'BUCK SHOTS'

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

"Down~but not~Out!"~

Sat. 9/17/88-Reno NCAR: While team management debriefs as the crew begins uncowling f/post-race inspection, concerned race fans surround Lyle Shelton's super-modified Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat~ #77-"Rare Bear" (N777L) in its' pit stall, after this fan-favorite racer's early-exit from Saturday's wild UNL Heat-3A. This Gold heat turned into a crazy~ 'gremlin-fest', with four racers almost-simultaneously declaring maydays soon-after the start due to engine problems,~leaving only 3 finishers. Steve Hinton won flying John Sandberg's custom-built #18-"Tsunami" @ 462.218-av/mph & Rick Brickert in the Sanders race team's silver Super Sea Fury #8-"Dreadnought" placed 2nd (@ 457.014-mph), w/Lloyd Hamilton's big red S-SF #15-"Furias" coming-in 3rd (@456.821-mph). DNFs were: Don Whittington in his RR Griffon 'Mixmaster' P-51D #09-"Precious Metal" (4th), John Maloney in the Planes of Fame/All-Coast sponsored #1-"Super Corsair" (5th), Lyle Shelton in #77-"Rare Bear" (6th) & Jimmy Leeward in P-51D #9-"Air Ranch Special" (7th). Shelton & The Bear came back the next day to win Sunday's Reno '88 NCAR UNL Gold Trophy 8-lap final event @ a new race record of 456.821-av/mph, starting a four-in-a-row Gold Championship winning-streak at Reno for his race team, under primary-sponsor~ Jack DeBoer.

DBD

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

"Voodoo Magic!"~

Fri. 9/17/99-Reno NCAR: Vintage archive photo-capture of owner/pilot~ Bob Button's sensational super-modified North American Aviation P-51D Mustang Unlimited Class Gold racer~ #5-"Voodoo" (NX551VC) getting a sunset power test-run of it's Rolls-Royce Packard Merlin V-12 engine, from designated team race pilot~ Bob 'Hurricane' Hannah in the cockpit. Voodoo is one of the 3 all-time world's-fastest P-51s in history ever to race at Reno, along with #4-"Dago Red" (N5410V) & #7-"Strega" (N71FT).

DBD

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

"DAGO SUNDOWN!"~

Tue. 9/15/98-Reno NCAR: Team Dago Red crewmen stand at-the-ready to monitor an early-evening test-run of their P-51D Mustang racer's Rolls-Royce Packard Merlin V-12 powerplant.

DBD

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

"Remove Before Flight!"~

Fri. 6/14/13-Reno NCAR PRS: Custom pitot tube head cover on Dennis & Tami Buehn's beautiful red North American AT-6 Class Gold champion racer #43-"Midnight Miss III", comes complete w/a little gremlin reminder~ that this pesky bugger will be workin' some mayhem during takeoff, if this very-important pre-flight safety checklist item instruction isn't followed.

DBD

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

"BEARIN'-DOWN!"

Fri. 9/14/12-Reno NCAR-UNL Gold Heat-2A: Veteran warbird/race pilot~ Stewart Dawson approaches the racecourse pylon low, fast & tight approaching the pylon, flying Lewis Air Legends Race Team's world-famous champion Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat~ #77-"Rare Bear" (N777L). The Bear's currently getting 're-groomed' @ Ezell Aviation's Breckenridge, Texas facility to be ready & 'Rarin'-2-Go!' for competition' this coming September @ The 50th-Golden Anniversary Reno National Championship Air Races & Airshow event!

DBD

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

“Will The Real~’MR. Z’-Please Stand-Up!?!”~

Wed. 9/11/85-Reno NCAR-UNL Qualifying & Practice Days: Vintage archive B&W-historical photo pulled fm the vaults,~capturing a special 'fun-moment' goin’-on inside John Crocker’s #6-“Sumthin’ Else” team pit stall 'back-in-the-day'. I did a ‘double-take’ upon-seeing famous race-engine builder/#84-“Stiletto” crew chief~Dave Zeuschel roll-up on his mini-motorbike (-smiling & still-wearing his Wiley Sanders Race Team cap) to park alongside veteran Sumthin' Else crewman~Roger Brower, also-seated on his similar bike wearin’ his Race #6 cap. Immediately I had to remark~”Holy-Cow!~You two guys could pass for brothers!”, to-which they grinned right-back responding in-unison~”Yeah, Bucky, we get that a lot!” Then both promptly stood-up by their bikes & swapped hats~”Guess ya better take our picture together, so’s people will be able to tell us apart!” (~which totally cracked-up everyone on-hand at the time~:>). These two late & great friends were both known for their down-to-earth personalities & wonderful candid sense-of-humor, on-top of their impressive aviation maintenance expertise. So, f/the benefit of new-generation air-racing fans (& to avoid any confusion or possible cases of mistaken-identity), I’d best note ‘who’s-who’ in this pic~ Front (L-R): Dave Zeuschel & Roger Brower / Back (L-R): Sumthin’ Else team crew chief~Bill Kerchenfaut & #6 crewman~Ted Curiel. The term~"friendly-competitors" instantly comes-to-mind, whenever-viewing many of these 'golden-oldies' air-racing captures (+waves of fond-memories!).

DBD

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

As always Bucky, thanks for the memories!

[JMS]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

In viewing the picture i noticed the airplane in the background behind the flight line. Maybe a B-25 Mitchell? It brought back a memory during one of the unlimited air races years ago a forklift came rumbling up to the flight line with a burly guy on it and not paying attention to where he was going hit the wing tip of the B-25 with the mast of the forklift. The forklift mast dinged the wing tip and knocked the strobe light off. Later, I saw him putting duck tape on the end of the wing tip. I thought to myself that was one way to make a lasting repair.

John

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

In viewing the picture i noticed the airplane in the background behind the flight line. Maybe a B-25 Mitchell? It brought back a memory during one of the unlimited air races years ago a forklift came rumbling up to the flight line with a burly guy on it and not paying attention to where he was going hit the wing tip of the B-25 with the mast of the forklift. The forklift mast dinged the wing tip and knocked the strobe light off. Later, I saw him putting duck tape on the end of the wing tip. I thought to myself that was one way to make a lasting repair.

John

Hey John,

FYI~the intent of my photo-postings (~which individually take time & effort to prepare) is to hopefully-generate some board-discussion relating to what's going-on in the picture & or maybe elaborate on the accompanying caption info, to share & celebrate all the wonderful history we've enjoyed all these years to date. I guess I was successful w/this installment, as it did generate a post-reply fm a site-goer interested in sharing a personal recollection, but man, that's a 'real-stretch', as far as it relating to the photo topic.

However-innocuous, it seems no matter how-hard I try to keep an 'upbeat' perspective on the all the wonderful great highlights & happenings over the years in~"The World's-Fastest Motorsport",~via my historical photo-presentations on this special long-running thread, too-often someone manages to inadvertently (or intentionally) find a way to~"kill-the-buzz", by shifting-focus over to the negative by bringing-up misfortunes & mishaps (~not to mention-'internal-politics', rumors & innuendo, 'trash-talk', etc., dialog & Yes, we live w/the sad fact-of-life that~"sensationalism-sells").

Might I suggest we take the high-road instead, especially in-keeping w/this 2013 being "The Big 50th-Golden Anniversary" year of the Reno Nationals & all try to 'accentuate-the-positives' by recounting more of our good air-racing experiences & memories about the colorful raceplanes & warbirds we love to follow, and the many participants who 'make it happen' for us all to enjoy over these many years. We really-do need to celebrate that we all still have an air race to go see & have fun at. Key towards this sports' survival is our promoting it in its' best-light, in my mind.

Ahhh...There, I feel better-now & I'll get off my soap box! "Fly-Low, Fly-Fast, Turn-Left!"

DBD

[MRE]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

Well I think Kerch has aged well ! That's a positive.

[badman]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

I think the B-25 is Pacific Princess when it was in the blue camo - back in the days when we could see an occasional B-25 or B-26 race.

One act I liked a lot from Mojave was the drag races. I remember in 1979 seeing Jim Maloney in the POF Hellcat race Dwight Reimer in the B-26 Cotton Jenny (could've been MacDonald in Mojave Kid - can't remember for sure). I thought for sure it was a stupid race, how could a B-26 hope to beat a Hellcat? The Hellcat as I recall had the inside lane and got in the air way before the B-26 and was already turning pylons before the B-26 had its gear up, but that B-26 kept the power on and passed the Hellcat and won - I was amazed at the time (not realizing the Hellcat was using little power and didn't care about actually winning).

I always thought seeing drag races with the stocker warbirds at Reno would be way cooler than a lot of the other filler acts.

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

"Super-Corsair vs.Sawbones!"~

Sun. 9/11/11-Reno NCAR-UNL Class Practice: The late & great Robert Odegaard flies his magnificently-restored authentic Post-WW2 Cleveland-era Vought-Goodyear F2G P&W R-4360 Wasp-Major-powered “Super-Corsair” racer~ #74 (NX5577N), in a ‘just-for-fun’ practice-duel w/Dan Vance in the Wright R-3350-powered Hawker TMK-20 Sea Fury~#71-"Sawbones" (N71GB), running-fast around the Stead Field racecourse, in-prep f/the start of race-week competition. These two~’Big-Roundy’ radial-engine Navy-surplus racing-thoroughbreds are really cranking-out the horsepower, as their pilots push the throttles forward during the ‘heat-of-competition’.

DBD

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

"Assembling Endeavor"~

Fri. 9/6/13-Reno NCAR-Arrival Days: Defending Reno '12 F-1 Class Gold Champion race team owner/pilot~Steve Senegal & crew are captured at-work, while mating the wing onto the fuselage of their beautifully-maintained Arnold-Hoover AR-6 racer~#11-"Endeavor" (N616DH), in-prep for race-week qualifications & competition events.

DBD