The Human Spirit Is Thriving At Reno 2012 - Thursday 9-13-12 (8 Pix)
Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 03:43PM 
(click pic to enlarge) Precious Metal last night in the pit area at the 2012 Reno Air Races
(8 pix - click any pic to enlarge)
A year ago when the 2011 Reno Air Races suddenly came to an end on Friday with the tragic accident with the Galloping Ghost that took 11 lives, it was very hard to speculate on whether we'd be here again this year or not. I'm very happy to be able to report that not only are we here, but the mood is good, strong and it just feels right. The event is acknowledging what happened last year, including a presentation mid day today that praised the heroic efforts of the first-responders and others that were involved in dealing directly with the tragedy. And of course, expressing care and concern for the families of those who were lost and for the many injured who will forever deal with the outcome of the accident.
A great human spirit rose up when the accident occured to help those in need, and that spirit is very much alive and well here today at the races. I absolutely believe is was right to pursue moving forward for 2012, and based on what I've seen so far, we are all stronger for the determined effort that has made it all a reality.
I arrived on-site at Stead Airport just as the sun was setting Wednesday evening. I quickly found myself with the opportunity to hang out with Thom Richard (the pilot and driving force behind the Precious Metal P-51) and his crew at their spot in the pit area. Wow, what a great way to experience coming back to Reno... a great group of people passionately pursuing life and their dreams. And then today I had the chance to sit down with Thom and talk about the significant changes to the 6-blades on the counter-rotating props on Precious Metal for this year. If things go well I'll share those details soon. Btw, if you think that PM looks kinda purple in the pic above, that's just a multi-color party light shining off the polished skin. (check out another pic I took that Thom posted on his facebook page : )
The following are some pix from today (Thursday) with short captions. As a one-man-show, it's hard to get pix and info and then get them posted with lots of details. Hopefully the pix are enough to make it clear that you should be here too! I know for me that it sure feels good being part of the process of keeping the Reno Air Races alive!
Strega posted the fastest qualifying speed yesterday of 493.299 mph and so the non-flying day Thursday started off bright and early with lots of maintenance tasks, including pulling the prop off. As I've said before, having this kind of access that allows you to be so close to the work is absolutely amazing. You pay a little more for a pit pass but the increase in the experience at the races can't even be measured.
Rare Bear did very well in qualifying too, running close to Strega at 490.002 mph with a strong #2 position. It's looks like improvements to the big ole Bearcat may finally be coming together to make her a real contender again. One other huge improvement as far as I concerned is that the airplane is now in the regular pit area on display with all the other racers. The last few years it was housed in a hangar here on the airport somewhat out of the way where very little of the work being done could be seen. It feels great to have this beast right out here we can all spend time with it!
There's no doubting that Thom Richard is a "I Wanna Go Fast' kind of guy... and the improvements to the trick counter-rotating prop on the Rolls Royce Griffon powered P-51 are already paying huge dividends. The airplane qualified in the #4 spot with a speed 463.301. That's still 30 mph behind Strega but that's faster than Precious Metal has ever performed in all if its history. PM is definitely gonna be an interesting show to watch!
There are a lot of Unlimited racers here this year, including September Fury 232 (top) and Miss America (bottom). The Sea Fury Furias had high hopes for being fast (while looking great too) but had the gear collapse on a landing ending its chances for 2012 before they really got very far along. Pilot Matt Jackson was not injured but the airplane was pretty heavily damaged... a tough ending to a flight that actually had the airplane in the #3 qualifying spot with a speed of 467.287, just ahead of Precious Metal.
In addition to these faster and more popular racers there are several other contenders and a lot of slower Unlimiteds here making everything feel much the same as it has in past years. The pix I'm sharing now are just from an early morning run thru the highlights of what's here. More details should follow soon with pix and info on lots of other racers from the various classes. They are well represented this year and the racing today was very successful overall.
Keep in mind that these pix were also captured early in the morning when very few people were on-site... and I usually wait to keep people out of my pix when I can as well. My point is that while it looks a little lacking with people here, attendance thru the day today seemed good. Tomorrow will be a better gauge of how strong the attendance is this year.
More to come soon from the 2012 Reno Air Races...
Bearcat, MustSee, NicePaint, P-51, Racing, Reno, WWII, military, taildragger Email Article
Reader Comments (9)
Thanks Martt, for helping us "be there"!
ditto, good stuff Martt.
Thanx guys... you know I'm lovin' it here : )
come visit Outer 2 would be great to meet you.
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