Gentlemen, You don't have a race

[Pylon1_Mark]

As for WEC, I'm not much of a fan. I've seen that series up close as well. It's extremely political and the on-track action isn't very exciting for the most part. A lot of that has to do with the all-endurance format. Having your main race format be all six-hour events just isn't conducive to producing a large fan base. If the WEC didn't have Le Mans, no one would know about it. The race length also generally leads to loooong periods of lapping - not racing. Some people enjoy that but most don't.

If you talk to the drivers currently, they're all delighted (the pros who are getting paid, that is) to be racing in WEC because it's now primarily a manufacturer series and that equates to money.

If you ask them where they'd race if money wasn't a consideration, they'd tell you IMSA. Racing in the U.S. is much more open and fun than racing in Europe or other parts of the globe. And the tracks here - with the exception of Circuit of the Americas - are better than many of newer tracks in Europe or elsewhere. Herman Tilke is one of the worst things ever to happen to road racing. The old-school tracks like Monza, Road Atlanta, Road America, Watkins Glen, VIR - even tight little Lime Rock are the best. Spa used to be ok but it's been neutered.

I could go on about other series but I'll leave it at this. If you want to see really good actual racing on a consistent basis go to the dirt. Watch the winged 410-sprint cars with the World of Outlaws or the High Limit series or the Super Late Models in the Lucas Oil series or World of Outlaws and several excellent regional series. That's real racing.

I thought the topic was "what is everybody doing instead this year?" I must have missed the part about if you don't like what someone else is doing feel free to trash the **** out of it.

Yep - missed that part. But it won't happen again, that I promise you

[wingman]

A lot of touchiness around here all of a sudden. I don't see the insult here -- We're all supposed to be friends...

Neal

[Pylon1_Mark]

A lot of touchiness around here all of a sudden. I don't see the insult here -- We're all supposed to be friends...

Neal

I'll answer that with a quote from the Miss America coverage thread.....

Ever since I became a member here, every year, someone comes along to crap in someone else’s thread. Unfortunately, that’s part of running an online forum.

And some people are extremely loyal to their past and can’t see 1/2” in front of their face and couldn’t fathom the possibility of thinking outside their own head.

It is what it is…

It happened in the Miss A thread, it happened here, and it happened in my Linda's tribute thread. So it is what it is sir, I won't be posting much in the future.

[wingman]

I for one am sorry to hear that, Mark. You have always been one of the more literate and knowledgable posters here. I've always enjoyed what you write.

I still wonder what has set you off so seriously. I've reread the thread several times and I honestly see nothing offensive, or even tasteless. (And ditto for the "Linda tribute thread").

So does this mean I'll never get to hear what happened to Doc Hisey and Miss America in the Saturday Heat Race?? I've been wondering about that for a long time now, and I suspect you are the only person around here who really knows.

Neal

[Jan]

I thought the topic was "what is everybody doing instead this year?" I must have missed the part about if you don't like what someone else is doing feel free to trash the **** out of it.

Yep - missed that part. But it won't happen again, that I promise you

I have no idea what you're objecting to. You stated your opinion. I stated mine. Where's the problem?

[sierra fox]

I for one am sorry to hear that, Mark. You have always been one of the more literate and knowledgable posters here. I've always enjoyed what you write.

I still wonder what has set you off so seriously. I've reread the thread several times and I honestly see nothing offensive, or even tasteless. (And ditto for the "Linda tribute thread").

So does this mean I'll never get to hear what happened to Doc Hisey and Miss America in the Saturday Heat Race?? I've been wondering about that for a long time now, and I suspect you are the only person around here who really knows.

Neal

I looked through both of those threads as well, and found nothing on that front. Perhaps some comments were removed?

[RAD2LTR]

I looked through both of those threads as well, and found nothing on that front. Perhaps some comments were removed?

A member of the board was irritated by the fact that few people had acknowledged Linda's passing. ( I am guilty of not saying anything either, as I still don't know what to say. It was tragic, it was a little poetic, and altogether sad. I didn't know her, and had only met or talked with her last year at Reno. ) Following this, said former member asked to be removed from the forum. I enquired why, and after hearing what he had to say, I obeyed his wishes and removed him. Then the posts were there as "guest" and it was just odd, and didn't really make sense, so I removed those two posts.

I don't know if it was the right thing to do, but they didn't really add anything to the discussion, so I removed them. It was not censorship, it was just a thread cleanup, because it seemed like the best thing to do at the time. Perhaps I should have left them, I'm not sure.

Will

[wingman]

I would not overthink this, Will. Certainly nothing here was your fault in any way. It's just silly season -- the time when webmasters and former webmasters go a bit wonky and stop making a lot of sense. Germain was always hot to defend his honor and was always quick to take things the wrong way. Wayne always had massive difficulty separating the babies from the bathwater.. Mark Kallio and Wayne had an off and on feud that went on for years. For some reason this stuff seems to be part of the web life. Somehow these guys all have short fuses and high emotions.

Very few here knew Linda well at all. I knew Wayne fo 25 years and only met linda very briefly a couple of times. She was quiet and reserved and seldom ever came to Reno. I never saw any indication that she was at all interested in what we here are interested in. My thoughts on Linda center on the fact that she stuck by Wayne for years, through the cancer, the recovery, and years of Wayne being Wayne. The latter alone was pretty heroic but beyond that Linda was a pretty vague figure for me and I felt no need to comment on her death.

Was Mark the member who wanted to be removed, or was it Owen?

I'd still rather talk about airplanes.

Neal

[N22252]

I would not overthink this, Will. Certainly nothing here was your fault in any way. It's just silly season -- the time when webmasters and former webmasters go a bit wonky and stop making a lot of sense. Germain was always hot to defend his honor and was always quick to take things the wrong way. Wayne always had massive difficulty separating the babies from the bathwater.. Mark Kallio and Wayne had an off and on feud that went on for years. For some reason this stuff seems to be part of the web life. Somehow these guys all have short fuses and high emotions.

Very few here knew Linda well at all. I knew Wayne fo 25 years and only met linda very briefly a couple of times. She was quiet and reserved and seldom ever came to Reno. I never saw any indication that she was at all interested in what we here are interested in. My thoughts on Linda center on the fact that she stuck by Wayne for years, through the cancer, the recovery, and years of Wayne being Wayne. The latter alone was pretty heroic but beyond that Linda was a pretty vague figure for me and I felt no need to comment on her death.

Was Mark the member who wanted to be removed, or was it Owen?

I'd still rather talk about airplanes.

Neal

That's a beautiful shot! I wish I could hear it!!! What is the story behind that formation?

[RAD2LTR]

Neal, I was just clarifying that yes, I did remove two posts by a former member, and why it was done. Nothing more, nothing less.

As far as conduct here, I hope we can all be adults. No personal attacks, or the like will be tolerated.

Okay, lets get back on to the original topic... This wasn't (former) race weekend, but I did the same thing. This was from yesterday... Practicing for the last race of the season. The wind and currents do some interesting things in this area. This is aboard my 95 year old San Francisco Bird boat "Hummingbird" off St Francis Yacht Club. We started out downwind, tacked around the leeward mark, and headed back upwind at a far greater speed than we came down wind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THW_N5RJVF0

Will

[wingman]

That looks like a lot more fun than mowing the lawn and raking pine needles.

Nice boat -- not a relaxed and comfortable ride though. I loved sailing on the Bay (in other peoples' boats, though).

[wingman]

That's a beautiful shot! I wish I could hear it!!! What is the story behind that formation?

You know, I have no idea. After 42 years i don't have a clue. The T-6s are the Condor Squadron from Southern California, The Mustang is the late Bill Hane's "Ho Hun", I think.

The CAF had been doing versions of Tora Tora Tora at the races in the 1970s -- maybe they were using the Condors for something similar?

Very cool formation though.

[RAD2LTR]

That looks like a lot more fun than mowing the lawn and raking pine needles.

Nice boat -- not a relaxed and comfortable ride though. I loved sailing on the Bay (in other peoples' boats, though).

Hummingbird is one of 26 San Francisco "Bird Boats" built between 1921 and 1946. She is one of two built by George Kneass in San Francisco. Sadly she is the last of the SF built Birds as her older sister, boat Uncategorized Groups "Falcon" sank in 1989 during a race they never should have started. The Birds are the oldest one design race class on the west coast, and one of the oldest in the country. Sadly, few people know about them and they are an endangered species. Many of the owners are in their late 70s, a good portion in their 80s, and one guy is 96... I am the second youngest owner at 47. Nope they aren't a comfortable ride, but they are fast for a 30 foot boat. Its hard to read, but the tablet at the front of the cockpit is a GPS readout giving me speed over the bottom, heading, heeling angle, and velocity made good (assuming I program the buoy's in) VMG is the speed toward your next mark on the course, so if you are headed right at it but going slowly might be better than if you are going faster, but away from the mark before tacking or gybing back to it. (A useful thing to know if racing.) Going upwind, we were doing 7.5kts over the bottom. That is moving right along for a 30 foot boat, let alone a 95 year old one. They are still some of the fastest 30 footers on the bay. Oh there are no reef points on a Bird. 30kt sustained wind, and some chop? Okay, it will be a wet ride, but the boat doesn't really care.

Here is a video of a trip across the bay back in August. It was blowing 25kts, and we were WAY overpowered, but the boat was flying.
https://youtu.be/9AWq-NxkP3w

Here are a few pics of her out of the water back in may.


A pic of Hummingbird from 1935. I used this as my template when I did the cosmetic restoration back in may.

2024, off Angel Island.
Will

[John H]

I forgot to add, the week after what would have been Reno I went to the Santa Maria POF airshow . It was awesome. I plan to turn that into my Reno vacation next year. No plans to go to that BFE Roswell town at the moment. It's open ended though. I went to Miramar last Sunday , Huntington Beach show this Sunday and will be at Apple Valley the week after. Life goes on.

[CubersWrist]

Still looking for pylon judges, if folks are available. But you need to commit by the 9th.