Thanks for your interest in my Reno experience and thanks to Eric for the original post – very flattering.
We bought the T-6 (actually an SNJ-5) back in March. It had race history, as it had raced at Reno in 1988 – 1992, so it already had some of the race mods done to it. As Eric pointed out, we were at Reno as spectators two years ago and I kept talking about how much fun it would be to actually race, so Eric chided me to stop talking and do something about it. I decide that he was right. After about 30 seconds of serious thought it became apparent that I was not financially prepared for the Unlimited game. Since I have a life-long fascination with old airplanes and round engines the T-6 class was the obvious choice for us. A couple of things that at first blush seem obvious, but really got hammered home to me at Reno this year:
- Air racing is a serious business - even more so than "regular" Warbird flying. There were three fatalities this year, four aircraft totaled, and several minor accidents/incidents. Two of the three fatalities were experienced racers, were good, safety conscious pilots, and were well thought of by their peers. I believe the other was a rookie. We had to stand down one full day after the third accident while the FAA and the RARA staff reviewed rules and procedures. As you can imagine, the pilot briefing the next morning emphasized flying very conservatively. The eyes of the world (and the FAA) were literally on Reno that day.
- Air racing is very much a team sport. There is a lot of focus on the pilot and the airplane, but the fact of the matter is that you simply could not be competitive at this without a good team behind you. My Crew Chief Gary Unruh was a Godsend, both at the race and during the weeks leading up to the race. I was lucky enough to have people like Les Heikkila (who owns a Mustang, a beautiful T-6, and a Stearman), Eric Downing (who owns a SkyRaider, a great T-6 and a Yale), and Chuck Marshall (who also owns a very pretty T-6 and a Stearman) on my crew. A lot of “Big Iron” warbird owners would not even sully themselves to walk through the T-6 pits, but these guys were there literally up to their elbows in engine oil, grease, cleaners, wax, polish – whatever it took to get the job done. They took care of the airplane and allowed me to focus on flying.
- Air racing is expensive – even at the T-6 level. My wife just quit opening the credit card bills about two moths ago. Most of the teams that are competitive over the long term have developed good sponsorship networks.
- It is a great community. I can’t speak to the other classes, but everyone in the T-6 class was just super. Even though we were competing, everyone was willing to share information and give advice on how race safely, how to race competitively, and how to get a few more knots out of a T-6. Everyone shared parts, tools, even manpower if someone was having a problem.
- It is addicting. Ripping around the pylons 50-100 feet off the ground at 200+ MPH in traffic is a rush. I am sure that is much more so in the Jets and Unlimiteds. I am already looking forward to next year’s races.
Congratulations to Gary Austin. Gary also did a great job in his rookie year and won Rookie of the year for the Formula 1 Class.
Thanks again for the interest. If you have any specific question just let me know.
John
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
I'll be one too if I ever finish my project.
