1986 Gold Final

[speeddemon]

This was the first year I went out to the pylons in a 'professional capacity'. I was armed with some pretty crappy camera equipment, but I was inspired from years of looking at Jim Larsen, Neal Nurmi, Bucky Dawson, and Gerald Liang pictures....so anybody could do it, right?

Any of you that were there remember what a horrible day it was. Temps down in the 40's, rain, and lots of wind. Visibility sucked, and it certainly didn't do anything for lighting conditions. But these are a few snapshots from Pylon 2.

They are pretty fuzzy, and I apologize for the obvious scratch-line across the negative. But I still have some fond memories of freezing my nads off out there....what an exciting race. I wanted Skip to win SO bad.

[Air Race Addict]

Re: 1986 Gold Final

Here's my contribution. These were taken in the Valley of Speed during that race. We talked a little bit about it in another thread, but since Brad decided to start a new thread, and I'm still too busy with real life to update the Air Race Addict website until next week, here they are. I think Fed X Bob and I share responsibility for these. I think he took 3 out of the 4. I was taking video and trying to get some still shots in between. Since I was videotaping during the start of the smoke, I would say he took the last 3. And yeah, it was one of the colder days. It was pretty miserable. This was also the race that Skip Holm became a legend in my own mind, and inspired me to find out just what kind of pilot he really is. Well worth the admiration.

Bill

[aerojock]

Re: 1986 Gold Final

That was the first year I went ot the races. I remember seeing something starting to trail off the airplane but couldn't tell if it was water or smoke. After a few more seconds you could tell it was smoke and I remember Bob Hoover had to keep telling Skip that he was blowing smoke. Skip just kept going and going. Fainally after Bob said And I think this was a quote " skip you got oil all over that thing" Skip called a mayday and pulled out. I just couldn't believe he went as long as he did blowing that much smoke. I was hooked. It still seems to be one of my most vivid race memories. That one and when Tiger came out (the next year I think) and broke almost every record from day one. He wasn't going to baby the engine until Sunday. That was cool.



Aero

[supercub]

Re: 1986 Gold Final

What ever happened to the airplane without the belly scoop? I know they tried this in a couple of different race Mustangs after WWII.....did they improve on it over the years?

[AirDOGGe]

Re: 1986 Gold Final

That was Stiletto. It has since been converted back to a stock Mustang (with an extra seat).

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Re: 1986 Gold Final

That was Stiletto. It has since been converted back to a stock Mustang (with an extra seat).

Well at least it's data tag was converted.

[Randy Haskin]

Re: 1986 Gold Final

What ever happened to the airplane without the belly scoop? I know they tried this in a couple of different race Mustangs after WWII.....did they improve on it over the years?

It has been since 'restored' into a TF-51. Or, as I think of it, it has been modified into yet something *else* that it isn't.

https://www.stallion51.com/aircraft/aircraft-diamondback.cfm?axis_v=2

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/registry/p51registry/p51-4511471.html

http://www.mustangsmustangs.net/p-51/survivors/pages/45-11471.shtml

[John]

Re: 1986 Gold Final

Thanks folks!

That really brings back the memories. For some reason that was one of the
more interesting races at Reno.

Didn't Skip re-pass Dread. after the problem started?

We were down in the pits after the race, and Holm was saying he still
had oil pressure on Stiletto -implying the reason he stretched it.

I remember a Red and White racing P-51 crossing the finish in third or
fourth that year. I think it's name was Strega!

[deepsky]

Re: 1986 Gold Final

That was one awsome race! I was only 14 back then so I don't have any photos, but I remember it very well.

[speeddemon]

Re: 1986 Gold Final

That was Stiletto. It has since been converted back to a stock Mustang (with an extra seat).

Here's a picture of Stiletto (aka "Butterknife) after emerging from Alan Preston's chop shop for her sex-change operation.

A sad, sad day indeed. And she didn't even qualify. Though knowing a certain owner/pilots agenda, it probably wasn't there so much to race as it was to attract a buyer.

[Unregistered]

Re: 1986 Gold Final

That was my 2nd year at Reno....I remember how cold it was that day during the final. We had ramp passes because we were helping the Chino crew with Tsunami and we stood by the radiator of the fuel truck to keep warm. For some reason (probably weather conditions) the sound coming from the racers was incredibly clear and crisp that race, plus Skip had Z's motor wound up and set on kill...! It was a very striking and memorable sound. Tsunami sneezed coming down the chute and Steve landed on the main runway right to left during the early laps, and Stilletto and the Buick passed right over him as he was rolling out, He said that Stilletto was so loud it hurt his ears even though he had the canopy closed and his helmet on!

I was sick when I heard they were converting Stilletto to a TF. At the time, I saw much more race potential in Race 84 with the boil-off system than her stablemate Dago Red. I thought the owner of those two airplanes made the wrong decision on which airplane to race and which to convert to a TF...I still feel that way!

KennyMac

[John]

Re: 1986 Gold Final

Was that just an outright blown motor on Stiletto, or an oil line problem?

[speeddemon]

Re: 1986 Gold Final

Was that just an outright blown motor on Stiletto, or an oil line problem?

Oh no...all it was was a popped 'breather line' that the oil was leaking out of. The engine was still running at 100% when Skip pulled out. I mean, they fixed the line and flew the plane home with no damage to the engine at all. I think it took longer to clean the oil off the side of the airplane at the washrack than it did to repair the oil line.

As an aside, I also seem to recall that on the rollout from Skip's mayday, he blew a tire and groundlooped the plane into the dirt. Anyone remember that happening? I think I have a picture of it sitting in the dirt in front of the home pylon.

[John]

Re: 1986 Gold Final

Oh no...all it was was a popped 'breather line' that the oil was leaking out of. The engine was still running at 100% when Skip pulled out. I mean, they fixed the line and flew the plane home with no damage to the engine at all. I think it took longer to clean the oil off the side of the airplane at the washrack than it did to repair the oil line.

As an aside, I also seem to recall that on the rollout from Skip's mayday, he blew a tire and groundlooped the plane into the dirt. Anyone remember that happening? I think I have a picture of it sitting in the dirt in front of the home pylon.

Hey Speed,
I do remember Stiletto sitting on the side of the runway with a blown tire.

Only a blown oil line? aaarrrrrggg! ...Man, that would have been a win!!

Stiletto was a sensation.

[First time Juke]

Re: 1986 Gold Final

Here are the stats:

http://www.aerofiles.com/nar.html