Sunday
in The Valley Of Speed was the windiest day of the weekend. There was rain near
sunset again Saturday, just like Friday evening, though not quite the gully
washer intensity. Rain should settle the dust, smoke and haze, but the rain was
minutes in duration not hours…
Sunday’s
wind certainly raised plenty of dust…my tripod, set up as a monopod with only a
single leg extended was too much of a sail when the wind gusted. I made only
photos Sunday, it was just too windy to follow the race with a 432mm telephoto
lens! Trust me many of the photos were shaky too!
I
looked at the skies and mountains several times to see the ‘Autumnal Light’
that traditionally I notice for the first time every year at Reno/Stead
Airfield. To tell you the truth, I didn’t know what I was looking at by Sunday.
A
months-worth of Rim Fire smoke had blown away before I arrived, but isolated
thunderstorms and their brief but powerful Outflow Winds kept the particulate
counts high over the High Desert…waddya gonna do?
I
saw two good Unlimited races Sunday…
The
Silver Race was almost stately compared to Saturday’s Gold Heat. Without Strega in the heat, the pace was…let’s
say…graceful…
As
the winds freshened Sunday afternoon, I began to fear a Gold Race cancellation
for high winds. Fortunately there were no looming thunderheads…no chance of
rain, and the wind was steady, not really that gusty.
Finally
we heard the Racer’s Introductions over the radio…at last the planes took to
the sky and formed up with the Pace Plane and flew out behind Peavine Mountain,
to line up for the start.
Down
The Chute they came…Voodoo on the Pole, and Strega bringing up the rear.
“Gentlemen,
you have a race” crackled the radio and the throttles went forward.
Voodoo
lead September Fury, followed by Czech Mate and Rare Bear. Strega was passing
the backmarkers like they were standing still. Voodoo’s first lap was 504MPH
and change.
Strega
was flat out flying! By the fourth lap, September Fury May-Day-ed and landed
safely. Strega passed eternal nemesis, Rare Bear, and blew by Czech Mate. She
was 7-8 seconds behind Voodoo…
The
two highly modified P-51s outclassed the rest of the field, my favorite,
Precious Metal ran around in fourth, sounding like a million bucks.
That’s
the way they finished. Kudos to Stephen Hinton in Voodoo who took his fourth
Reno Gold in four years of racing! His first three wins were in Strega.
Had
Strega qualified without drama, what a race that would have been!
