Re: Strega and Voodoo??
This is the reason i LOVE this place and Reno, Thank you Matt for the history lesson, i was a big fan of Stiletto without knowing a heck of a lot about her, she was a bit of an enigma to me as she got referenced in several books i have read, but to find out more history... once again Matt, thank you for taking time out of your day to talk to us fans!
Originally posted by Matt Jackson
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So here is the actual history of Stiletto and the real facts. The plane was the brainstorm of Dennis Shoenfelder and Dave Zeuschel. It came about after Wiley Sanders sold Jennie aka Miss Candice/ Galloping Ghost to Jimmie in 1983. Stiletto was conceived and built in 51/2 months. Bob Carr built the fuselage, Phill Greenberg built the wing which was completed by Art & Dave Teeters in Salinas CA. The plane was assembled by Pete Regina, Matt Jackson, Rick Shanholtzer, Les Crowder. It was literally assembled outside under a tent in San Fernando at Dave Zeuschel's shop, my idea by the way.. Pete and I along with Dennis Schoenfelder worked around the clock to get the plane to Reno. It arrived at Reno with the same wing clip as the Ghost had, because Bob Carr had at the request of Skip Holm's chopped the wing on Jennie. This by the way angered Wiley Sander's who then made the decision to sell plane to Jimmy as we never asked Wiley to chop the wing. Stiletto was designed with wing radiators. Dennis Schoenfelder along with his Dad Bud took two stock radiators apart using the large section of each and placed these larger core sections into each wing. We had a H model heat exchanger in the
tail, I mounted that there myself under the direction of Bob Carr. The plane came out of the box number 1 and left Reno with a trophy and the race record. The next year was filled with issues, basically over money. The engine blew at Bakersfield while leading Strega. Reno 85 had us with a gear issue on take-off where Skip could not get the gear up. It was a contaminated hyd system screwing up the sequence valve. {Plane showed up 1986 ready to rock and was leading the race when a rocker arm broke putting Skip out once again. Preston then made a deal with the Sherman's and the plane was raced the following year by them with no luck. I am not sure if the Sherman's actually owned Stiletto or not, maybe they can chime in on that fact. The Museum crew under the direction of Bruce Lockwood, John Swancarra and Freddie Wright decided to design a boil off system. Robby Grove put the wings back to the standard clip with composite tip and aileron. They took the wing radiators out and placed them in a tank located forward of the pilot. Great installation by the way Bruce. The pilot actually sat near what would be the rear jump seat. The problem came when under the money restraints and time they abandoned the project in favor of developing Dago another recent purchase. I leased and picked the plane up in April of 1992 and towed it via Sepulveda BLVD. to my Van Nuys Shop. With the help of Pete Law I revamped the troubled boiler system with the installation of a two float system that my friend Jim Feick designed. We also removed the heat exchanger in the tail and placed a stock oil cooler behind the pilot in a boil tank. The heads and banks had been burned up in testing by the museum on the malfunctioning boil system. So Mike Nixon replaced the heads an banks and I was off to Reno 1992. I flew the aircraft 45 days after towing the plane to Van Nuys. David Price and Alan Preston flew on both wings during the first test flight. David Price later told me that he was throughly impressed with our progress. I left for Reno 1992 and stopped in Bishop CA. to check fluid levels as we were still trying to determining boil rates. On take-off the ADI-pump failed at gear retraction and the engine blew its guts out. I managed to perform a left 270 and land back across the runway with no damage. Mike Nixon picked the engine up and returned it two days later. I appeared at Reno and finished 4th with an airplane that could have easily won that year. I averaged 424 mph on 80 inches. I lost the adi system on the start and ran the entire race with no ADI. David Price said to me at the dinner Sunday night that he had backed the wrong plane meaning Dago and that he would provide full sponsorship the next year for me. My dream of having the fastest Unlimited to race was now a reality. Unfortunately the plan never materialized because of jealously by certain people I will not name and the plane sat the next year out in Mojave where I had stored the plane. Alan Preston had a deal to sell the plane to Bill Rhineschild and race it the next year, in fact Bill entered the plane and it can be seen in the program as being raced by Bill Rhineschild, but that deal also fell apart. The plane was alter taken apart and built by Pete Regina into what is now Diamondback a two place. The boiler cores along with wing fairings and other parts went to Jimmie Leeward on a secret deal and there you have the history of Stiletto. Had the plane been sponsored properly it would have easily been the fastest on the course today, but as the old saying goes, if my aunt had balls she would be my uncle. We obviously will never know.
MJ
tail, I mounted that there myself under the direction of Bob Carr. The plane came out of the box number 1 and left Reno with a trophy and the race record. The next year was filled with issues, basically over money. The engine blew at Bakersfield while leading Strega. Reno 85 had us with a gear issue on take-off where Skip could not get the gear up. It was a contaminated hyd system screwing up the sequence valve. {Plane showed up 1986 ready to rock and was leading the race when a rocker arm broke putting Skip out once again. Preston then made a deal with the Sherman's and the plane was raced the following year by them with no luck. I am not sure if the Sherman's actually owned Stiletto or not, maybe they can chime in on that fact. The Museum crew under the direction of Bruce Lockwood, John Swancarra and Freddie Wright decided to design a boil off system. Robby Grove put the wings back to the standard clip with composite tip and aileron. They took the wing radiators out and placed them in a tank located forward of the pilot. Great installation by the way Bruce. The pilot actually sat near what would be the rear jump seat. The problem came when under the money restraints and time they abandoned the project in favor of developing Dago another recent purchase. I leased and picked the plane up in April of 1992 and towed it via Sepulveda BLVD. to my Van Nuys Shop. With the help of Pete Law I revamped the troubled boiler system with the installation of a two float system that my friend Jim Feick designed. We also removed the heat exchanger in the tail and placed a stock oil cooler behind the pilot in a boil tank. The heads and banks had been burned up in testing by the museum on the malfunctioning boil system. So Mike Nixon replaced the heads an banks and I was off to Reno 1992. I flew the aircraft 45 days after towing the plane to Van Nuys. David Price and Alan Preston flew on both wings during the first test flight. David Price later told me that he was throughly impressed with our progress. I left for Reno 1992 and stopped in Bishop CA. to check fluid levels as we were still trying to determining boil rates. On take-off the ADI-pump failed at gear retraction and the engine blew its guts out. I managed to perform a left 270 and land back across the runway with no damage. Mike Nixon picked the engine up and returned it two days later. I appeared at Reno and finished 4th with an airplane that could have easily won that year. I averaged 424 mph on 80 inches. I lost the adi system on the start and ran the entire race with no ADI. David Price said to me at the dinner Sunday night that he had backed the wrong plane meaning Dago and that he would provide full sponsorship the next year for me. My dream of having the fastest Unlimited to race was now a reality. Unfortunately the plan never materialized because of jealously by certain people I will not name and the plane sat the next year out in Mojave where I had stored the plane. Alan Preston had a deal to sell the plane to Bill Rhineschild and race it the next year, in fact Bill entered the plane and it can be seen in the program as being raced by Bill Rhineschild, but that deal also fell apart. The plane was alter taken apart and built by Pete Regina into what is now Diamondback a two place. The boiler cores along with wing fairings and other parts went to Jimmie Leeward on a secret deal and there you have the history of Stiletto. Had the plane been sponsored properly it would have easily been the fastest on the course today, but as the old saying goes, if my aunt had balls she would be my uncle. We obviously will never know.
MJ
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