Red cut the pylon to regain the lead.....

It looked like, and times and speeds reflect the suspision that, the Bear and Dago Red both new what happened and while still giving us a great show, the lap times and race speed were reduced just a little. We thought at the time, that the Bear just did not have enough, but now we know that Penney knew he did not have to blow the thing up trying to win.

Did anybody see the Red Bull flight blow thruogh the L-39 Formation???? That was way too scary, and from the extremely urgent voices on the radio, it was very serious.....And I gotta beleive that some pilots had to change their shorts after they landed... And then the chaos in the race control and subsequent FAA tower control.......


BudXXX

[Phantom Samurai]

Re: Rare Bear WINS!!!! Dago cuts pylon...

First off, congratulations are in order for Lyle Shelton, John Penney and the entire Rare Bear crew. Their effort was Herculean, and having done an engine change this year as well, I can certainly appreciate all they accomplished. I, for one, did not expect them to be running at top form come Sunday, but was pleasantly surprised by the result. Again, hats off to you all.

Now, as for this previously mentioned statement - "Also, remember that useing the "old" course measurements, Dago has never beaten Lyle's race record or lap record." - I believe a point of clarification is in order. It is correct when referring to the old course measurement, but not the old course timing. Even using the old point-to-point method of timing prior to last year, Dago's speed in Unlimited heat 2A on Friday in 2003 was considerably faster than Shelton's average race speed of 481+ in the Gold Final of 1991. Dago's speed using the new course timing was 507+, which translates into approx. 495 mph with the old point-to-point method. In addition, his "hot lap" was clocked at over 512 mph, which would fall somewhere near 499 mph with the old timing. I believe I remember Lyle's "hot lap" from 1991 being somewhere around 487+. Just some food for thought.

TPS

[Ron101502]

Re: Rare Bear WINS!!!! Dago cuts pylon...

TPS-I re-checked my math and you are correct, I was useing the wrong numbers.

Also, I think the old 9.8 mile course probably favored the planes with higher wing loadings such as the Bear.

Thanks for the correction-sorry for my goof.

Ron Henning

[mgbf4u]

Re: Rare Bear WINS!!!! Dago cuts pylon...

Dave/All,
Do any of you have any good pic's of our formation on Sunday? I was flying lead, and I retire from the Air Force next week--it was a very special day for me. I was in A/C 129. Plus, I finally convinced the Air Boss to let us tear up the pattern and spray noise on everyone! We were actually throttling back at the departure end before our closed pulls to keep from over-g'ing the jet (9 G's).

My wife was in the stands, but just sat and watched...didn't even think to get out her camera!

Here's a shot from the #2 position on Friday:

I got a pretty good one of you.

[Victor Archer]

Re: Rare Bear WINS!!!! Dago cuts pylon...

hhmmmm, this thread is going in diffrent directions.

I think we need an Eagle only thread.
Here's some fav's from Friday.

[T. Adams]

Re: Rare Bear WINS!!!! Dago cuts pylon...

Victor your killing me here. The closeup shot is unreal. It looks like your in the jet next to him. What shutter speed? The EXIF data did not transfer on this one.

[Bill@Interstell]

Re: Rare Bear WINS!!!! Dago cuts pylon...

Victor,

I agree, you got fantastic shots this year.
You da man!!!

[mgbf4u]

Re: Rare Bear WINS!!!! Dago cuts pylon...

Victor your killing me here. The closeup shot is unreal. It looks like your in the jet next to him. What shutter speed? The EXIF data did not transfer on this one.

Some people were walking around with some nice lenses on there 35MM SLRs. Puts my Sony DSC F707 to shame but I was happy for the most part. I have got some decent shots considering it's digital. I'll share what I have with anyone else who is willing to share. I have about 700 MBs of Digital stuff.

[Scotty G]

Re: Rare Bear WINS!!!! Dago cuts pylon...

PS: Hey S.G. .....that jewelry in the Bear pit.....it's GOLD jewelry buddy!

And it looks mighty fine on the boys... I was the first over there to congratulate them! Job well done.