Dago Red: A quiz

[wingman]

I photographed Dago Red the day in 1982 that it arrived at Stead. I photographed it when Dan Martin ran it, and I photographed every race in between.

This is one of my all time favourite Dago Red photos, and it's because of the pilot in this shot. His name is not Ron, or Rick, or Skip, or Dan.

Anyone who ever watched this guy Race knew he was privileged to be watching one of the very best pilots ever to strap on a raceplane. He is a consensus pick as one of the top ten or so ever -- and that is very special company indeed.

30,000 plus hours in everything from sailplanes to the Spirit of St. Louis replica to corsairs.

A dozen or more Reno Championships in three different airplanes.

So name the pilot and the year. Brad excluded for now, as usual.

[Big_Jim]

Re: Dago Red: A quiz

I photographed Dago Red the day in 1982 that it arrived at Stead. I photographed it when Dan Martin ran it, and I photographed every race in between.

This is one of my all time favourite Dago Red photos, and it's because of the pilot in this shot. His name is not Ron, or Rick, or Skip, or Dan.

Anyone who ever watched this guy Race knew he was privileged to be watching one of the very best pilots ever to strap on a raceplane. He is a consensus pick as one of the top ten or so ever -- and that is very special company indeed.

30,000 plus hours in everything from sailplanes to the Spirit of St. Louis replica to corsairs.

A dozen or more Reno Championships in three different airplanes.

So name the pilot and the year. Brad excluded for now, as usual.

That was kind of cool. I would have liked to seen the owner at the time turn this guy loose.

[badman]

Re: Dago Red: A quiz

was that Ray Cote? 1986 ish? Whatever year it was - I think it was the only year it raced with the clipped horizontal.

[wingman]

Re: Dago Red: A quiz

Yes, it was Ray Cote, in 1986. Interesting factoid on the horizontal -- I did not know that.

Ray would have been a spectacular Unlimited pilot. Smart, immensely experienced, and viciously competitive. He was awfully cantankerous, though. He would have been a problem for an aircraft owner. In IF1 he could have a small team, mostly family, and could have things his own way. Unlimited teams don't usually work that way.

What a great competitor, though.

Neal

[wingman]

Re: Dago Red: A quiz

There are a LOT of Reno Gold Championships won by this group of pilots. The one one the left has probably twice as many as the other three put together, though...

[Big_Jim]

Re: Dago Red: A quiz

Yes, it was Ray Cote, in 1986. Interesting factoid on the horizontal -- I did not know that.

Ray would have been a spectacular Unlimited pilot. Smart, immensely experienced, and viciously competitive. He was awfully cantankerous, though. He would have been a problem for an aircraft owner. In IF1 he could have a small team, mostly family, and could have things his own way. Unlimited teams don't usually work that way.

What a great competitor, though.

Neal

And you can't talk about Ray Cote without telling the story back in the early 80's when the guy showed up with the nitrous bottles for Art Scholl's aerobatic performance.....walked into the IF1 hangar and shouted out loud "DELIVERY FOR RAY COTE!!!"

[Shawn Aro]

Re: Dago Red: A quiz

Shawn

[440_Magnum]

Re: Dago Red: A quiz

His name is not Ron, or Rick, or Skip, or Dan.

Or Bruce or David....

:-)

[wingman]

Re: Dago Red: A quiz

A lot of people went fast in that airplane. What happened to it after Dan is an Air Racing tragedy -- as was what happened tp Stiletto.

[Big_Jim]

Re: Dago Red: A quiz

A lot of people went fast in that airplane. What happened to it after Dan is an Air Racing tragedy -- as was what happened tp Stiletto.

What upsets me is that people still blame Frank Taylor for it. Frank was the real loser in that deal. It was the Costo family that screwed it up so bad. Frank lost his money AND the airplane all because the Costo's defaulted on their loan. I think it was the timing of it that sucked so bad. If it had happened before Frank disassembled the airframe (which honestly, it needed after 30 years), or if it had happened after he got it back together, the plane would have found its way back to Reno by now. Frank WANTED redemption with that airplane.

I truly believe that had Frank been able to get the plane back together and re-profiled (after that brilliant computer scan program), it would have been one real slick puppy. And nobody could self-promote like him.

[morss]

Re: Dago Red: A quiz

And you can't talk about Ray Cote without telling the story back in the early 80's when the guy showed up with the nitrous bottles for Art Scholl's aerobatic performance.....walked into the IF1 hangar and shouted out loud "DELIVERY FOR RAY COTE!!!"

its true i was in the hangar and every head turned all conversation stopped ,someone must have slipped the delivery man a fiver
dave