Since this started some 2 years ago, I knew this would be a unique opportunity to tell the Miss America story. I realized then, as I do now, that there are a great many fans out there who were simply unable to attend the races and a great many fans who were there, but busy enjoying the entire experience - not just focused on one race team. So I though why not bring you to the Reno experience in a way that I've personally not seen done. Miss America 2023 in pictures - focusing on the crew and all the work that goes on behind the scenes of this addiction we call air racing. So yes, in my attempt to bring you a unique day-to-day, hour-by-hour crew perspective - this thread will be heavily populated with pictures & captions. I can only hope you have as much fun reading & going through it as much as I had experiencing & making it. So with that said, here we go!
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Having completed the task, the team starts to tow Miss America back to her pit area, located just past the end of this row of hangers. 
Engine builder Rick Shanholtzer (in cockpit) discusses the results of the engine testing and fuel pressure adjustments with crew members Shad Morris & crew chief Greg Butler - giving the crew the good news, Miss America is ready! - 6:25 PM Sunday evening 9/10/23. 
So recapping the day.... wake at 5:00am, meetup at 6:00am... Walmart, breakfast, air race fun stuff, back to hotel, shower, dinner, back in hotel by 9:30pm, update site, ect., bedtime about 11:00pm. Looks like that’s going to be our routine for the next week. So are we ready for tomorrow's wake at 5? You Betcha!!!!! Sleep is overrated anyway ;-)
That's all for today... as you can see it takes a bit of time to do all of this, so I'll try to put out a new race day of pics & captions every week until I'm done. Until then - thanks for visiting!
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I arrived at Stead airport at about 8:00AM on Sunday morning 9/10 with the rest of the crew after making our morning stop at Walmart for supplies for the day & eating breakfast. The plane was already in her pit area along with the Miss A trailer - the Balz Out Aviation tow truck - and the tow bar. We then unpacked/setup the trailer & safety railing then started to tidy-up Miss America for the prom rehearsal (qualifying).
Looks like we all had some work to do. Crew member Davey Phillips (left), along with crew members Jay "the Colonel" Duechting (front right) and Shad Morris (on wing) wipe-down the aircraft and assess if a good washing is in order.
Crew members Davey Phillips (left), the Colonel (middle) and Shad Morris (right- on wing) wipe-down the aircraft and decide it's about time for a wash & wax for our girl.
8:26 AM Sunday, 9/10/23.
8:26 AM Sunday, 9/10/23.
Having never seen a plane get washed at Reno during the event, I decided what the heck... let's go too! Crew member Shad Morris pushes Miss America back towards the wash-rack at Stead airport.
Crew member Shad Morris pushes Miss America back towards the wash-rack at Stead airport, located at the rear of the hangers along this taxiway.
Crew member Davey Phillips starts hosing down Miss America - kinda just like washing a car, only bigger... MUCH BIGGER!!!
Obviously there is a lot of real estate to clean on a plane the size of a P-51 Mustang, but it all starts at the beginning - grab a rag and get to scrubbin’! Shad Morris (left) and Davey Phillips (right) get right to business.
Miss America crew members Shad Morris (left) and Davey Phillips (right) hard at work - 8:41AM Sunday, 9/10/23.
Miss America crew members Shad Morris (left) and Davey Phillips (right) hard at work. As we said earlier, a lot of real estate to cover (big airplane to hand wash) and a picture like this one gives you an idea of the task at hand.
Having completed the task, the team starts to tow Miss America back to her pit area, located just past the end of this row of hangers.
Crew members Jay "the Colonel" Duechting and Davey Phillips (right) walk along to insure wing tips are clear and serve as a lookout for Shad Morris as he pushes Miss A back to her pit area.
Crew members Jay "the Colonel" Duechting and Davey Phillips (right) walk along to ensure wing tips are clear and serve as a lookout for Shad Morris as he pushes Miss A back to her pit area - 9:06 AM Sunday, 9/10/23.
Around 9:20AM, the crew begins to remove the access panels on Miss America to perform some needed maintenance prior to her planned qualification run later in the week. Pictured are crew member Davey Phillips (left), Crew Chief Greg Butler (center), and crew member Shad Morris (right-on platform).
The crew removing access panels on Miss America to perform some needed maintenance. Pictured (left to right) are crew member Davey Phillips, Crew Chief Greg Butler, and crew members Jay "the Colonel" Duechting & Shad Morris (right-on platform).
The crew removing access panels on Miss America to perform some needed maintenance. Pictured (left to right) are crew member Davey Phillips, Crew Chief Greg Butler, and crew member Jay "the Colonel" Duechting - 9:22 AM Sunday, 9/10/23.
Not much later after the crew started working on Miss America, everyone took a break to speak with one of the many visitors the team had over race week. Here we see (left to right) engine builder Rick Shanholtzer, Ashley Ezell (Nelson Ezell's son), Shad Morris, Greg Butler & Davey Phillips.
Another photo of the crew as they listen to Ashley Ezell (Nelson Ezell's son) talk about things old friends discuss with old friends.
Around 10:53 AM, we have another visitor to the Miss America pits... here we see crew chief Greg Butler (right) talking with the legend of air racing (and much, much, more...) Pete Law. Pete was just checking in with us - he'll be back later to do his magic on Miss America. 
At 11:05 AM, the hard work begins - engine builder Rick Shanholtzer (left) prepares to install a fresh set of Merlin Fingers as crew chief Greg Butler performs other tasks. Apparently, that requires the use of the razor blade that he has gripped in his lips... a good look? Not really... but it gets the job done!
Here we see crew chief Greg Butler working on the under-belly of the Merlin power-plant as the Merlin fingers wait for Rick to install them.
25 minutes later at 11:30 AM, engine builder Rick Shanholtzer has the installation of the Merlin Fingers well underway - but much more work is needed before the motor is ready.
By 1:15PM, Rick has moved onto the other side of the motor, installing that set of newly refurbished Merlin Fingers. As you can see, the crew is now working on all aspects of preparing for the test engine run.
One of the hardest working crew members on Team Miss America is Davey Phillips. Davey is a FedEx pilot and although not an A&P, is ALWAYS busy doing something needed, when needed.
During final system testing, it was discovered that the ADI pump was not working... blowing the fuse everytime the switch was engaged. Crew member Scotty Butler (on wing) prepares to remove the gun-bay panel to access the ADI tank & pump as Shad Morris (right) pumps-out the ADI fluid from the wing tank.
This photo was taken at 2:10PM, and shows Miss America crew member Scotty Butler (on wing - left) removes the gun-bay panel to access the ADI tank & pump as Shad Morris (right) pumps-out the ADI fluid from the wing tank.
Engine builder Rick Shanholtzer adjusts the clearances on the Merlin Fingers on Miss America's race motor... having started this process some 4 hours ago, Rick is very meticulous in assuring the valves are adjusted to perfection, nothing is left to chance.
Part of this process is Rick manually turning the prop/engine over to line the crankcase up with the timing marks so that he can make the fine clearance adjustments to the Merlin Fingers assembly.
Engine builder Rick Shanholtzer adjusts the clearances on the Merlin Fingers on Miss America's race motor... having started this process some 4 hours ago, Rick is very meticulous in assuring the valves are adjusted to perfection, nothing is left to chance.
Crew members Scotty Butler (left), Shad Morris (center), and crew chief Greg Butler start the process of troubleshooting the ADI pump issues on Miss America - 3:30PM Sunday afternoon.
Engine builder Rick Shanholtzer adjusts the clearances on the Merlin Fingers on Miss America's race motor - 3:30PM Sunday afternoon 09/10/23. Although routine, the task required Rick to be out in the hot sun for almost 4 hours - not an easy task by a long shot.
Crew member Scotty Butler (left) and crew chief Greg Butler (right) having removed the bladder tank - inspect the ADI pump, discover the issue, and in less than 20 minutes it's working like a champ! Easy fix was accomplished by simply changing out where the two white wires connect (they were reversed - the two white wires attached to two other white wires... easy to see how that got reversed).
Engine builder Rick Shanholtzer(on wing) adjusts the clearances on the Merlin Fingers on Miss America's race motor while crew members Scotty Butler (left), Shad Morris (center), and crew chief Greg Butler(behind Shad) work on the ADI pump issues - 3:45 PM Sunday afternoon.
Crew chief Greg Butler (left) assists engine builder Rick Shanholtzer adjusting the Merlin Fingers on Miss America. To the lower left you see Pete Law - who's now joined the group and about to do his part in setting-up/checking Miss America's race motor & cooling system.
Reno race guru Pete Law (left) discusses the testing proceedure with crew chief Greg Butler - 5:15 PM Sunday afternoon 09/10/23.
Rick Shanholtzer & Pete's assistant look on as Reno race legend & on-again off-again Skunk Works employee extraordinaire - Pete Law (right) makes some final adjustments to Miss America's race motor - 5:15 PM Sunday afternoon 09/10/23.
Team Miss America heads out to the flight-line for engine & systems testing... shown are (left to right) Brent Hisey, Shad Morris, Jay "the Colonel" Duechting, Rick Shanholtzer, and our bad to the bone crew chief - Greg Butler (Greg works on B1 bombers at Tinker AFB).
Engine builder Rick Shanholtzer fires-up the race Merlin on Miss America as crew chief Greg Butler stays close to monitor the test run - 6:10 PM Sunday evening 9/10/23.
Engine builder Rick Shanholtzer monitors the gauges during the engine run-up... a very critical task best left to the one who knows the engine & race systems better than anyone on the team - 6:12 PM Sunday evening 9/10/23.
Engine builder Rick Shanholtzer monitors the gauges during the engine run-up... a very critical task best left to the one who knows the engine & race systems better than anyone on the team - 6:12 PM Sunday evening 9/10/23.
After a 3 minute run, Rick shuts-down the Merlin so adjustments to the fuel pressure can be made (and why you saw the engine started and stopped about 4 times - Greg was making the pressure adjustments). Rick is sitting on the wing off-frame... you can see Greg at the front of the plane making the pressure adjustments as crew members Shad Morris (red shirt) and the Colonel (at right) watch an airplane coming in over the hills - setting up for landing.
Engine builder Rick Shanholtzer (in cockpit) fires-up the race motor in Miss America once again as crew chief Greg Butler & crew member Shad Morris (right) intently watch - 6:13 PM Sunday evening 9/10/23.
Engine builder Rick Shanholtzer (in cockpit) running-up the race motor in Miss America as (left to right) crew member Shad Morris, crew chief Greg Butler, & Jay "the Colonel" Duechting observe & monitor the run - 6:14 PM Sunday evening 9/10/23.
"In the zone" - crew chief Greg Butler (left) and crew member Shad Morris (right) have all senses at maximum.... sight, smell, sounds - all keenly tuned to detect any anomaly that might crop up. Usually this will occur when power settings are changed, so as Rick runs-up the motor, so does the senses... it's an adrenaline rush like no other when things go right! And this time - they did!
Here we see (left to right) Pilot/Owner Brent Hisey & crew member Davey Philips in the golf cart as engine builder Rick Shanholtzer (in cockpit) running-up the race motor in Miss America as crew member Shad Morris, crew chief Greg Butler, & Jay "the Colonel" Duechting observe in the background - 6:17 PM Sunday evening 9/10/23.
Engine builder Rick Shanholtzer (in cockpit) fires-up the race motor in Miss America once again as (left to right) crew chief Greg Butler, crew members Shad Morris, Jay "the Colonel" Duechting (right background) & Davey Phillips intently watch... all "in the zone". - 6:24 PM Sunday evening 9/10/23.
This shot is out of sequence (was taken at 6:11PM) but I wanted to include it here - a nice beauty-shot of Miss America & engine builder Rick Shanholtzer at the end of the days pictures at Stead - Sunday 9/10/23.
Engine builder Rick Shanholtzer (in cockpit) discusses the results of the engine testing and fuel pressure adjustments with crew members Shad Morris & crew chief Greg Butler - giving the crew the good news, Miss America is ready! - 6:25 PM Sunday evening 9/10/23.
So recapping the day.... wake at 5:00am, meetup at 6:00am... Walmart, breakfast, air race fun stuff, back to hotel, shower, dinner, back in hotel by 9:30pm, update site, ect., bedtime about 11:00pm. Looks like that’s going to be our routine for the next week. So are we ready for tomorrow's wake at 5? You Betcha!!!!! Sleep is overrated anyway ;-)
That's all for today... as you can see it takes a bit of time to do all of this, so I'll try to put out a new race day of pics & captions every week until I'm done. Until then - thanks for visiting!
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