While I have followed magazines and news reports on Reno ever since I was a kid, this was my first year actually attending the Races. It seems I never do things in half measures, and this was no different....
....my path to attending started with Thom Richard putting out a call for anyone to come help turn wrenches on Precious Metal back around December here and on his Facebook page. The next day I was at the Hanger offering my services. I expected it to be a few weeks, maybe even a month or helping out. I had no idea what I was getting into
. What started as a few days, became a few weeks, became a few months...you get the idea. From a day or two a week, until the 7 day a week thrash over the final couple of months, I couldn't have been happier to be taking part. Many know the hurdles we overcame in the last few weeks, but much of the year was fraught with unbelievable challenges. How many times did I hear, "Without such and such...we're done...". only to have some amazing answer built out of the despair of the moment.
Tucked quietly away off to one side of the Hanger, Kent was working on his Race 99 Formula One plane. Yet another person I got to know along the journey. Through him, I actually ended up becoming Press to assist with making a record of their class this year. Along the same lines, I was helping behind the scenes with the Precious Metal Team and getting word out to news agencies. If push came to shove, I was able to drop the camera and twist a wrench (which I didn't do much of at the Races themselves..).
Early in the week I began meeting AAFOer's like DesertDawg and Wayne. Keeping my ears open at the pylons, I realized who the much harassed Neil was among the photographers. I spoke briefly to Victor Archer and was snickering so hard at the Haskin Brothers bantering back and forth that I never got around to actually introducing myself. I was able to shake hands and say hello to many legends over the week. Some of my Team PM mate actually ran into Bob Hoover at dinner one night- and have yet to tell me the story. Later in the week my wife arrived, tasked with taking Event and Pit photos of Team PM during the week. From being disgusted that I had "Forced her to go to the Races", she ended up being almost as excited as myself by the end of the week.
Among the high points were actually taking photos at the Pylons, and my incredibly lucky lottery win that allowed me to Pylon 4. The only words for that were OMG!!!!! I have been to the Mountain! Now that I'm home again, I have slept for much of the week trying to recover from the whole year. I have to revamp my life to be able to take part in this year's on-going build and make a living. Reno was pretty much one of the few things on my Bucket List, and I hope to include it yearly until I am unable to do so from age....
Thanks and great to meet you all in person to everybody I ran into at The Races! Thanks to Thom and the Team for having a crazy goal of Racing at Reno......!
Looks like I need to start planning for next year....
....my path to attending started with Thom Richard putting out a call for anyone to come help turn wrenches on Precious Metal back around December here and on his Facebook page. The next day I was at the Hanger offering my services. I expected it to be a few weeks, maybe even a month or helping out. I had no idea what I was getting into
. What started as a few days, became a few weeks, became a few months...you get the idea. From a day or two a week, until the 7 day a week thrash over the final couple of months, I couldn't have been happier to be taking part. Many know the hurdles we overcame in the last few weeks, but much of the year was fraught with unbelievable challenges. How many times did I hear, "Without such and such...we're done...". only to have some amazing answer built out of the despair of the moment.Tucked quietly away off to one side of the Hanger, Kent was working on his Race 99 Formula One plane. Yet another person I got to know along the journey. Through him, I actually ended up becoming Press to assist with making a record of their class this year. Along the same lines, I was helping behind the scenes with the Precious Metal Team and getting word out to news agencies. If push came to shove, I was able to drop the camera and twist a wrench (which I didn't do much of at the Races themselves..).
Early in the week I began meeting AAFOer's like DesertDawg and Wayne. Keeping my ears open at the pylons, I realized who the much harassed Neil was among the photographers. I spoke briefly to Victor Archer and was snickering so hard at the Haskin Brothers bantering back and forth that I never got around to actually introducing myself. I was able to shake hands and say hello to many legends over the week. Some of my Team PM mate actually ran into Bob Hoover at dinner one night- and have yet to tell me the story. Later in the week my wife arrived, tasked with taking Event and Pit photos of Team PM during the week. From being disgusted that I had "Forced her to go to the Races", she ended up being almost as excited as myself by the end of the week.
Among the high points were actually taking photos at the Pylons, and my incredibly lucky lottery win that allowed me to Pylon 4. The only words for that were OMG!!!!! I have been to the Mountain! Now that I'm home again, I have slept for much of the week trying to recover from the whole year. I have to revamp my life to be able to take part in this year's on-going build and make a living. Reno was pretty much one of the few things on my Bucket List, and I hope to include it yearly until I am unable to do so from age....
Thanks and great to meet you all in person to everybody I ran into at The Races! Thanks to Thom and the Team for having a crazy goal of Racing at Reno......!
Looks like I need to start planning for next year....
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