Article Contributed on: 10/9/2008 12:45:56 PM
Evergreen pilot
John Penney returned to Reno's National Championship Air Races in September to defend his unlimited class championship in "Rare Bear," a highly modified WWII-era Bearcat fighter plane.
A new electronic ignition system didn't work as hoped, and the weekend before the races, the crew worked through the night reinstalling the old magneto system. As Penney taxied for a test flight Monday, the propeller governor, which controls the pitch of the prop, failed. Back in the hangar, the crew spent worked late into the night again rebuilding the propeller with a new Skyraider hub. John and his crew felt the tension building as they tried to get "Rare Bear" ready to fly before time ran out in the last qualifying period. Penney had no time for practice laps, but qualified fourth at 468 mph just before time expired. It was the "Bear's" first flight since the 2007 championship race.
Penney was third in Friday's heat race, slowed by drag when the right landing gear didn't fully retract. After the race, Penney tried to lower the landing gear, but the right gear was stuck and only the left gear came down.
Steve Hinton moved his T-33 jet pace plane alongside Penney, and the two pilots talked over things to try. Penney climbed and circled, trying to lower the gear while other racers landed.
Hinton suggested that Penney increase his speed to 250 knots, make a tight 4G turn and see if centrifugal force would help pop the gear down, but that failed. Penney tried pulling negative Gs to see if that might help but it didn't. The left gear was down, the right gear up, and both were stuck. Penney had to either get both wheels down to land, or retract both to have any chance to safely belly in. If he couldn't do one or the other, he would have to bail out and let Rare Bear crash. Fuel was not a problem, but the oil coolant was exhausted and the engine was overheating. Having unsuccessfully tried everything else he and Hinton could think of, Penney leveled the "Bear", throttled back to idle, let go of the control stick and repeatedly jerked the gear lever with one hand and the emergency gear lock handle with the other as hard as he could. On the third try, the right gear came down and locked in place. Penney landed safely on the emergency runway and the crowd stopped holding its breath.
In Saturday's relatively uneventful Unlimited Gold race,
Dan Martin finished first in former champ "Dago Red" and Rare Bear was fourth. Penney started in fourth position in the line abreast formation for Sunday's 8-lap gold championship race. "Dago Red" had the pole,
Michael Brown in "September Fury" was next,
Tiger deStefani in "Strega" started third, and five other planes started outside Penney. DeStefani quickly passed Brown and began to challenge Martin, while Rare Bear chased down September Fury. On lap 4, Rare Bear just passed September Furywhen the Bear's 4000+ horsepower engine cut out, surged, and cut out again. Penney pulled Rare Bearup 4000 feet and slowed to 150 knots, trailing smoke. Penney saw some smoke in the cockpit, a bad sign, and shut down the engine and landed on the emergency runway at about 150-160 knots, 40 above normal landing speed. He then triggered the engine fire extinguisher, and came to a safe stop. Penney said the engine failure was a disappointment, but far less dangerous than Friday's landing gear problem.
Tiger deStefani overtook Dago Red to win his 7th championship in Strega, a highly modified P-51 Mustang. DeStefani announced his retirement at the awards banquet. Strega's winning speed was 483.062 mph, the second fastest unlimited gold final race on record. Dago Red averaged, 474.305 and September Fury 473.816. Both of them were fast enough to have won in most years at Reno.
Colorado pilots raced in four of the six classes this year.
Vince Walker of Boulder raced his Lancair Legacy "Modo Mio" in the sport class gold group and finished sixth at 301 mph.
John Zayac of Englewood was third in the T-6 Gold race in "McDonald Racer" at 234 mph, and "Mystical Power" owned by
Gary Miller of Parker was fifth in the T-6 Silver race at 219 mph.
Jay Jones of Buena Vista flew his Cassutt "Quadnickel" to sixth place in the formula one class gold race at 222 mph. Rookie
Dan Peters of Longmont flew his Cassutt "Route 66" to a second place Formula One Bronze finish. Peters had his canopy suddenly pop open during Wednesday's opening race, causing an instant 170+ mph wind in his face. He made an emergency landing, and was able to replace the damaged canopy and return for the next day's race.
Air racing can be dangerous. This year,
Erica Simpson was killed when the wings came off her Formula One racer in a practice flight before qualifications began. The cause is not yet known.
Next year's races are scheduled for Sept. 16 through 20, 2009. More than fifty races are run in the five days. If you like excitement, action, and airplanes, there is nothing else like this annual event anywhere in the world. More information is available at
www.airrace.org.