1985 Bakersfield Air Races

[rpzo]

I just finished re-scanning all of my slides from the 1985 Bakersfield Air Races and since Wayne has been generous enough to increase our storage quotas I thought I would do what I can to fill mine up.

Enjoy

01. Strega (note the pilots names on the cockpit)
02. Rare Bear in its purple phase
03. A freshly rebuilt Ridge Runner
04. Bob Love's "Bernie's Bo" and Dan Martin's "Ridge Runner." Bob Love was the pace pilot for the 85 Bakersfield Air Races
05. Wally McDonnel's "Notso Furias" (Did this plane become Riff Raff?)
06. Howard Pardue's ground crew works on his motor after a failure on take off during an aerobatic routine.
07. The Sanders 924 Sea Fury (anybody know the status of this airframe?)
08. Engine problems kept Dreadnought on the ground, at least on the day that I was there.
09. Lloyd Hamilton's "Baby Gorilla."
10. SuperCorsair

Rick

[Arboc]

Re: 1985 Bakersfield Air Races

Good Stuff!!! Cobra Ray Hamlett.

[Victor Archer]

Re: 1985 Bakersfield Air Races

Swwwwweeeeeetttttt
Great photos Rick, your going to add some more right?

[rpzo]

Re: 1985 Bakersfield Air Races

Thanks Victor & Cobra Ray.

your going to add some more right?

I've got a couple of more that I could post but the quality goes down severely. If I remember correctly I was shooting with Kodachrome 64, Ektachrome 400, and a couple of rolls of Plus X. The Kodachromes have held up well while the Ektachromes are showing what time can do to film. I haven't made an attempt to scan the b\w negatives yet. It took a lot of color correction in Photshop to make some of those that I posted presentable. I figured what I lost in quality was worth it for the historical value.

I'll see what I can do to add a couple of more. Sadly, I don't have many in the air but I think that was because of the way that they flew the race. Because of low level obstructions (i.e. power lines) I seem to recall them flying a much higher elevation than they do at Reno. I also didn't have a decent telephoto lens back then either.

Rick

[rpzo]

A few more from the 1985 Bakersfield Air Races

In an effort to use up more of my allotted hard drive space here's a few more from the '85 Bakersfield Air Races. The quality on some is not as good as I would like but they are interesting from a historical perspective (at least I think so). It's kind of sad to think of the pilots and planes that were there and are now no longer with us.

01. It was called Spam Can II then but is it really the Red Baron or Wee Willy II?
02. Sumthin' Else and crew
03. Strega crew
04. The pit area
05. Sea Fury's preparing to launch
06. Rare Bear, Sumthin' Else, and Super Corsair preparing to launch.
07. Alan Preston's Stileto

Rick

[Peashooter]

Re: 1985 Bakersfield Air Races

In the Wee Willy background is a Beech Duke, N# 66HP. It's Howard Pardue's.

[Chad Veich]

Re: 1985 Bakersfield Air Races

Rick, the Sanders' two seat Sea Fury is undergoing a long term rebuild at the moment. I've heard rumours both ways about what powerplant the airplane will be completed with. Anybody know for sure? I think it would be a tragedy if they replaced the Centaurus with a 3350.

[Peashooter]

Re: 1985 Bakersfield Air Races

Chad, I read an Ione update about a month ago (I forget which board) that said the Sanders have a Centaurus ready to go. This will be great to see. Peas.

[Chad Veich]

Re: 1985 Bakersfield Air Races

That is some great news Peas, thanks for the update!

[wingman]

Re: 1985 Bakersfield Air Races

Wally's Sea Fury was pretty much completely destroyed in a major hangar fire at Minter Field. My understanding is that Riff Raff is a mostly completely new aircraft built up using the paperwork from Wally's airplane. Anybody remember Wally turning up at the 78 Mojave Races with a Douglas B-26K? That was fun -- two Invaders in the same race...

Neal