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Practice is on Sunday.
Qualifying for the races starts Monday and ends Wednesday. The top 24 entrants are in.
Once all the unlimited aircraft have qualified, pilots can attempt a faster
qualifying speed. The top 5 positions do not have to race until the Friday Gold
heat race, all others have to start heat races on Thursday so there is incentive
to get into the top five. Results from heat races determines the starting
position for the next days' race. Dago Red had
some last minute work before arriving at Reno. A few weeks before, Skip Holm had
to execute a deadstick landing in Provo and very skillfully came away with a dent
in the leading edge of the wing, which was repaired. They also had to rebuild
the race motor unexpectedly just before the races. Other race teams face set backs
as race week approaches and there is always last minute work going on.
You could not ask for a closer top two for qualifying. Dago Red just slipped
inside the very fast time posted by Rare Bear. John Penny in Rare Bear posted
a qualifying speed of 490.0 mph! Just after Penny, Skip Holm in Dago Red turned
in a 490.8 mph. WOW! Third was Michael Brown in September Fury at 465, then Sherman
Smoot in Czech Mate at 448 mph. Fifth place and last spot for a pass on
thursday's heats was Dan Martin in Ridge Runner III who blew around the course
at 446 mph and said he could push more if needed. Other notable P-51s were
Brent Hisey in Miss America who qualified
at 432, Bill Eberhardt in Merlins Magic at 423, Curt Brown in Voodoo at 416, Ron
Buccarelli in Precious Metal at 405, Jimmy Leeward in Cloud Dancer at 391, Ike
Enns in Miracle Maker at 386, Joe Thibodeau in Crusader at 378, John Bagley in
Ole Yeller at 375, CJ Stephens in Speedball Alice at 358, Brant Seghetti in
Sparky at 355 and Art Vance in Lady Jo at 344 mph.
The weather for qualifying for very good with winds not too bad and temps in
the 70's/80's.
There was a Wildcat that qualified at 305 mph with Tom Camp at the controls,
but that was only good enough for 27th. I also did not
see Lady Jo in any races, because their qualifying time of 344 mph just missed
the cut. Also missing the cut was Dave Morss in the Yak-9 "Anya" with a qualifying
speed of 341 mph. Lots of Sea Furies, Michael Brown's Tigercat qualified
at 364 mph, and Howard Pardue in his Bearcat came in at 383. There are 2 Yak-9s
and Sherman Smoot in his Yak-11 that was very fast in 4th. A total of 13 P-51s
in the races for 2004. There are also a few that come for the fun of watching
the races and put their P-51 up for display. Jack Hovey (merlin engine builder)
was their with his camo P-51, Terry Tarditi in Comfortably Numb, Chris Woods in
February and Planes of Fame Spam Can. On site for the USAF Hertiage Flight was
Bill Anders in Val Halla, and Lee Lauderback in Mad Max.
All of the official qualifying times and results can be found on the Reno Air Racing
Assoc. website at www.airrace.org. They have a very nice search engine that
you can use to bring up many types of race results over the years.
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