Reno Unlimited Gold Winners - 1964 to 2023

[Jan]

I have to imagine there's an interesting story each time these aircraft took to the skies.

Is this screenshot from the RARA 1974 race record page what you are referring to? Lyle Shelton showing in 5th place having been penalized for an altitude issue during another aircraft's mayday and missing out on a speed record?

I really hope that although Reno as host of the races is finished, a site like RARA continues to maintain the extensive records and detail of the past.

Don

Eric and I remember all of this pretty well even though we were children. Back to that in a moment...

First, let it be noted for the exceedingly few people who have any interest, that the "RARA Records" between 1964 and 1982 now on RARA's site are **not** RARA's records. They were compiled by our late father John Tegler. The screenshot shows one of the records compiled by Dad for 1974 and typed by our Mom, Sharon - like all of those up until 1982. Note that the records compiled thereafter by RARA lack almost all of the detail our father's records have.

RARA never gave Dad credit for all that history he preserved. There's much more actually... detailed records of the racing complied by Dad up to the early 2000s. It illuminates what actually went on far better than RARA's threadbare notations. I've no idea if RARA will maintain the records. Thankfully, Eric and I have them.

Now back to Reno and 1974. John (Slack) has retold the episode well and there's not much I can add, except to recall late night phone calls between Dad and Lyle about the incident. They had some choice words for Reno and Jerry Duty. He was, as JS said, not well regarded by many... and rightly so. I'll leave it at that....

[marada mx3]

As Paul Harvey would say, "And Now for the rest of the story"...
In 1973 at the Miami Air Race Lyle was elected to be President of the PRPA. Bob Love would later become the Vice President of the Unlimited Class. Jerry Duty was the Air Race Director of the Reno Air races. As was then, as is now, the prize money doesn't cover the hotel bill let alone the motor guy. As the President of the PRPA Lyle along with Unlimited Class Vice President Bob Love went to Reno to negotiate higher prize money. The negotiations were quite contentious. Jerry Duty at one point telling Lyle and Bob that they don't need the Unlimited Class Racers, He told them If I took a chrome plated milk bucket filled it with "Cow Sheet" and painted the word "WINNER" on it I could fill the field with stock airplanes to risk their lives for it!" Lyle and Bob went back home and contacted the Unlimited pilots, They suggested to stand down in protest of the prize money. The racer's all agreed they would not go to Reno that year. Lyle and Bob Love informed Jerry Duty that the Unlimited class would not be attending unless there was a change to prize money. Jerry Duty just laughed. Well it came time for the entry fees to be sent in and all of the tough hard line Unlimited pilots just folded and sent in their entry fees. Finally as the deadline for entry arrived Lyle and Bob not wanting to see a stock airplane "WIN" the race entered. Jerry Duty was an ass to Lyle and Bob all week...However that was not a new thing he was rarely very pleasant to the racers.

The Bearcat was and is a brutal machine and The "OMNI Aviation Special" (Rare Bears Name of the year. It changed annually depending on Sponsorship Prior to 1980) had a Narco Mark 12 Radio in the cockpit. Wire antennas were mounted below the canopy and we did not realize until we got to Reno and started running the course that there were dead spots on the course were the radio did not work that well. They played with antenna placement in between inspections repairing fallout from the races but to no avail. The radio was functional except for the little bitty section going uphill away from the stands, I can't remember exactly I believe that was between pylon 3 and 4,

Bob Love and Lyle had a good natured rivalry Air Cooled vs. Hot Water Toilet, Inline vs. Round, Mustang vs. Bearcat, Air Force vs. Navy. Bob had an early Dwight Thorn Merlin engine before Allison Rods, However Da' Doc had started to have success with making power and getting them to live. So the races were shaping up to be an event. Lyle qualified at a new record speed of 432.252 MPH 12 MPH faster than Cliff Cummins in MISS CANDACE at 420.283 (With a Zeuschel Motor - Z was also figuring it out.) Bob saving his engine qualified at 5th at 402.711

Friday's Unlimited Heat race saw Lyle walk away with the show 6 laps at a new record of 420.118, Bob was actually right behind Lyle, however a cut pylon would move him down to 4 th place. The stage was set by Sunday for a good run, Bob had a healthy Merlin, Lyle had a very healthy 3350. The race started and Lyle and Bob took off from the other racers, On lap 2 Mac Mclain blew his engine and called a Mayday. Under the rules of the time you were required to pull up to 500' above the ground level to make room for the emergent aircraft. That rule was pending be removed as many thought it wiser to be aware of the aircraft and not start making adjustments that the pilot making an emergency landing would have to deal with - Point of Fact that rule was no longer in effect by 1975. Lyle continued along at his original race altitude for about a quarter of a lap when Bob who was behind Lyle 500 feet higher Called him on the radio and asked him, "Lyle did you hear the Mayday? To which Lyle immediately cleared the altitude to 500 feet. Soon the mayday was over and Bob and Lyle were on a terror. I can remember sitting on the ramp in front of the crowd watching Lyle and Bob eat the competition like they were Bronze racers in the Gold. Before the end of lap six Lyle and Bob had lapped every other airplane on the course. Coming around the final turn on the final lap Bob Love's engine swallowed a valve and Bob declared a Mayday, However there are pictures taken from the stands of Bob's airplane taking the chaeckered flag with the Home Pylon in the background showing Bob's Altitude to be not much higher than the home pylon. The airplanes landed and taxi'd in front of he stands. The Bearcat was parked farther away and I was waiting for the planes to stop and shutdown. I by chance happened to be standing next to Joel Burnstine (Kenny's son who was my age as his dad shut down. Jerry Duty Hopped out of his car right in front of me ran up to Kenny and told Kenny, "Come on we want you to protest Lyle for not pulling up during the Mayday, The contest committee has already met we'll give you the win".

Half an hour later the word came down Lyle was being penalized for the infraction, Bob Love was being penalized for being higher than 1,500 feet and no longer considered on the course. Bu wait a one lap penalty for a guy that that passed every other competitor still has him in first place with an adjusted speed. But wait this wasn't the digital age where everyone has a cell phone so the pictures of Bob's finish would not come out for a couple of days. Lyle was ready to protest the finish, However not long after Lyle's Good friend Walt Ohlrich (He was now on the contest committee) came in to the pit as Lyle started to tell him about the finish and how Reno had it wrong Walt just looked at Lyle and said sorry Champ, The fix was in Jerry Duty had directed the contest Committee behind closed doors to determine this finish before he went and dragged Kenny into it. That night before the awards banquet Kenny came up and apologized to Lyle. They called for Lyle to come up and get his 5th place trophy and Lyle just sat there...quietly sitting with his team, We all clapped for the others. When it was over one of the directors came over and set Lyle's 5th place medallion on the table. when we were heading back to the Mapes Hotel My Mom started to pick it up, Lyle just said to her, No Leave it there. somebody cleaning up the room later must have returned it to the Air Racing Association. About a month later a certified package arrived in the mail from the Air Racing Association It was sized and shaped the size that you would send a medallion in it got the return to sender notice and away it went. Jerry Duty came up to Lyle in 1975 and told him that he had his trophy, Lyle just quietly walked away.


Many years later in the nineties I was rebuilding the ignition that had prevented the Bearcat from going home in the large Hangar that was the Formula One/Sport Bypes hangar during the races. A nice friendly woman came down from the offices and said "Oh, We have something of your Dad's upstairs." After lunch I went Upstairs and she showed me the medallion, I must have looked strange to her as I stepped back and told her "I'm not allowed to touch that" it was the medallion STILL wandering around the RARA offices after all those years. Some more years after that Lyle finally stopped his quiet protest of the 1974 Reno Championship Gold race and the medallion made it's way to a drawer in the House in Bakersfield. However the OMNI Aviation Special Did Finish first in the 1974 Sunday Gold race at a speed of 431 miles an hour, and nobody would beat that record again until Jeannie in 1980. They didn't need to in 1975 The Oogahonk was not racing and Bob after another win taken away from him by Reno was done.

I just read this story, albeit much less detailed, in the book "Griffon Powered Mustangs". It was a good read but the above is ten times better. Thank you Mr. Slack!

[CRJpilot]

Eric and I remember all of this pretty well even though we were children. Back to that in a moment...

First, let it be noted for the exceedingly few people who have any interest, that the "RARA Records" between 1964 and 1982 now on RARA's site are **not** RARA's records. They were compiled by our late father John Tegler. The screenshot shows one of the records compiled by Dad for 1974 and typed by our Mom, Sharon - like all of those up until 1982. Note that the records compiled thereafter by RARA lack almost all of the detail our father's records have.

RARA never gave Dad credit for all that history he preserved. There's much more actually... detailed records of the racing complied by Dad up to the early 2000s. It illuminates what actually went on far better than RARA's threadbare notations. I've no idea if RARA will maintain the records. Thankfully, Eric and I have them.

This thread is opening up in a way I didn't imagine and in saying that, I mean in a really interesting way!

Jan, thank you for pointing out that the records prior to the early 80's weren't originally RARA's. I absolutely believe in giving credit to those who have put so many hours into preserving the historic detail of the races. Further to that, now being able to read the stories that go with those records, is fascinating.

I did notice those early records were typed and scanned into PDF files but didn't realize who did all that work. May I ask, was your entire family associated with the races in some way, maybe really avid fans? Perhaps your father was a member of one of the racing teams?

Thanks for bringing this detail to light, I would love to know more from those with the time to share it.

Don

[CRJpilot]

Don,
I live my life with Awesome memories. I have had a very blessed existence on this rock we call home. My next story I'm trying to get the details correct on is "The Greatest Team That Never Was". As a preview.... Jack DeBoer was one of the greatest people that ever got involved with air racing. We all lost Jack in March of 2021. He deserves a Good memorial story. 77/7

That's a great way to live, I look forward to what you come up with.

Don

[BellCobraIV]

This thread is opening up in a way I didn't imagine and in saying that, I mean in a really interesting way!

Jan, thank you for pointing out that the records prior to the early 80's weren't originally RARA's. I absolutely believe in giving credit to those who have put so many hours into preserving the historic detail of the races. Further to that, now being able to read the stories that go with those records, is fascinating.

I did notice those early records were typed and scanned into PDF files but didn't realize who did all that work. May I ask, was your entire family associated with the races in some way, maybe really avid fans? Perhaps your father was a member of one of the racing teams?

Thanks for bringing this detail to light, I would love to know more from those with the time to share it.

Don

John Tegler was a writer, however more than just a writer he was involved in running the Mojave Races. He was the PR guy for Ed Browning and the Red Baron racing team. John wrote for Air Classics on the air races. John had been around the sport for ever. John his wife Sharon, sons Jan and Eric, and they had another brother that developed brain cancer and tragically died at an early age. Every year the family would show up with a truckload of film, and each member of the family would have their assignments from John and get to work.

Lyle would be in the pit most of the day and by the eighties we had several crew members and family friends that had motorhomes close to the pits. About two hours before time to tow out Lyle would disappear to a motorhome, nobody knew which one or where he was going to be except for one person. That person was the keeper of the gate and it rotated year by year as to who was the keeper of the gate. Lyle would take a nap and then spend around 45 minutes laying there with his eyes closed concentrating on flying the course. He would think about who he was racing with, where they were in the starting formation. Strategizing.

Nobody was to have access to the motorhome. The only exception was John, Lyle would check in and let me know he was going to be "gone and didn't want to be bothered, except if Tegler comes by have him brought out."

My main function on the team by the time the airplane made it to the races was to assist the Crew Chief with the clip board, making sure that whoever Dave Cornell and later Greg Shaw wanted doing the work was doing it, that it was getting done. I was to stay fresh during the day and not beat myself up in case there was engine work to do. On an overnighter I was responsible for getting the job organized, parts in place, Disassembly, reassemble the components to be ready for Mel Gregoire to be able to inspect and adjust the next morning. Typically we would schedule a ground run while the pilots were in the morning briefing as they tended to load the plugs up more than Dave or I did. In addition before we went to four switches at Phoenix it was hard to get good answers from the stick on the mag check.

As a side note when my Melody and I were first dating and she had just finished watching me do a ground run at field barometric. She commented that it was quite impressive to watch. I told her wait until you see Lyle do one he gets the tailwheel dancing off the ground. She looked at me and said "You had the tailwheel dancing off the ground." Hmmm. First person to mention that to me.

Back to John, there are rabbit holes in these stories. My other job since I knew everyone and would loan and borrow tools and parts was getting the most reliable intel on the other teams, this could come from rumours, noticing what people were doing on there planes etc. When Lyle was getting ready to get in the cockpit I'd usually help him with his parachute, strap him in and discuss what I knew to be correct. One year we were in deep discussion on top of the plane and John came by and snapped a picture of the two of us up there. I'd love to have a copy of that picture. I believe that it is in John's book. "Gentlemen You Have a Race"

So yeah, they were involved.

[CRJpilot]

This is so cool. . .

Thank you John for another great story!

Don

[Jan]

John outlined some of it but actually our father did quite a bit more... from running and/or announcing air races in Florida, Maryland, Kentucky and elsewhere to producing "International Air Racing Annual", launching the short-lived Air Racing Magazine, writing the Reno coverage for Air Classics for many years and working with racers of all classes on a variety of projects including being involved in PRPA for example.

For about three decades, if you wanted the inside scoop on what was going on in air racing across the classes, Dad had it. He not only knew or worked with most of the racers, he worked with many of the photographic chroniclers of the sport - folks who were once very much part of the scene. Neil Nurmi, Chuck Aro and Bucky Dawson will be familiar to a few of you. But there were many more, from Al Chute, Hal Loomis and Eric Everill to Dave Esler, Gerald Liang, Colin Aro, Jim Larsen (obviously Jim also did aerodynamic work with Unlimited teams), Steve Addis, Aaron King, Paul Newman, Ran Slaten, Birch Matthews, Rocky Weldon, Bob Burns, Dustin Carter, Bill Mollet, Scott Rayburn, Scott Garland, Shawn Aro and more... Dad also shot and published lots of photos himself. Our Mom did too. And yes, Eric and I and our younger brother Chris as well.

Back to Slack (that rhymes...) ... If you're not fortunate to know John or to have been around when he was a regular participant and "prowler of the pits" you missed out. Lyle's personality was Texas-sized in a very good way. John added to the fun - whether as part of the Bear crew or crewing for others. Eric and I have lots of great memories of Lyle of course but John too.

As one illustration - few Reno ramp denizens ever had as much fun engaging in air racing intrigue (or plain ole' gossip) as our Mr. Slack.

When not elbows deep in the Bear, Strega, etc, or deputizing on behalf of Lyle, Dwight, etc, JS could invariably be found chatting, gabbing or having chuckles with various comers and goers from the locales he inhabited. There was usually a twinkle in John's eye as we discussed events of the day, the week or the moment. In-action, he was a sponge for information - or perhaps we should say "intel" - on other teams, pilots, and the overall situation. He was a connoisseur of pit and ramp goings-on behind or beyond the deadline, took note of and was sometimes a magnet for some of the wackier characters trolling the space and... he often had plans... or "schemes" perhaps we should call them.

I personally observed this on quite a few occasions. Not difficult if you remained quiet sometimes and kept an eye out in the near and middle distance. You see, John was not only a collector of information. He was also a dispenser of information... sometimes right on target... sometimes creatively altered for fun or to keep competitors guessing.

When air racing was at its height at Stead there was a banter throughout race week, mostly unknown to spectators, that went on between pilots, crew chiefs, team members and other insiders. Slack was in the thick of it and never more tickled than when he could maybe influence it one way or the other.

It was all a part of the unique yearly "theater" of the event. There's more to this... Over to you John.

[CRJpilot]

As I sit back on my couch with my feet up, reading this on my iPad with coffee in hand, it makes me smile to imagine not just the work but also the “play” it took to get through race week.

I live in Canada and I’ve been to Reno 3 times 1999, 2011, and 2013. My missing the possibility of going to the races now that it’s over for Reno can’t be anything like those that will miss truly being there.

Thank you Jan.

Don

[wingman]

Reno 1980

[wingman]

Reno 1981 Waiting, for something...

[CRJpilot]

If I’m reading the records correctly Lyle Shelton was missing from 1976 - 1979, is that correct? Also that 1st photo from 1980, was that the first year with the name Rare Bear? It looks like it’s back from a battle. Even paint missing off the prop tips, is that from flying really low in the sage brush?

Again if I’m reading the records correctly, was Lyle in the second photo from 1981 waiting for pistons? Sounds like he went through a few that year?

Don

[BellCobraIV]

Reno 1980

1980, Wow what a year! in 1980 we had not made it to Reno in 4 years. Mostly due to moving the airplane to Van Nuys without a crew nucleus to work on the airplane. we had the horrendous experience of poor team management that led to the belly landing at Mojave, when the Bearcat had the name of "Spirit of 77". Lyle was busy with many new details and we actually installed the rear cam 180 degrees out of phase. Every time we started the engine for a ground run we would get a large "BANG" and a stack fire and carburetor fire. we played with resetting the ignition timing However that got us nothing, we did that again to no avail. We checked the valve lash, nothing. Finally while we were desperately trying to the situation out Bill Hickle said to pull the rocker covers off of Home and #10. Home is the top Cylinder on the rear row, #10 is the bottom cylinder on the front row. These two cylinders are direct opposites in the firing order. When 1 is going down firing on the power stroke, #10 is on the going down on the intake stroke. Well both cylinders were on the same stroke as evidenced by the loose rocker arms.

We had a long discussion to map out a plan with Mel Gregoire. Melvin had been around R-3350 engines as long as they had been around. we did not have enough time to tear down the rear of the engine as that would require an additional day of getting the engine mount on and off. So Mel suggested re-timing the front cam off 180 degrees out of phase. We pulled the nose case retimed the cam ring and moved forward. After all that we were able to get the engine to run, we had some good ground runs and decided that in order to get to Reno we would spend the evening loading up the truck and launch the crew truck to Reno as soon as it was loaded. Chris Wood and I drew the short straws and launched early in the still dark morning close to 1:30 setting the stage for this particular picture and story. I had an appointment for a hair cut, However the engine didn't co-operate, the loading of the truck didn't co-operate, so I was a shaggy dog all week.

Chris and I arrived at Reno Mid Day and selected a pit that would give us good access to the wash rack next to the ramp area. We chose a pit next to the P-51 "Lou IV" and quietly began unloading the truck and setting up the pit. Chris and I were not still sure how the test flight had gone and nobody was answering Bill Noctor's office phone. Chris and I had a two person meeting when we first started setting up and agreed to keep everything low key with our big yellow Ryder truck and if by the end of the day we had found out the airplane wasn't coming we would save ourselves the embarrassment and just as quietly load everything back into the truck and leave without a word. Quite a few people asked us who we were with and we continually declined to say, luckily nobody I knew was milling around so at the end of the afternoon we started talking about heading home. I had left the hangar without my any cash and my credit cards, earlier that morning I left a random message with Bill Noctor's secretary to make sure those items got placed in the same package of documents that carried the log books in the hell hole. I had my Dad's Shell gas card for the truck and we would need more than that to check into our rooms at the Mapes, So we would be low key leave and drive back to Van Nuys. Chris and I discussed the situation further and by this time we were becoming quite an oddity with this really great pit spot and no airplane. Finally Chris was able to get through to Noctor's secretary and ascertain that she thought the airplane had left and a whole bunch of mechanics were leaving on vacation for the week. Chris walked up and we looked around. Hmmm, what to do....Because the airplane had left we did not know where he was headed, we assumed Reno Stead as we had briefed, however if the airplane had issues we would not know. We decided to wait another half an hour then call again. This time Chris was able to talk to Bill Noctor and Bill trying his best to get out of Van Nuys told Chris "Lyle left and should be there soon." Chris came back and told me that the airplane had in fact left Van Nuys for Stead. We started scanning the sky and saw nothing.... Soon a familiar round sound could be heard overhead, someone close to where I was standing commented "I heard the Doug Wood was bringing his Skyraider. Chris and I still weren't saying anything. Then the black dot came closer and another person yelled out, "It's a Bearcat, Holy Jesus! Lyle is here with his Bearcat. Lyle made a wide circuit around the course at elevation and landed. The drought was over a racing Bearcat was at Stead.

The airplane taxied in and about two minutes after Lyle got out of the airplane a seal let go and hydraulic 5606 Fluid squirted from the upper hydraulic actuator. The week had started and would continue in that matter. Hydraulic, Oil leaks, Brakes that would need to be serviced continually, Electrical issues with radios. Crew miscommunications that would result with for one practice session Lyle being cleared to taxi out with the airplane still needing to be serviced with 10 more gallons of oil. It was a brutal week of losing in all aspects of what we were trying to accomplish. If 1980 proved anything it proved that you had to hit bottom to convince everyone that it needed to get better.

The Friday Gold race was a Did Not Start as coming down the chute the cockpit started to fill up with misting hydraulic fluid from a leak in behind the panel, The work continued overnight on the airplane which was showing to be off her own pace by about 10-15 mph. The screens were pulled and inspected long time R-3350 mechanic Mel Gregoire looked at the material that came out of the screens, I can still hear him saying..."Bronze, It's the blower clutches, I don't know if they will survive the weekend." The crew discussed this situation and decided that all the hard backfiring had done some damage to the blower clutches, but how much? Lyle made the call we'd race and see if they made it through the weekend. There were in his mind two options, (A) Shut the program down now and put it away. Remove the engine and truck it back to Aircraft Cylinder and Turbine for a rebuild. or (B) Keep racing do the best we can and park the airplane on Sunday afternoon then, Remove the engine and truck it back to Aircraft Cylinder and Turbine for a rebuild. Either way both situations ended up the same way. George Byard owner of Aircraft Cylinder and Turbine was behind whatever Lyle wanted to do.

The Saturday Gold race started with one main gear refusing to retract until a couple attempts were made. Then joining the formation at the rear he had radio problems and could not communicate with the other racers, He started the race getting as high as 4th place before the blower clutches failed and the engine was toast. Saturday and a 2nd DNS in a row. we had the bottom.

Lyle and I were discussing the overall situation in the picture above, Lyle looked up and said "You need to go into town and get a haircut."


John

[RAD2LTR]

John,
Thank you so much for finding the time to post here again. Your posts are amazing. The detail, and depth you go into is fantastic. I love reading stuff like you are posting as it provides an insider's view into what actually happened. We can look at pics and read books, but none of those provide insight into what was actually going on.

Will

[wingman]

I think this was the arrival. This airplane always drew a crowd...

[wingman]

Not a lot of fancy uniforms for the crew that year.