Dago Red

[fastpace]

Re: Dago Red

You got it GR, he borrowed my binoculars one time at the Madera giant scale air races Races, he is good and would be a winner at Reno.

[Desertdawg]

Re: Dago Red

Heres a pit shot. Seems like yesterday.

[Dago Dog]

Re: Dago Red

Hey enough of the woulda coulda's. Lets get back to the Dago Red Tribute/where is she now/what is to be come of here stuff. Since she is and will always be the fastest we must pay homage to her at least once a year and dream of what once was and may be again!!! And here is a view of her behind , one of which the bear is quite accustomed to. . . . . . . .

[GRNDP51]

Re: Dago Red

Hey enough of the woulda coulda's. Lets get back to the Dago Red Tribute/where is she now/what is to be come of here stuff. Since she is and will always be the fastest we must pay homage to her at least once a year and dream of what once was and may be again!!! And here is a view of her behind , one of which the bear is quite accustomed to. . . . . . . .

I know where she is. It's slipping my mind right now though. I'll get back to you when I find out again. I know I'm not the only one either somebody will probably chime in before me

[fastpace]

Re: Dago Red

I was told it is still in the San Joaquin Valley in pieces and that came from a registered member

[GR7Racer]

Re: Dago Red

The following is my opinion, based on what I've been told by those that know.

Dago Red really isn't Dago Red any longer. A lot of the work and special parts and pieces that went into making that airplane special has been undone. You can thank Frank Taylor for most of that. He was convinced that he knew better how to make that airplane "really" fast and set about that task when he had control of the airplane. He was convinced that the airplane was actually faster when he raced it originally! All of the filling and profiling is gone, completely stripped off the airplane so it could be scanned and the 3D data analyzed to determine what needed to be done...you know, stuff like filling and profiling! Other parts, components, and systems are no longer with the airplane too...stuff that was well researched, designed and tested by Bruce Lockwood and his team. The race engine is still around, but the people who built it and could possibly restore it to a race-ready status are no longer involved with the team, and in reality the "team" was also a very large part of what made Dago Red what it was. Without that team, or an equivalent one, there's no Dago Red. Think about Team Strega for a second with its core group of team members, LD, Stevo, Tiger, Nixon, and Jose... That team was very stout and their airplane/pilot combo was fast and surprisingly reliable. You take one or two people out of that team and you get the results of the past two years.

I think that the current Dago owner has dreams of racing the airplane again someday, and my hat's off to him for not converting it back to stock which would be the easiest thing to do. I hope one day to see it round the pylons again in its distinctive livery, but it will take a monumental effort for it to approach what it once was. I think we all should start to understand that the airplane may someday make it back to Reno, and it may have the signature Dago paint job... but it probably won't truly be Dago Red. I hope I'm wrong though!

Sorry if I burst anybody's bubble.
KMc

[Desertdawg]

Re: Dago Red

That reminds me of a Toby Keith song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldQrapQ4d0Y&list=RDldQrapQ4d0Y#t=47

[GRNDP51]

Re: Dago Red

I know where she is. It's slipping my mind right now though. I'll get back to you when I find out again. I know I'm not the only one either somebody will probably chime in before me

Back to this, the airframe is allegedly in pieces on a farm in Kerman, CA. If you want to know the exact location for any reason you can PM me. It's obviously owned by Hoffman, and he lives in Alaska if I remember correctly. Hope this helps any of you wondering race fans lol

[fastpace]

Re: Dago Red

I saw pictures of it striped when it was at Chino, lots of work laying on the floor and you are right Dago will never be Dago again as we knew her.

[Big_Jim]

Re: Dago Red

You know, you guys knock Frank Taylor for stripping the plane down, but you're completely missing the point. NO HE DID NOT THINK IT WAS FASTER IN IT'S ORIGINAL CONFIGURATION. It was stripped down so it could be 3D scanned at it's baseline. And from there it was going to be re-profiled on the computer. That's not to knock the work that was done on it by the MoF guys, but that was done in 1994-96.

I understand that it was tweaked by the crews when Kerch had it under his charge, as well as when Martin/Barrow were running it. But the mods were 15 years old and instead of 'doing it by eye', they were going to try to be more precise when they did all the new re-profiling. And you know what? They may have found that the MoF guys had it right the first time...in which case it would have been a lot of work for nothing by going back to exactly what they had stripped off. But this wasn't just a group of rednecks doing things for the sake of doing things. They had a purpose. They had a plan. They just had the airplane taken away from them...in a way, the same as Martin and Barrow had the plane taken away from THEM.

I ask you know-it-alls this: If Kerch decided to strip Voodoo down and start from scratch because he thought he could do it better (and remember how many times that wing has been re-profiled) and as soon as it was in parts on the floor, Button decided to sell it...would you be blaming Kerch for "thinking it was faster in it's original configuration"?

[Lon Moer]

Re: Dago Red

The Costo's were the 'owners' in

<>

I'm finding this bit of information very curious.
It seems that it was the Costo's that also had the Oogahonk after Russell Francis, and it was also repossessed by BofA, before being purchased by Eddie Andreini ( )

[Dago Dog]

Re: Dago Red

All of this makes me so sad. . . . . Well at least I have my memories!!

[Chad Veich]

Re: Dago Red

The RC airshow announcer that you are thinking about is Sam Wright. He does a great job, has a great voice, is very knowledgeable about all forms of aviation, spends many hours at his hangar and flying at Chino Airport... Doesn't tell stupid jokes over the microphone, doesn't laugh at his own jokes over the microphone, and knows when to talk and when to be quiet and let the airplanes do the talking!.... And best of all, he doesn't use stupid phrases such as "bad boys of Air Racing". He would be a perfect fit at Reno.

KennyMac

I would bet Sam would jump at the chance to announce Reno. Shall we get a petition started?

[AlisoBob]

Re: Dago Red



I'd wear this everyday.... to bring Dago back.

[Desertdawg]

Re: Dago Red

[ATTACH=CONFIG]21333[/ATTACH]

I'd wear this everyday.... to bring Dago back.

Hey Bob,

Thats a cool jacket, wish I had bought one. I still have and wear my red long sleeve and black short sleeve Dago shirts on special occasions.