Rare Bear History Question

[Deadstickdan]

This may have been discussed in other posts but I have a questions about da Bear!

Might the Bear have one of the longest running gold race appearances and wins of any unlimited racer?

Also, I can remember one year in th eearly '80's seeing the Bear in the pits after blowing an engine where one of the crew members had handwritten on the fuselage "big time air racing sucks". Lyle and crew surely proved what the plane is capable of but in the years where things didn't go as well as planned what was the driving force that kept this plane coming back year after year?

[BellCobraIV]

Re: Rare Bear History Question

what was the driving force that kept this plane coming back year after year?

I boiled your question down to the essential question, and it has a simple four letter answer, LYLE, Lyle never wanted to do anything but win, We always knew with Lyle we didn't have to worry about what the pilot's goals were. He wanted to win, he didn't care about saving the engine for something else. If the engine wouldn't bring the airplane home in first he'd spend it trying.

[speeddemon]

Re: Rare Bear History Question

This may have been discussed in other posts but I have a questions about da Bear!

Might the Bear have one of the longest running gold race appearances and wins of any unlimited racer?

Also, I can remember one year in th eearly '80's seeing the Bear in the pits after blowing an engine where one of the crew members had handwritten on the fuselage "big time air racing sucks". Lyle and crew surely proved what the plane is capable of but in the years where things didn't go as well as planned what was the driving force that kept this plane coming back year after year?

I believe the term "Big Time Air Racing" (or BTAR, for short) was an original "Ralphism"....what do you think, BCIV?

Wow, this is a good question. Lets look at CONSECUTIVE Gold Race appearances (Not counting the three 'distance' races in '70/'71 because there was no "Gold Race"):

#64 Miss Van Nuys/Barbara Jean/etc: Reno '64, Los Angeles '65, Reno '65, Las Vegas '65, Los Angeles '66, Reno '66, Reno '67, Reno '68, Reno '69, Reno '70. Cape May '71 11 consecutive appearances, followed by a DNQ at Reno '71

#70/77 Rare Bear: Reno '69, Reno '70, Cape May '71 Reno '71, Reno '72, Miami '73, Reno '73, Mojave '73, Reno '74, Mojave '74, Mojave '75, Reno '75. 12 consecutive appearances, followed by DNQ at Mojave '76.

#5 Roto-Finish/Red Baron: Reno '73, Mojave '73, Reno '74, Mojave '74, Mojave '75, Reno '75, Mojave '76, Reno '76, Reno '77, Reno '78, Mojave '78, Miami '79, Mojave '79, Reno '79. 14 consecutive appearances after missing '73 Miami race and ending with the crash at Reno '79.

These are just off the top of my head, but keep in mind that many of the great Unlimiteds had 'off' years where they didn't qualify or missed races altogether. Strega's best run was only 10 races from Reno '89-Phoenix '94 (with engine troubles at Reno '94). Dago Red's is even less. Dreadnought has a great overall percentage, but has missed many Final Heats due to mechanical failure early in the week. The Bear's best 'recent' run was 7 races from '85 Bakersfield-Reno '89 (didn't go to Dallas '90)

There are a lot of racers that had 'streaks' of appearances at races...but not consistently in the Gold Final.

Consecutive WINS (at consecutive races), I see the Red Baron (Reno '77-Mojave '79), and Dago Red (Reno '98-Reno '03--not counting the non-race in '01) are tied with 5 a piece. Strega has four (Denver '92-Kansas City '93), as does Conquest 1 (Reno 66-69) The Bear has three sets of three consecutive wins (Miami '73-Mojave '73), (Hamilton '88-Reno '89), (Phoenix '94-Phoenix '95). Again, most of the modern era 'hot Unlimiteds' have been hampered by not showing up at secondary races like Dallas, Denver, and Kansas City.

I didn't look any of this stuff up, so if someone wants to take the time to check my work, have at it....as I said, this was just off the top of my head.

[Pete]

Re: Rare Bear History Question

There's a lot of years that the Bear did not run on Sunday which prompts a different question - What airplane is the most consistant participant in the Sunday gold race?

Even without looking a the data, I would be it's not a bearcat or a mustang.

[BellCobraIV]

Re: Rare Bear History Question

Sometimes it is very frustrating for me, this goes along with Brad Haskin’s “old Article“ Post. The level of competition when the racing was between masters of the sky, Like Lyle, Darryl, Bob Love, Skip and Tiger. That was a level that has remained unsurpassed by the current crop. There was sheer brilliance in the way they flew the course and ran their airplanes. Roy “Mac” Mclane was a strategist, he kept his shadow hidden from Lyle and passed him at the finish line at Mojave one year. I think like Brad said in the other post if you didn’t know what it was you wouldn’t miss it.

[Pete]

Re: Rare Bear History Question

questions here get answered faster than I can type 'em. THat why your'e called Speed? ;-)

[BellCobraIV]

Re: Rare Bear History Question

I believe the term "Big Time Air Racing" (or BTAR, for short) was an original "Ralphism"....what do you think, BCIV?

You know it could have been Ralph, there were several (my favorite was "A Merlin in a box, is faster than an Allison in an airplane, Johnny Boy") . But the rhy wit with which it was usually delivered tends to have me thinking Randy Scoville, It was Randy remember that gave us "What if they had an air race and nobody came?" around a half hour before Ken Burnstine crashed at Mojave. Outside chance it could have been the Doc'

[jarrodeu]

Re: Rare Bear History Question

All I have to say to Speed's post. Holy Crap!

Jarrod

[speeddemon]

Re: Rare Bear History Question

All I have to say to Speed's post. Holy Crap!

Jarrod

I'm surprised Rheinschild hasn't jumped on here in Bill's defense.

On the bus ride home tonight I got to thinking about Risky Business, and how that plane had a pretty good run of Gold Race appearances from about 1991 until...well, until she retired, I think. I'd have to go back and look. But if it turns out that Risky is the 'king' of consecutive, my apologies to all for the omission.

[speeddemon]

Re: Rare Bear History Question

You know it could have been Ralph, there were several (my favorite was "A Merlin in a box, is faster than an Allison in an airplane, Johnny Boy") .

So why is it that when I read that I don't even have to close my eyes....I see this short little white-haired troll looking at you over the top of his mirrored sunglasses, delivering that line as deadpan as you could possibly imagine, followed by a big smile.

God I miss that man.

[Darrell Mims]

Re: Rare Bear History Question

The Risky Business consecutive streak in Gold Races was broken in 1995 wth a 4th place finish in the Silver.

[jarrodeu]

Re: Rare Bear History Question

Well since I don't have a vast pool of air race knowledge I had to cheat and use the RARA database. These do not include Phoenix (if it attended)

1991 Gold
1992 Gold
1993 Gold
1994 Gold

1996 Gold
1997 Gold
1998 Gold
1999 Gold
2000 Gold
skip 01 for cancelled races
2002 Gold

Jarrod

[BellCobraIV]

Re: Rare Bear History Question

So why is it that when I read that I don't even have to close my eyes....I see this short little white-haired troll looking at you over the top of his mirrored sunglasses, delivering that line as deadpan as you could possibly imagine, followed by a big smile.

God I miss that man.

Brad,
Actually there was a little restaurant down the street from Ralph's shop in Scottsdale. For Breakfast you could go there and order a Ralph omelet, no joking it was on the menu that way, and according to the owner it was named after RLP. To make the long story short, I asked Ralph what he thought of Tony D's P-51D racer with the Allison in it. The answer came exactly like you said minus the glasses. Ralph was the first influence for Greg Shaw when he was a kid, and there was never a time when I saw Ralph, even when he was on one foot out the door in the hospital on that last visit, When the first words out of his mouth were "how's Greg Doing?" Ralph once told me the best thing he ever did was pass knowledge onto others, and that he did even on his way out the door.

[speeddemon]

Re: Rare Bear History Question

For Breakfast you could go there and order a Ralph omelet, no joking it was on the menu that way, and according to the owner it was named after RLP.

Don't tell me....it was like a 'normal' omlette, but instead they brought it to you on a big tray, with all of the ingredients cooked, but spread out and separated, so you could put it together 'your way'.....just like he did when he was building an airplane. Am I close?

Someone...perhaps it was his buddy Wedge...was complaining once that Ralph offered to do an annual on his Cessna. He walked into the hangar and found the plane literally disassembled in pieces on the floor. He coined the term 'Ralphed' to explain what was going on...as in, "Oh, my plane got Ralphed."

[BellCobraIV]

Re: Rare Bear History Question

Lyle, my mom, and I made a trip to visit Ralph when he was building "Precious Metal", there were about 6 Spartan Executive airplanes in the hangar and they sat there all pristine, Gary's P-38 was outside, and every other square inch of space on the floor had Mustang parts layed out. Pretty cool.