Some old Reno pics

[AE88]

A few fellers' talking in 1987... serious business. (Chuck Aro photo)

Gold Racer meeting? That was taken before my time out there, but I'll take a guess on the identities:

L to R: Delbert Williams?, Skip Holm, Neil Anderson, John Putnam?, Bob Hoover, Rick Brickert, John Crocker?, Ron Hevle

Facing away: Possibly Howard in the hat on the left side? Not sure about the other one- maybe Bob Yancey?
AE

[AE88]

[QUOTE=wingman;n266192]I think the Sea Fury, like most fighters, looks best as a FB11 fighter version. This was at Bakersfield in 1985.


FB11 with the straight tail (not hook) and rudder- agreed. I don't think the slightly longer canopy to add the jumpseat hurts either...

AE

[AE88]

[QUOTE=wingman;n266194]Wally McDonnell was one of the good ones.

Yes, he was a neat guy. While we were doing the Fury project, he would come into town and would spend a few days each visit going over the project with dad. He was definitely one of the more accomplished pilots that you didn't hear much about. Not sure how many know that he was the replacement pilot in the "Flight of the Phoenix" movie after Paul Mantz was killed.

And I think he had the story about one of the stealth prototypes crashing onto or near his property in CA. Seems like he came home and was stopped by military officials and not allowed in until a few days later after they had cleaned up all the debris.

AE

[wingman]

Sea Fury racing at Texas 1990

[AE88]

Sea Fury racing at Texas 1990

Neal,
Probably should be in its own thread, but I would love to see any pics you have from the races in Sherman!

AE

[wingman]

Neal,
Probably should be in its own thread, but I would love to see any pics you have from the races in Sherman!

AE

How about this lineup? Some heavy hitters here.

Sherman was very interesting, and very hot.

Georgia Mae was really beautiful.

[Big_Jim]

[QUOTE=AE88;n266204]

Wally McDonnell was one of the good ones.

Yes, he was a neat guy. While we were doing the Fury project, he would come into town and would spend a few days each visit going over the project with dad. He was definitely one of the more accomplished pilots that you didn't hear much about. Not sure how many know that he was the replacement pilot in the "Flight of the Phoenix" movie after Paul Mantz was killed.

And I think he had the story about one of the stealth prototypes crashing onto or near his property in CA. Seems like he came home and was stopped by military officials and not allowed in until a few days later after they had cleaned up all the debris.

AE

Someone who didn't have Wally on their Christmas card list was Ron Reynolds. When Ron and Mike Geren had engine issues with their Bearcat at the 1970 California 1000, they left the plane in Wally's hangar to repair. And at some point, "somebody" decided to take the plane out for an unauthorized spin from Wally's hangar. One of the gear legs failed and the plane groundlooped--tearing up a wingtip and ruining the propeller. Wally always denied that he was the one who took the plane out, and Ron never found out 'who' had done it...or who would have, could have...from Wally's hangar. But he felt Wally was responsible and never fessed up to the mistake.

The kicker, Ron felt, was that even though the engine was not at power when the incident happened, that something was bent or dinged internally on the R-2800...something that they didn't catch, or should have/would have caught if they had pulled it and tore it down for a rebuild prior to the United States Cup at Brown Field. Directly or indirectly, Ron felt it played a part in the engine failure and fatal crash at that race.

[wingman]

This is from the Rheinschild trailer during qualifying at Sherman. I really don't have a lot of stuff from that race scanned ---- there's never been a lot of demand for them.

Pegasus blew its engine during qualifying and had a nail-biter landing that made Delbert happy that Texas is so flat.

[AE88]

[QUOTE=Big_Jim;n266212]

Someone who didn't have Wally on their Christmas card list was Ron Reynolds. When Ron and Mike Geren had engine issues with their Bearcat at the 1970 California 1000, they left the plane in Wally's hangar to repair. And at some point, "somebody" decided to take the plane out for an unauthorized spin from Wally's hangar. One of the gear legs failed and the plane groundlooped--tearing up a wingtip and ruining the propeller. Wally always denied that he was the one who took the plane out, and Ron never found out 'who' had done it...or who would have, could have...from Wally's hangar. But he felt Wally was responsible and never fessed up to the mistake.

The kicker, Ron felt, was that even though the engine was not at power when the incident happened, that something was bent or dinged internally on the R-2800...something that they didn't catch, or should have/would have caught if they had pulled it and tore it down for a rebuild prior to the United States Cup at Brown Field. Directly or indirectly, Ron felt it played a part in the engine failure and fatal crash at that race.

I was not aware of that- thanks for the info. That can a problem with any engine- something "minor" happens and it runs long enough to fail in a dramatic way at a later date.

AE

[AE88]

Previous
How about this lineup? Some heavy hitters here.

Sherman was very interesting, and very hot.

Georgia Mae was really beautiful.

Yes Neal, that was a very HOT week- it was in June or July of '91, right? Yes, all the major players at the time were there- was disappointed in the speeds but got the early lesson in how field elevation is related to that. Plus the heat was tough on everyone. Bob Yancey was shutting down and getting out of the cockpit at the end of the runway to be towed in due to the heat in his cockpit.

Jay Cullum (he had previously raced # 409 Skyraider at Reno) was the primary organizer of it- heard he had to spend over 6 figures of his own money pull it off. Even with all of the racer participation back then, it was difficult getting multiple races going throughout the year. Seems like 91-96 was the peak of that movement. I know we went to races in Sherman, Denver, Kansas City, and Phoenix.

AE

[Big_Jim]

How about this lineup? Some heavy hitters here.

Sherman was very interesting, and very hot.

Georgia Mae was really beautiful.

That Dallas race was the last one for Wiley Sanders. He was pretty much fed up with the treatment he got from the ramp security at Reno the previous year--as I recall, John Putman was escorted off the ramp because security felt he didn't have the correct wristband to be out there...and they didn't care who he was or the fact that he belonged out there. That was when I was living in Pensacola, and Sanders Trucking was a daily sight on I-10 in those neck of the woods. When Wiley decided to stop racing he turned his wealth to Troy State University, which was pretty close-by too. I remember that as the football season was starting that year (shortly before Reno '90), Wiley made a donation to the school football team, sponsoring the offensive line....which were to be known as "the Sanders Line". Was never quite the same. Wiley was quite the character.

As a side note, while most people know "Jeannie" was named after Wiley's then-wife, his next Mustang was campaigned after the divorce. He named that one after his mom, "Georgia Mae"...because 'mother's never stop loving you'.

[wingman]

Wiley had a good time in Texas, though. He only ran about 260 mph but was great fun to watch.

We almost had a 2 Skyraider race. Jay Cullum qualified his (with full armament) but decided not to race. He did put on a great aerobatic display in the Skyraider each day, though.

[Russ Craig]

Speaking as a Texan who had not yet been able to attend an Air Race; the Sherman event was a big deal. I know that the heat of Texas in July must have been brutal to the racers and crew (thank God they did not have the event down on the Gulf Coast!); but hats-off to all of them who brought their teams and put on a great event. I was not able to regularly attend Air Races until I moved to Nevada in '92, but Sherman was a good introduction!

[Jan]

Gold Racer meeting? That was taken before my time out there, but I'll take a guess on the identities:

L to R: Delbert Williams?, Skip Holm, Neil Anderson, John Putnam?, Bob Hoover, Rick Brickert, John Crocker?, Ron Hevle

Facing away: Possibly Howard in the hat on the left side? Not sure about the other one- maybe Bob Yancey?
AE

Yes, good spotting. Correct on all counts. This meeting was convened in '87 very shortly after a false start. There was much displeasure.

[Jan]

That Dallas race was the last one for Wiley Sanders. He was pretty much fed up with the treatment he got from the ramp security at Reno the previous year--as I recall, John Putman was escorted off the ramp because security felt he didn't have the correct wristband to be out there...and they didn't care who he was or the fact that he belonged out there. That was when I was living in Pensacola, and Sanders Trucking was a daily sight on I-10 in those neck of the woods. When Wiley decided to stop racing he turned his wealth to Troy State University, which was pretty close-by too. I remember that as the football season was starting that year (shortly before Reno '90), Wiley made a donation to the school football team, sponsoring the offensive line....which were to be known as "the Sanders Line". Was never quite the same. Wiley was quite the character.

As a side note, while most people know "Jeannie" was named after Wiley's then-wife, his next Mustang was campaigned after the divorce. He named that one after his mom, "Georgia Mae"...because 'mother's never stop loving you'.

Yes, Wiley was colorful. And yep, he was certainly a "Trojan" booster. I got to be around Wiley a bit... And Dad knew him well enough. There was a stir created as some of you might remember by a long article on Wiley that appeared in the February 1995 issue of GQ Magazine. It was titled, "Kingfish". I don't know what Wiley thought of it. But it would have been interesting to know. If anybody's interested, I see if I can dig that out.