I did this last year, and with a healthy and competitive field this year, let's have at it again! 
A full and unbiased report of all the Sport Gold hot-shots for Reno 2017!
(By Race #)...
#2 (N41VR) "Modo Mio": Vince Walker's Legacy "Modo Mio" tends to be the fastest normally aspirated Lancair Legacy in the Sport field. In 2016, Vince flew his Legacy to a very respectable qualifying speed right above 300mph. The very competitive field in 2016 left Vince in the Silver pack for all of the week, culminating in a first place finish in Sport Silver! This year might be another tough one for Vince to break into the 9 Sport Gold aircraft come Sunday, but anything is possible.
#6 (N726DW) "Lucky Too": My personal favorite as it's the only AeroChia Super Legacy in the field this year! Slated to race in 2016, Vicky Benzing withdrew and brought her stock Legacy instead. Race 6 is a sister to "Race 33" and "Miss Karen II" and we are well aware what those Legacy's are capable of. On top of that, Vicky's motto for this year is basically let's just see how fast this plane will go... THAT is cool! Look for a top 3 or 4 qualifying spot if all goes smoothly.
#8 (N5S) "Race 8": David Sterling's Super Legacy is just about as close as you can get to Dreadnought or Czech Mate in the Unlimited field. Race 8 shows up, puts down impressive speeds, but can't secure the first place trophy. Race 8 has had her share of podium finishes, and also her share of mayday's. 2016 proved to be a smooth year for David's ride flying consistently in the 350-360mph range. Let's hope all the mayday's are behind and Race 8 can shoot for the top spot in 2017!
#30: (N115YP) "One Moment": The recent poster child of the Reno Air Races and especially the Sport Class, Andrew Findlay's Stihl Sponsored Super Legacy. Another personal favorite as you can just tell Andy is striving to take home the Gold one year, and he's a really cool guy. Race 30 has had some significant mods done to her in the reliability and cooling departments, as well as some speed mods to boot. I won't go into too much detail (because I don't know too much to begin with), but Andy's Legacy should put up a very impressive show in this years Sport field. Look for a top 3 finish if she holds up until Sunday.
#32 (N36XX) "Beast": Race 32 is a new Legacy to take to the pylons, but it's pilot is far from new. Alan Crawford is back after his terrifying crash a couple years back. It's awesome to see his drive to get back out there. As of right now, there's no indication of how well this plane will do. It's a very slick, yet very different airframe. She's powered by an 8-cylinder engine that generates some serious horsepower. Of course horsepower is one of the keys to Gold, but there's a lot more to it than that. Look for Race 32 to run in the bottom of the Gold pack running similar speed to Modo Mio and Clas Thunder I.
#39 (N123AJ) "Race 39": No need for an introduction. Year after year, Jeff LaVelle's Super Glasair III is the plane to beat. Look for 400+ speeds as always, and a guaranteed podium finish if it holds up until Sunday.
#42: (N42XT) "Relentless": Another plane that needs no introduction as it is one of the most distinguishable Sport Class racers of them all. Kevin Eldredge is back in his 8-cylinder powered NXT. 2016 saw speeds in the 320mph range, enough to stay in Gold, but far from being competitive. The Relentless team has done some minor modifications and tweaks so let's see if they can get any more power out of her in 2017.
#47: (N477CM) "Mojo": The ex-Lucky Mojo after devastatingly losing Gary Mead last year. Bob Mills picked up this Super-fast Glasair III and is going to try his luck with her at Reno 2017. This has always been the second fastest Glasair III in the field, and doesn't hesitate to do 360mph laps on the regular. Bob Mills is also an outstanding pilot to boot. Look for this dynamic duo to be up in the top 5 or 6 all week.
#67: (N167BP) "Swiss Thunder": Peter Balmer's Thunder Mustang has seen it's share of modifications to prepare for Reno 2017. Most noticeably is the 3-bladed windmill up front that shares very similar characteristics to Blue Thunder II's prop. Of course this new prop meant that some work under the hood was done as well (yes, they added some more horsepower). They have been flying the crap out of Race 67 and I don't think she should be slept on. I don't know how well she will match up to Blue II, but the rest of the Sport Gold may have a hard time getting around this colorful Thunder Mustang.
#151: (N151CR) "Class Thunder I": Race 151 has a change of pilots for this year as Bob Mills switched into Race 47. Mathias Haid is taking the helm of this "stock" Thunder Mustang in 2017. Not too much to say, watch for Race 151 to run consistently in the 320-330 range and make the Gold come Sunday.
#352: (N352BT) "Blue Thunder II": Ahhh the fan favorite! This may just be the year... or not the year at all?... There has been a lot of stuff going on in the Blue II camp since last year. Of course we all know that John Parker took a ride through the desert after the engine blew up on him post-Gold. They fixed all that was broken and did some important work as well. A little bit of weight savings, new telemetry system, most recently a new oil filter manifold which was being tested in August. This all sounds great right?! Nope... As of Wednesday, Blue II's engine is not on the plane and nobody really knows what is up. John and his team do not quit, that's a fact. Being as they live at Stead, they don't have to fly the plane anywhere and realistically have until Wednesday's last day of qualifying to get that engine in and GO! Fingers crossed, go get 'em John.
There you have it! 11 hot-rods, 9 spots in the Sport Gold, who will make it, who will go
A full and unbiased report of all the Sport Gold hot-shots for Reno 2017!
(By Race #)...
#2 (N41VR) "Modo Mio": Vince Walker's Legacy "Modo Mio" tends to be the fastest normally aspirated Lancair Legacy in the Sport field. In 2016, Vince flew his Legacy to a very respectable qualifying speed right above 300mph. The very competitive field in 2016 left Vince in the Silver pack for all of the week, culminating in a first place finish in Sport Silver! This year might be another tough one for Vince to break into the 9 Sport Gold aircraft come Sunday, but anything is possible.
#6 (N726DW) "Lucky Too": My personal favorite as it's the only AeroChia Super Legacy in the field this year! Slated to race in 2016, Vicky Benzing withdrew and brought her stock Legacy instead. Race 6 is a sister to "Race 33" and "Miss Karen II" and we are well aware what those Legacy's are capable of. On top of that, Vicky's motto for this year is basically let's just see how fast this plane will go... THAT is cool! Look for a top 3 or 4 qualifying spot if all goes smoothly.
#8 (N5S) "Race 8": David Sterling's Super Legacy is just about as close as you can get to Dreadnought or Czech Mate in the Unlimited field. Race 8 shows up, puts down impressive speeds, but can't secure the first place trophy. Race 8 has had her share of podium finishes, and also her share of mayday's. 2016 proved to be a smooth year for David's ride flying consistently in the 350-360mph range. Let's hope all the mayday's are behind and Race 8 can shoot for the top spot in 2017!
#30: (N115YP) "One Moment": The recent poster child of the Reno Air Races and especially the Sport Class, Andrew Findlay's Stihl Sponsored Super Legacy. Another personal favorite as you can just tell Andy is striving to take home the Gold one year, and he's a really cool guy. Race 30 has had some significant mods done to her in the reliability and cooling departments, as well as some speed mods to boot. I won't go into too much detail (because I don't know too much to begin with), but Andy's Legacy should put up a very impressive show in this years Sport field. Look for a top 3 finish if she holds up until Sunday.
#32 (N36XX) "Beast": Race 32 is a new Legacy to take to the pylons, but it's pilot is far from new. Alan Crawford is back after his terrifying crash a couple years back. It's awesome to see his drive to get back out there. As of right now, there's no indication of how well this plane will do. It's a very slick, yet very different airframe. She's powered by an 8-cylinder engine that generates some serious horsepower. Of course horsepower is one of the keys to Gold, but there's a lot more to it than that. Look for Race 32 to run in the bottom of the Gold pack running similar speed to Modo Mio and Clas Thunder I.
#39 (N123AJ) "Race 39": No need for an introduction. Year after year, Jeff LaVelle's Super Glasair III is the plane to beat. Look for 400+ speeds as always, and a guaranteed podium finish if it holds up until Sunday.
#42: (N42XT) "Relentless": Another plane that needs no introduction as it is one of the most distinguishable Sport Class racers of them all. Kevin Eldredge is back in his 8-cylinder powered NXT. 2016 saw speeds in the 320mph range, enough to stay in Gold, but far from being competitive. The Relentless team has done some minor modifications and tweaks so let's see if they can get any more power out of her in 2017.
#47: (N477CM) "Mojo": The ex-Lucky Mojo after devastatingly losing Gary Mead last year. Bob Mills picked up this Super-fast Glasair III and is going to try his luck with her at Reno 2017. This has always been the second fastest Glasair III in the field, and doesn't hesitate to do 360mph laps on the regular. Bob Mills is also an outstanding pilot to boot. Look for this dynamic duo to be up in the top 5 or 6 all week.
#67: (N167BP) "Swiss Thunder": Peter Balmer's Thunder Mustang has seen it's share of modifications to prepare for Reno 2017. Most noticeably is the 3-bladed windmill up front that shares very similar characteristics to Blue Thunder II's prop. Of course this new prop meant that some work under the hood was done as well (yes, they added some more horsepower). They have been flying the crap out of Race 67 and I don't think she should be slept on. I don't know how well she will match up to Blue II, but the rest of the Sport Gold may have a hard time getting around this colorful Thunder Mustang.
#151: (N151CR) "Class Thunder I": Race 151 has a change of pilots for this year as Bob Mills switched into Race 47. Mathias Haid is taking the helm of this "stock" Thunder Mustang in 2017. Not too much to say, watch for Race 151 to run consistently in the 320-330 range and make the Gold come Sunday.
#352: (N352BT) "Blue Thunder II": Ahhh the fan favorite! This may just be the year... or not the year at all?... There has been a lot of stuff going on in the Blue II camp since last year. Of course we all know that John Parker took a ride through the desert after the engine blew up on him post-Gold. They fixed all that was broken and did some important work as well. A little bit of weight savings, new telemetry system, most recently a new oil filter manifold which was being tested in August. This all sounds great right?! Nope... As of Wednesday, Blue II's engine is not on the plane and nobody really knows what is up. John and his team do not quit, that's a fact. Being as they live at Stead, they don't have to fly the plane anywhere and realistically have until Wednesday's last day of qualifying to get that engine in and GO! Fingers crossed, go get 'em John.
There you have it! 11 hot-rods, 9 spots in the Sport Gold, who will make it, who will go