Question for the experts on women in air racing

[Airace7]

1. Who was the first female Reno Formula one pilot?

HINT: Ray Cote raced her plane after her death

2. What women first tryed to Qualify an Unlimted air racer at Reno?

HINT: Blinds Man Bluff

3.What was the women's name that was the first Unlimted closed course pilot and the date and place this went into the history books?

HINT: Race #553


Good luck, I will post the answers on Thursday!!!

[Jay]

1) Judy Wagner

2) Joan Osterude (probably mispelled her last name)

3) Erin Rhienschild, 1st place in Bronze Unlimited at over 400 mph. I think it was it 1991. Nice low, tight, flying too.

Jay Shore

[speeddemon]

Judy Wagner was also a Women's Stock Class racer at Reno before she started F-1. And if memory serves right, she also was 'technically' an 'Unlimited' pilot too...since she entered/raced her Bonanza in the Cross-country race one year.

But something doesn't stick right with Judy being the right answer. I think Joan Alford raced "Pogo" either the same year or the year before Judy raced F-1. This is just off the top of my head, but it had to be around 1970 or so.

Could be wrong. Getting older these days. The RAM ain't quite as fast as it used to be.

[Anders]

First F-1 ladies

That's right, Joan Alford was first, 1970 versus 1971.
Cote raced her plane, #87 Pogo, in 1988, getting disqualified for low flying in one heat.
Anders

[Airrace7]

I guess I must of made the questions to easy or we have alot of air racing history buffs out there.

Here are the answers and some other facts:

1. Joan Alford

2. Joane Osterud was the first women to try and sucessfully qualify an Unlimited at Reno. She was un-sucessfull in controlling the airplane during the Unlimted check ride and her license was denied. Skip Holm went on the qualify the airplane on Wednesday afternnon with just a few minutes left in the qualifying period. The airplane was a highly modified Sea Fury called "Blinds Man Bluff" owned by John Levour who at the time owned Levour Mini Blinds.

3. Erin Reinschild was the first woman Unlimted closed-course race pilot. She qualified race #553 "Miss Fit" in Colorado on August 12, 1990. Her qualifying speed was 328.526 mph. over the 8.82 mile course at Front Range Airport. She finshed sixth in the Silver race after pulling out of the race on lap 5 with a broken prop seal. Later in the year she qualified her P-51 Mustang at Reno with a speed of 380.921 mph over the 9.128 mile course. On September 23, 1990 Erin Rheinchild won the 8 lap Reno Bronze race with an average speed of 387.723. Her husband at the time Bill won the Silver race in his P-51 Mustang called "Risky Bussiness" with an average speed of 415.532 mph.

[speeddemon]

Owner?

I thought Eric Lorentzen was the owner of Blind Man's Bluff.....

[Airrace7]

My mistake:

The owner of "Blinds man Bluff" was Eric Lorenzon.

Does anybody remember:

1. When they wanted to use alcohol to fuel the racer and the Reno Fire Deaprtment almost shut them down. As I remember they did use alcohol on one run and found the racer to have not devolped it's full power.

2. When Skip Holm qualified the aircraft with only 10 to 15 minutes left in Wednesday's qualifying period and had problems getting the landing gear up into the wheel wells. I can still remember him finally getting the gear up and saying over the radio "Let 's get her qualified and then we will worry about getting the gear back down to land this monster" knowing he was going to be low on fuel.

3. On Wednesday after they qualified "Blind's Man Bluff" to find out they only had a few minutes of fuel left in the tanks. I will never forget the crews looks on their face when they used a stick to dip the tanks and found no liquid on the stick.

Have a nice day!!

AIRRACE
(California Plates)

[speeddemon]

Hmmmmm..........recurring gear problem, perhaps? Maybe they forgot to tell Bill Woods (I think that was his name) that when they sold him the racer?

Doesn't land so well when the gear isn't all the way out. Sure is pretty with all those sparks, though.

[The Speaker]

Women pilots

Ray raced Judy Wagners,"Judy", Joann Osturude flew "Blind Mans Bluff" but did not get approval from the unlimited class to compete in the racing. Erin Rheinschild was the first accepted woman to race in the unlimiteds.

[speeddemon]

The "speaker" must have blown, or something.

Day late, dollar short, and a wrong answer.......

"Yes....but this one goes to ELEVEN!"

[Red]

Hey Airrace

Have we run across paths? I'm from Santa Rosa too.

Red

https://www.redshangarone.com

[Magnum]

You're going to have to dig deep for this one

What woman racer was competiting at Reno when she met her husband to be? He later went on to race in 2 classes at Reno for many years.

[RandyGoss75]

Trivia

Peggy Penketh Dwelle?

[Magnum]

Thought that was goin to be more difficlut

You obviously go way back. And the rest, as they say, is now history.