Some old Reno pics

[AE88]

Back in Texas we have a pit scene during qualifying, looking the other way. Tiger looks ready.

Everyone was very envious of Tiger and his "cool suit" that year as well!

AE

[Big_Jim]

I never knew much about his background other than the trucking company, that was an eye-opening read -thanks for sharing it!

Another article I'd love to find a copy is the one on Ken Burnstine that was published by a Ft Lauderdale magazine I believe.

It is actually a three-part article that was almost enough to publish a book with. It was called "Ken Burnstine is still dead" by Gaeton Fonzi. It was written for and published in Gold Coast Magazine...which was (still is) kind of an upper-scale, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" periodical about the Miami/Fort Lauderdale/Palm Beach clientele. It is pretty in depth that was geared towards putting to bed the rumors that Burnstine (a Gold Coast resident) faked his own death and was living in Europe. Some far-out, if unlikely 'this could have happened' theories.

But the bottom line is this: One of Ken's crew--who strapped him in the cockpit at Chino on that fateful flight--told me that Burnstine had been doing cocaine all morning and was in no condition to fly the plane. "I begged him to let me ferry the plane up to Mojave for him, but he told me to just drive the motor home and he'd meet me there. There was NOTHING wrong with that airplane...just a stupid pilot."

[Big_Jim]

Neal...I'm trying to recall...wasn't Dallas the race where John Crocker blew a tire on the Mustang and managed to find a tractor tire that actually fit on the Mustang wheel/hub so he could get it home? Been a long time now, and brain fade is a real thing...but I was also at the airshow at Boeing Field just a few weeks later when John hit the Sea Fury wake turbulence on landing and forever-pranged it...and at that show it had two stock wheels/tires back on it.

[wingman]

Neal...I'm trying to recall...wasn't Dallas the race where John Crocker blew a tire on the Mustang and managed to find a tractor tire that actually fit on the Mustang wheel/hub so he could get it home? Been a long time now, and brain fade is a real thing...but I was also at the airshow at Boeing Field just a few weeks later when John hit the Sea Fury wake turbulence on landing and forever-pranged it...and at that show it had two stock wheels/tires back on it.

Boy -- I had almost forgotten that situation -- had to dig into the Nag Rag Issue to remember the details. When I got into Dallas I knew Crocker was supposed to have already arrived. Somebody picked me up at the Dalls airport to get out to Sherman, which was a ways outside Dallas. When we got to the airfield there was no Race 6 to be found. At that point she was sequestered in one of the old WWII hangars jacked up and barefooted..

John had scheduled two fuel stops between Oakland and Sherman. He blew a tire on takeoff from the first, in Casa Grande Arizona. He continued on to the second stop, in Las Cruces, N M. He landed (very carefully) with no further damage, but Mustang tires are uncommon and he obviously needed to get to Dallas quickly. After much running around town he and a local tire shop figured out that a certain John Deere tire (white wall at that, IIRC) could be made to work temporarily. They mounted it (I think on the Mustang wheel) and John got to Sherman. It seems that the authorities frown on this sort of switch and so John's crew quickly got the airplane into that old hangar and got things right. Mustang tires are much less uncommon in Texas.

Somewhere I have a slide of the Racer's nose sticking out of that hangar door...

Ah, the glory of big time air racing!

[wingman]

I just noticed that Sumthin' Else had the single elevator trim tab mod- other than GG, were there any other mustangs which ran that modifcation?

AE

You know, before the GG crash I never gave any thought to the number of trim tabs. I think there have been others, but the only one I know of for sure was Stiletto. Stiletto was not much of a Mustang, though -- I think Dave gave it an electric trim system that was very different from any Mustang setup.

[wingman]

Thanks Neal for the confirmation on the graphic and on the fact that she was at the Texas Air Races albeit in a less attractive paint scheme in my humble opinion.

I have plans to make a Sumthin Else pedal plane in the near future in the '81 scheme. Sorry to be a pest about this, but do you happen to have a pic showing the "National Champion Reno 1979" graphic? I believe there were subtle blue flags around this that are very faint in pics we typically see.

Once again, I very much appreciate seeing all your work over the years, thanks again!

Oddly, none of my color shots are very clear in that area of the fuselage. This black and white from 1980 shows it well, but does not give any color information (obviously!) Maybe it will help, though. Please post pictures of the pedal car when done --- I'd love to see them.




Neal

[wingman]

Texas, probably Saturday.

[wingman]

Actually, I have more stuff from Sherman scanned than I thought.

[wingman]

Waiting...

[Red 5]

Oddly, none of my color shots are very clear in that area of the fuselage. This black and white from 1980 shows it well, but does not give any color information (obviously!) Maybe it will help, though. Please post pictures of the pedal car when done --- I'd love to see them.




Neal

This is great, thanks again for the help!

I completed Miss Ashley II for Oshkosh this year (there's a pedal plane parade each year) and oddly enough I'm working on Georgia Mae currently. I tried to upload a pic of Miss Ashley II, but apparently "Upload failed due to your usergroup's upload quota.".

[RAD2LTR]

This is great, thanks again for the help!

I completed Miss Ashley II for Oshkosh this year (there's a pedal plane parade each year) and oddly enough am working on Georgia Mae currently. I tried to upload a pic of Miss Ashley II, but apparently "Upload failed due to your usergroup's upload quota.".

That is a new error. I'm guessing you are trying to do a direct upload. You will likely have to host the pic elsewhere, and link it. My guess is that its too large, or something like that.

Will

[wingman]

I was poking around the interweb and found this amateur vudeo of the Gold Race at Sherman Texas. It is great fun. If you look at about 45 seconds or so you actually see an oddly skinny version of me, shooting the photograph below. I'm the one wearing the baby blue Sumthin Else hat and tan pants. I thought this was kind of neat...

Inaugural Texas Air Race June 9, 1990

[AE88]

I was poking around the interweb and found this amateur vudeo of the Gold Race at Sherman Texas. It is great fun. If you look at about 45 seconds or so you actually see an oddly skinny version of me, shooting the photograph below. I'm the one wearing the baby blue Sumthin Else hat and tan pants. I thought this was kind of neat...

Inaugural Texas Air Race June 9, 1990

Good find Neal, thanks for posting!

AE

[BellCobraIV]

Actually, I have more stuff from Sherman scanned than I thought.

Brutal sun and heat at Sherman. Georgia Mae had a leak between the aftercooler and the supercharger case. Pulled it loose, cleaned up all the parts, put it back together in the bright sun. Sun reflecting off the wings the whole time. Then starter drive failure in Risky Business. Took it apart, engaged the starter drive gear by hand told Bill once it started to turn keep it going..... what? Repeat. Bill can I work with Matt Jackson on this and once it's running you guys can switch places? Don't turn it off going home...what? No stop at an airport you can get away with hot fueling at, no, you'll have to set it up ahead of time.


John

[wingman]

Brutal sun and heat at Sherman. Georgia Mae had a leak between the aftercooler and the supercharger case. Pulled it loose, cleaned up all the parts, put it back together in the bright sun. Sun reflecting off the wings the whole time. Then starter drive failure in Risky Business. Took it apart, engaged the starter drive gear by hand told Bill once it started to turn keep it going..... what? Repeat. Bill can I work with Matt Jackson on this and once it's running you guys can switch places? Don't turn it off going home...what? No stop at an airport you can get away with hot fueling at, no, you'll have to set it up ahead of time.


John

You always did know how to have a good time, John.