Impressed

Race 7, Strega was very impressive Friday afternoon. Again she is the class of the Unlimited field. Race 77, Rare Bear stayed close for two laps before backing off to save something for Saturday and Sunday.

All these years and I still don’t know why they say Race –Number- instead of Racer – Number-…

I watched the Unlimited Heat Gold 2A from The Fenceline after spending all morning inside the show. I wanna say it’s been twenty years since I’ve been inside…I even plunked down for a pit pass. I watched the Unlimited Heat, Medallion 1C, from the flightline edge of the pits.

I walked around the pits for three or so hours…lots of eye candy for airplane buffs. I shot 128 photos and four videos before settling into the grandstands at show center to video the Unlimited Bronze Heat 1B. I ran out of camera battery on lap five…oh, well, but it lasted long enough to see the Spitfire fly-by.

Precious Metal's Griffon business end

I left the show after the big birds ran and headed into Reno to do some errands. As I was hoofing it up Stead Blvd to the Boy Scout parking lot, the US NAVY F18 Super Hornet began it’s demo flight…good thing too…I didn’t have my stash of ear plugs with me!

My first stop was the Home Depot. I had an idea for my camera viewed hood project. I browsed the plastic pipe aisle in the plumbing department…no joy. I asked an employee: “Gutters?” He sent to the right place and a downspout fitting fit the bill perfectly. Off I went.

Every year around air race time, department stores put their athletic shorts on sale, and every year I stock up, so off the last K-Mart standing I went. I grabbed a six pack of my socks and three pairs of shorts…next stop Fabric Store. I asked some ladies in K-Mart’s parking lot if there was still a Hancock Fabrics Store in Sparks, and they reminded me that they’d moved into Reno proper. I knew where it was, and they said the Wal*Mart near there also had a fabric department.

Off I went…right into Construction Zone Gridlock. A couple of U-turns, Plan B…and Plan C, and a 10 minute trip weighed in at 45 minutes…scratch grocery shopping…

I strode into the Wal*Mart, asked the greeter where the fabric dept was, and found some black fabric, Velcro and a pack of needles. I headed south to find an onramp to HWY 395 North, narrowly missing afternoon rush hour.

Cresting the hill that’s the gateway to Reno’s “North Valleys”, I tuned in the Air race Feed on 97.7FM Yikes! The Jet heat had just finished. Just the F-22 Demo before the Unlimited Heat, and the F-22 couldn’t fly Wednesday or Thursday! Damn road construction!

Blasting off 395N at Red Rock Road, I heard the brute sound of Mil-Spec jet engines, the F-22 was launching! I’m gonna make it! Ten minutes later I pulled into my parking spot at the Fenceline, and with the dawdling pace of pilot introductions, it was another 15 minutes until the Unlimiteds ran.

Once again I learned something new about making movies on the old camera, and when I got back to the DaveCave I found a flaw in the new camera…more about this next time…