The 2008 Reno Air Races by Ryan Coulter

If someone were to describe the 2008 National Championship Air Races, held from September 10th to 14th at Stead Field in Reno, Nevada, the words that would come to mind might be “epic” and “resilient”. “Epic” because of some of the best racing in many years, plus an airshow lineup headlined by the United States Air Force Thunderbirds and the F-22 Raptor demo team.

“Resilient” describes the races this year in many ways. Following the tragic loss of three race pilots, the injuring of a fourth, and the loss of a Thunder Mustang before the races last year, the 2008 races seemed to start off a little subdued. For awhile it seemed like last year might repeat itself: a couple of weeks before the races, the Hawker Sea Fury “King Fury” crashed landed when its engine quit on final to Stead. Thankfully, the pilot made it out without injury. The races were dealt an even heavier blow on Saturday, September 6, when Formula 1 pilot Erica Simpson perished after the wings on her Cassutt “Little Lynn” broke off during a check flight. While some people called for the races to be cancelled the year, cooler heads prevailed and the races went ahead as planned. The rest of race week was much happier.

On the airshow side, the Thunderbirds performed Thursday through Saturday before departing for another show site on Sunday. The highlight of their display was the “Sneak Pass,” in which a solo darts past the crowd in full afterburner just after the four-ship formation exits. After stunning crowds in 2007 with an amazing demo, the F-22 Raptor, flown by Maj. Paul “Max” Moga, topped itself this year. One of the most crowd-pleasing maneuvers was the “J” turn, in which “Max” basically pulls a U-turn in the sky after a climb. Filled with maneuvers only aerobatic planes should be able to pull off, the F-22 demo never disappoints.

Aerobatic performers this year were David Martin in his Extra 300, the Air National Guard's Major John Klatt and his Staudacher S-300D and Warren Pietsch in his 1946 Taylorcraft.

Along with the daily airshow performers, there were some very nice military flybys each day, including F/A-18s and F-16s from nearby Naval Air Station Fallon and F-15 Eagles from Klamath Falls. There was a C-17 flyby on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday also featured a unique warbird flyby of the B-17 “Liberty Belle,” the B-25s “Executive Sweet” and "Heavenly Body," and the P-51 Mustang “Wee Willy II.” However, the coolest formation flight ever witnessed at an airshow may have taken place on Wednesday when three F7F Tigercats, flown by Clay Lacy, Michael Brown, and John Sessions, were all at Stead field for an once-in-a-lifetime flight and pass in front of the home pylon.

Qualifying speeds in the week leading up to the races hinted at the excitement that was to follow. Jon Sharp in his Nemesis NXT “Nemesis” (race 3X) posted an amazing speed of 409 mph – as fast as some aircraft in the Unlimited Gold Race! The next closest qualifier was Mike Dacey’s Questair Venture (race 71) at 375 mph, followed by George Giboney’s Thunder Mustang “Rapid Travel” (race 75) of with a speed of 350 mph. In the Jet class, three pilots broke the 500 mph mark this year: Curt Brown in L-29 Delfin “Viper” (race 77) at 525 mph, fellow L-29 competitor Mike Mangold in “Euro Burner” (race 12) at 515mph, and Joe Gano in L-39 Albatros “Pip Squeak” (race 2) at 501 mph.

The racing was some of the most fun to watch in recent memory. The Biplane class featured wing-to-wing action in most of the races, with most of the competitors being within a few mph of each other. The exception was the eventual winner, Tom Aberle in his Mong Sport “Phantom” (race 62), who was often 20mph faster than his next closest competitor. Tom even broke the 250-mph mark, showing how fast his very interesting looking biplane was.

The Formula One Class was a closer contest, the eventual gold winner being Steve Senegal in his sleek Arnold AR-6 “Endeavor” (race 11) at a speed of 246 mph. Gary Davis captured second in his Cassutt “Scarlet Screamer” (race 50) at 239 mph, with Doug Bodine’s Cassutt “Yellow Peril” (race 92) right behind him. Each race was a nail biter with many passes and wing-to-wing flying.

As foreshowed in qualifying, George Giboney and Mike Dacey planned to challenge 2007’s domination of the Sport Class SuperSport race by the Nemesis NXTs of Jon Sharp and Kevin Eldredge. It was not to be, as Jon Sharp continued his reign as champion with ease. Kevin and the “Relentless” (race 42) crew were chasing gremlins all week, though, and never found the speed they had last year. Second place in the Gold race went to Mike Dacey in the egg- shaped Questair Venture, with Lynn Farnsworth’s Lancair Legacy “Miss Karen II” (race 44) coming in third. Giboney’s Thunder Mustang had boost problems and fell to last place. In the regular Sport Class, the standout was “Breathless” (race 5), a Lancair Legacy flown by Lee Behel with a stock engine but a very clean body.

As is typical, there were some great battles in the T-6 races. The favorite after qualifying was the AT-6G “Six Cat” (race 6) flown by Nick Macy. In racing though, nothing is set in stone. This was proved when Nick, was forced to mayday and pull out of Sunday’s Gold race after the second lap when his engine started to run rough. His exit opened the door for the next competitor “Tinkertoy” (race 7) to take the lead and the eventual win. Alfred Goss in “Warlock” (race 75), a SNJ-6, and the SNJ-5 “McDonald Racer” (race 37), flown by John Zayac, fought canopy-to-canopy each lap, with Goss being able to pull ahead and come second.

The Jet Class was a little different this year, as neither last year’s winner, Rich Sugden’s T-2 Buckeye, nor Lee Griffin’s T-33 “Specline Special,” was back. It was all L-29s and L-39s, save for a lone Fouga CM-170 Magister (race 55) flown by Lee Behel. The most intense battle was between the first and second place planes, “Viper” and “Euro Burner.” In each race, the two L-29s would jump in front with Curt Brown leading Mike Mangold, and both would end up lapping the field with their amazing speed. Also in close competition were the L-39s of Robert “Hoot” Gibson in the brightly painted “Robin 1” (race 54) and Cliff Magee in “Violated” (race 25), fighting for seventh and eighth place.

Now for the craziest class of all: modified warbirds doing battle at speeds in excess of 400 mph, and often near 500 mph, just 30 feet above the desert. Whether race fans or not, this year’s Unlimited racing was something that all Reno attendees could get excited about. With any of the top six planes capable of winning the Gold class trophy and thousands of dollars in prize money, something special was in the air. The hometown favorite “Rare Bear” (race 77), a F8F-2 Bearcat flown by John Penney, was back, as was Mike Brown’s Hawker Sea Fury “September Fury” (race 232). For Mustang fans it was a noteworthy year with the return of “Dago Red” (race 4), flown by Dan Martin, and “Strega” (race 7), piloted by Bill “Tiger” Destefani. Qualifying hinted that this would be no ordinary race. Dan Martin captured pole position, followed by Mike Brown in second and “Tiger” in third, with John Penney rounding out the top four.

The other big story in the Unlimiteds was 21-year-old Steve Hinton, Jr.’s race debut, qualifying at 352 mph in the P-51 Mustang “Sparky” (race 44) to become the youngest Unlimited racer ever. He was busy throughout race week, also flying the Mustang “Lady Jo” (race 81) and the FM2-Wildcat “Air Biscuit” (race 2), as well as helping in the “Strega” pit with a lot of hands-on wrenching. It will be fun to watch this young man evolve into a full-fledged racer.

There werea few harrowing moments in the heats leading up to Sunday’s Breitling Gold race. The scariest moments were on Friday, starting in Silver Heat 2B when the Hawker Sea Fury “Argonaut” (race 114), piloted by CJ Stephens, had its engine seize in spectacular fashion. Despite the flames and thick white smoke coming from his aircraft’s engine, CJ demonstrated his great skill by pulling up and smoothly landing on runway 14. Later that day, following the Gold 2A Heat, John Penney had “the Bear” throw him a curve: only the left main gear would come down. After aborting the landing, Penny joined up with the one of the best safety pilots in the world, Steve Hinton, Sr. Just before John has to choose whether to land with one gear down or bail out, he was able to get the right main extended and make a safe landing.

The Gold Race itself was full of surprises and suspense. After Steve Hinton in the pace CT-33 said, “Gentlemen, you have a race,” Dan Martin jumped into the lead with Michael Brown, “Tiger” Destefani, and John Penney in chase. After two of the eight laps, Martin had built a good lead over Brown, but “Tiger” was gaining on the Sea Fury and after another lap he had started his run towards the red Mustang in the lead.

John Penny too was slowly starting to catch “September Fury” when “Rare Bear” gave John his last mayday of the races. John had to pull up, trailing white smoke, after his engine gave up the ghost. He was again able to make it down safely on runway 14, ending a disappointing race week for the “Bear” crew. John was later heard to say that he has “got to stop meeting the fire guys like this!”

“Rare Bear’s” exit gave third place to Michael Brown, in “September Fury”, but the battle for first continued between two of fastest horses in the world. Near the end of the race, “Tiger” was able to get past Dan Martin and continued to open his lead all the way to the victory. Tiger was going out on top, as the saying goes, as he plans to retire from racing after this year. 2008 ended up being the year of the Mustang in the Unlimited class, with the top two spots being won by P-51s. I cannot imagine a better way to have celebrated the 45th anniversary of the Reno Air Races than this years races and airshow. Here’s to another 45 years of “Flying Low, Turning Left, and Going Fast!”

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