Dago

[Big_Jim]

Re: Dago

and spend more money than Rod Lewis would have spent in thirty years of "per diem" on the "old" crew..

I'll echo Hacker's sentiment.

A few years ago I was involved with a race team made up almost entirely of volunteers. We were all pretty gung-ho, and had a real 'little engine that could' season. Everyone was very proud of ourselves because of what we were able to do with what we had.

How did the owner react to our success? He dismissed about 90% of the volunteer crew because 'he was spending a fortune on pizza'.

Really? Too much on pizza for a volunteer crew?

That team has not had nearly the success since then....and "Go Fast, Turn Left Racing" jokingly became "Go Figure, Who's Left? Racing".

I hope the Breckenridge Gang can pump up the Bear to new levels....but the knowledge data base of running a slow-nose case -3350 race program is gone from what Mr. Lewis purchased from Lyle four short years ago.

[stuntflyr]

Re: Dago

Dago Red. Not Able Cat. Start a new thread.

[Dialtapper]

Re: Dago

Dago Red. Not Able Cat. Start a new thread.

Well I started the thread, and this is much more interest.

The puppy is pardoned.

[Hawkeye]

Re: Dago

And, yes, to the critics.. " I DO know something you don't know "...

So do I........

[kiwiracefan]

Re: Dago

Quoted for awesomeness!

I agree Randy.... the scale of awesomeness of that line is off the charts

[T. Adams]

Re: Dago

Dago Red. Not Able Cat. Start a new thread.

Dago Red is a non-entity as far as I'm concerned. It's in pieces, and will not be a factor for years, if ever again. At least the Bear runs!!

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Dago

So do I........

Yea.. well it only took me a couple messages and another SNPA Torpedo to spill the beans.... you??

[tow-3]

Re: Dago

sorry about the puppy, but I just tried torpedo for the first time the other day. really liked it.

[GregS]

Re: Dago

Bear...BCIV????


You ?
Greg

[Hawkeye]

Re: Dago

Yea.. well it only took me a couple messages and another SNPA Torpedo to spill the beans.... you??

Nope, Not talking..............

[Hauler Driver]

Re: Dago

Well said. Best luck to Mr Lewis, I will never forget the people I met on the volunteer Rare Bear crew. Some of the best people I have ever met.

Don

I'll echo Hacker's sentiment.

A few years ago I was involved with a race team made up almost entirely of volunteers. We were all pretty gung-ho, and had a real 'little engine that could' season. Everyone was very proud of ourselves because of what we were able to do with what we had.

How did the owner react to our success? He dismissed about 90% of the volunteer crew because 'he was spending a fortune on pizza'.

Really? Too much on pizza for a volunteer crew?

That team has not had nearly the success since then....and "Go Fast, Turn Left Racing" jokingly became "Go Figure, Who's Left? Racing".

I hope the Breckenridge Gang can pump up the Bear to new levels....but the knowledge data base of running a slow-nose case -3350 race program is gone from what Mr. Lewis purchased from Lyle four short years ago.

[flyboycpa]

Re: Dago

Going back to the original subject, dago red, is it not a true statement to say that just because someone might buy some highly-modified P-51 airframe parts sitting in the corner of a hangar in Chino, that they aren't truly buying Dago Red?

Isn't the name "Dago Red" still owned by FTR? Meaning, that someone might buy the airframe, but Dago Red is still in the hands of FTR?

Sam

[GR7Racer]

Re: Dago

The information that I have is that Dago has been sold by the bank. New owner has limited warbird time and no Mustang time. He's a big guy and plans on putting a stock canopy back on it so he can fly it. Will probably get a Dago paint scheme though. No word on if it will ever race again, but even if it does, its competitive days are over. Almost all of the parts for the airplane were returned and were part of the sale. The sale included a motor, but not a "race" motor. Bruce Lockwood is rumored to be assisting the new owner.

In my opinion, FT taking over the racing prep of the airplane was a tragedy. He took a very competitive and proven airframe and removed and disassembled much of what made that airframe special. Stripping off all of the wing profiling material and then disassembling the airframe turned a proud racing airplane with historical significance into a pile of Mustang parts....and that's the approximate value that this "airplane" sold for....Mustang parts.

A shame.

[T. Adams]

Re: Dago

Dago paint with stock canopy? There is something very, very, wrong with that picture.

[Big_Jim]

Re: Dago

In my opinion, FT taking over the racing prep of the airplane was a tragedy. He took a very competitive and proven airframe and removed and disassembled much of what made that airframe special. Stripping off all of the wing profiling material and then disassembling the airframe turned a proud racing airplane with historical significance into a pile of Mustang parts....and that\'s the approximate value that this \"airplane\" sold for....Mustang parts.

A shame.

While the end result is sad, I completely, whole-heartedly disagree with your opinon on this. What Taylor was doing was actually very cool and would ultimately have been better than the profiling that was removed. The scanning that he had the NASA people do would have resulted in much better profiling than what the Lockwood/Price/Wood modifications were...because it was a digital aiframe scan and not just profiles based on slide rule calculations or eyeing it (not discounting what/how they did it, mind you...just saying that this was really high-tech stuff that Taylor was doing). That airplane was going to go back together, it was going to race, and it was going to go after the 3km that Frank \'lost out on\' in 1984...and then it was going to go into the Smithsonian next to Conquest 1. Frank didn\'t buy it with the intention of making it slower.

What Taylor was doing was NO DIFFERENT than Leeward taking a historically significant racing airplane in Miss Candace/Jeannie and castrating it to make the new version of the Galloping Ghost. Everything Taylor did was to make it faster and a better racer. Would you be roasting Leeward over the fire if he hadn\'t been able to finish GG and bring it to Reno? Remember, it languished in storage for 15 years, and then spent several more years in partial disassembly/modification while they were waiting for the financial resources to finish it.

Now you tell me...how is that ANY different from what Frank did with Dago Red? It wasn\'t HIS fault that the bank repossessed the airplane from the Costo\'s...even though Frank was already paying them in installments.