Sierra Mountain Times

An International Guard and Breitling plane doing death-defying aerobatics at the Reno Air Races.

Story and Photos by Jerry Maxwell

Day One, September 9: Well, I made it. In spite of the fact that Sonora Pass tries to kill me every time I come over it; once again I defied the odds and here I am today at the Reno National Championship Air Races. It feels good to be here with all the old familiar faces and hearing the sound of the planes roaring through the air. It feels like home. Upon arrival I went straight to the Warlock #75 pits, my usual hangout when I come here. I love hanging out with the pilot of the Warlock, Al Goss, and his crew because you couldn’t meet a friendlier group of people. Over the past four years they have taken me in as one of their own. The Warlock flies in the T6 class here, which is one of six different classes that fly here (T6, Jets, Formula One, Sport, Biplanes and ‘Unlimiteds’). Each class has their own superstars and Al Goss is one of the best in the T6s with two separate world championships in the gold class in 1992 and 2004. The Warlock is one fast airplane!

Today was the first day for qualifying runs. Up until today it was just practice, but today the pilots had been told do their best to make it into the gold in their respective classes. The pilots here really do lay it all on the line because this is a very competitive and dangerous sport. In the history of the Reno Air Races since 1964, 19 pilots have lost their lives doing what they love, including three last year, the most ever. (By comparison, Daytona has lost over 90 drivers since Nascar started there in 1959 – which says a lot for the safety of flying here…). Last year is a year that no one wants to ever see happen here again. Therefore safety is the major concern. The Reno Air Racing Association (RARA) and the FAA keep a very close eye on all aspects pertaining to safety including (but not limited to) aircraft worthiness, pilot training, weather, pilot briefings, and runway operations. All in all, the RARA runs a very tight ship, and every year the association entertains and thrills a crowd of around 250,000 people. So it’s great to be here again.

An F22 air demo team taking off for flight.

Day Two, September 10: Today was the first official day of the Air Races with heat races in the biplane and formula one classes. I love watching the biplanes race because as they come around the back corner into the straightaway it looks like WW1 all over again. Top speeds only reach around 250 mph but the racing is pretty tight because they are all Pitts Specials. Some classes here, like the ‘Unlimiteds’ and the jets, can get pretty stretched out because the planes are different makes. So today’s races were pretty exciting and closely contested.

Tonight is the Warlock pit party. Every year the Warlock team throws a bash for all the pilots and their teams in the Warlock pit. I brought my guitar with me to be part of the live band and I am just hoping I can remember my chords well enough to play with them without killing everybody’s sense of music. I am not the world’s best guitar player. In fact I have seen birds drop dead right off the telephone line before when I cranked up my amplifier. So I will try to play at low enough volume that most people there won’t be able to hear me. Hopefully I can fake it well.

One thing about coming to the races here: every day I have to drive across Reno from my sister’s house to Stead on the freeway. Now, being from Twain Harte, and used to driving at 25 to 35 mph around town, these freeways are terrifying! Sure the speed limit is 65 mph, but most people here cruise the freeway at about 90 mph. And my little 1983 Dodge D50 pickup will barely do 65 mph. So here I am toddling down the freeway with all these people in their SUVs blowing past me, giving me glares and honks of annoyance. I feel like a biplane in the jet lane. By the time I get to the races each morning I am shaking and a have a bit of an adrenaline shock from the sheer terror of the freeway. This is one thing that makes me glad I live in Twain Harte.

Our plane qualified today at 238.386 mph. Top qualifier for the T6s was Nick Macy of Tulelake, California in #6 Six-Cat at 243.083, a new qualifying record. Nick has been getting faster every year and it is beginning to get annoying. I would really like it if he would just slow down a little bit and let Warlock win. After all, Warlock was here at the air races long before Nick. The guy really should show a bit of respect for his elders. Actually, I know Al Goss was holding back and let Nick take first because Warlock is a very polite team.

Being press corps here is great. I have to hand it to the Reno Air Racing Association for the dedicated team they have running the press operations. They have it all set up with special parking, press packets, stickers for identification purposes, free lunches, buses to the pylons for photographers etc. And what is really amazing is most of RARA is composed of volunteers who do it simply out of love for the races. It is an amazing group of people who make this all happen. My thanks goes out to them.

Day Three, September 11: The pace picked up quite a bit today at the races with the arrival of the USAF Thunderbirds at about 10 a.m. this morning. They are performing here in conjunction with a demo featuring the F22 Raptor which should be a sight to see from what I hear. Most people  who have seen the F22 say it is very impressive and I can’t wait to find out for myself.

Racing started today with some heat races in the bronze classes in the T6s, jets, and sports. I wish I could say that I was watching the races but I was busy walking from one end of the airport to the other soaking in the sights and smells of the event.

The #54 jet class Robin X.

There are dozens of different vendor booths to see and many displays by the armed forces and private industry. Some are incredible, such as the air force’s C5A walk-through and the area where antique aircraft are displayed with vintage automobiles from the Harrah’s auto museum.

By the time I’d finished my walk I was feeling the effects of the hot Nevada sun. One thing I can say about being at the races as a journalist,  it wears you out. And if you happen to be covering the races for a whole week like I do, chances are by the time you go back over the hill you will look like you have been through the wringer with 14-inch circles under your eyes, unkempt hair, sunburn, one-week beard stubble, and a neck as stiff as a 2×4 from looking up so much. Fatigue is a minor word for how you feel. Exhausted doesn’t even come close. Near dead would be about as close as I can get to an explanation….

The party at the Warlock pit last night was a total success! Much to my own amazement my guitar playing didn’t kill anybody this time and a few people even said I played well. And they weren’t even wearing earplugs! A couple hundred people showed up. It was pretty cool to be playing while airplanes and jets roared overhead. Hmm…maybe the jets drowned out the sound of the band. THAT would be why people said we sounded great. See? There is an explanation for everything.

Day Four, September 12: A bit of a scare with the Warlock team yesterday afternoon. Warlock flew in the heat race for the T6 gold and placed third. All seemed well until the official race results came in about a half-hour after the race. It seems a pylon judge had disqualified Warlock for flying too low between pylons three and four on the third lap. Everybody was really upset in the pits because a dq meant we couldn’t race anymore this year. Fortunately I was able to locate a fellow journalist who had video, which showed that Warlock had actually been higher than the two lead planes. So last night they showed that video to the review committee and the decision was overturned, thank God. We will be racing again.

There is a lot of difference in the rules here this year in the races. Granted, nobody ever wants a repeat of last year when three pilots lost their lives but a lot of people are saying that this year’s enforcement is a little too much. Several planes have been disqualified and several more (including Warlock) unfairly due to pylon judges who are a little too trigger-happy. I can see kicking pilots who fly recklessly but to disqualify a pilot for being too low? Most parts of this racecourse are desert! Are they afraid we might blow the hair off some jackrabbit’s backside? Al Goss is a crop-duster by trade (out of Bakersfield) and he is used to flying 5 feet off the ground. Hell, if he goes up to 50 feet he gets a nosebleed! It doesn’t seem fair, but we all know rules are needed. I just hope the powers that be make good calls when they decide to disqualify anybody here, because each and every one of these teams has spent all year looking forward to these races. It takes a lot of sacrifice and dedication and can cause some pretty bad feelings when these hometown heroes are told to pack up and leave.

The variety of journalists here is amazing. Right now I am sitting in the press shack writing this and can hear at least five different languages being spoken. People from all over the world come to cover this event. I have met writers and photographers from Germany, Japan, Russia, France, and various parts of the United States who come together here every year as one big happy family. Some of the cameras they carry are about half the size of a Saturn 4 rocket booster but still they shoulder them with pride and a big wide grin. It feels great to be a part of it.

Tomorrow the real racing starts. The best from the whole week of qualifying and heat races go for the gold on Saturday and Sunday. If anyone is interested in seeing the best that the Reno Air Races have to offer these are the days to go. Beware of the crowds though; most of the week it’s pretty easy to get to the races but on this weekend one had better start the day way early because traffic at 8 a.m. will be backed up for miles. Attendance in these two days soars from 20,000 or less each day of the week till Friday to 250,000 or more on Saturday and Sunday. So you better believe these next two days I will be leaving Reno to get here at 5 a.m….

Well I hear the F22s roaring overhead so I’d better go take more pictures.

Day Five, September 13: What a day! This morning started with a scary ride on the freeway up here. I looked down at my dash about two miles into my 25-mile journey and saw my truck was overheating. Instant panic. I pulled off on Moana Way and found a Shell station where I proceeded to hose down my radiator and engine until it was cool enough to remove the cap. Low and behold it seems there really was no problem – I still had all my antifreeze and the oil level was fine. So I lost five bucks in their slot machines waiting for it to cool all for nothing. Got back on the road and the truck did fine. I hate my little truck sometimes.

Got to the races and drank a couple beers before heading on in. Lord knows I needed them after that episode. I had heard that Nikon Cameras were here and were willing to lend their cameras to press people to try out. It seemed like a really good deal to me so I took them up at their offer and they loaned me a Nikon D300 camera for the day. If you ever are in the market for a wonderful digital camera the D300 is something else. It takes a bit of getting used to because you can set everything just like a 35mm film single lens reflex camera, which means f-stops and apertures etc. And it costs a few grand for the whole outfit. But what wonderful pictures!!!

Warlock got to race this morning in the gold class. We were all glad to be there after the scare with the near disqualification for flying too low on Wednesday. (Thankfully your SMT reporter was on the scene for that and saved the day – but no more gloating about that!) In any case the Warlock placed second today at 236.044 mph. Good old Nick Macy took first in the Six-Cat at 239.654 mph so we only lost by 3.610 mph…which is really close. Tomorrow will be our big day and our pilot, Al Goss, says he is ready to win. It’d be so nice to have another World Championship under our belt…

A big surprise in the ‘Unlimiteds’ today. Team Strega won! Strega has not been the winner in the class since 1999. But before that Strega had been the winner 6 times and was a force to be reckoned with. So it’s good to see them back. Rare Bear, last year’s winner and the local’s favorite, placed fourth and was seen trailing smoke throughout the whole race. Rare Bear barely got their plane working in time to qualify this year and ended up getting the cowling back on and engine started to qualify with only fifteen minutes left before the deadline. That’s cutting it pretty close. It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.

I met an old man today who flew as a tail gunner in Europe in a B17 during WW2. We talked for about a half an hour about what it was like to be part of that conflict and he told me some yarns that are unfortunately a little ribald for a family newspaper. But it was nice to hear his stories and I could see the airplanes in his eyes as he talked about them. It’s a good thing some of those men who served are still around to tell us the history of that time. And thank God they are still able to come and see the very airplanes they served with back then. The Reno Air Races help to preserve that heritage. Hopefully the FAA will never shut this event down because there are (literally) hundreds of thousands of people who love this event for the history it nurtures. Generations to come can see for themselves the same planes their grandfathers flew and learn stories of their heroism and sacrifice. And see some great racing too.

Day 6, September 14th: Today was the last day of the Air Races and time for finals in each class. I got up around 5 a.m. and got to the races about 6.30 a.m. just in time to see the sun rise over the airport. The shadows were long and the airplanes looked beautiful in the early morning sun. I got a few shots with my primitive little digital camera and then headed over to the press shack to borrow another camera for the day from Nikon. I lucked out today because I’d reserved a camera with a telephoto lens to get some good shots of the airplanes in flight. Nikon gave me a D300 with a 200×400 lens (about $11 grand), which, in layman’s terms, was one big camera with a huge Saturn rocket booster lens. I really have to thank Nikon for that because the shots were fantastic at 10.2mp and around 5mb each!

The Warlock #75, piloted by Al Goss.

Warlock took second in the T6 gold class. We got lucky because our chief competition, Six-Cat with Nick Macy, had to drop out with a Mayday on the first lap. Seems he lost the counterbalances from his prop, which makes for a very bumpy ride. However, Warlock was still beat by #43 Tinkertoy…but it’s not too bad to finish the week as second place in the whole world. In the ‘Unlimiteds’, team Strega took top honors, which was fantastic. It’d been nine long years for Strega since their last win. I was thrilled for them but a little disappointed in the performance of Rare Bear who had to drop out due to a burst oil line. It all made for some exciting racing though and at the end of the day we all breathed a collective sigh of relief because the whole week’s racing came off without a major accident. It was a good feeling to not have another year like last year.

Air Racing is very addictive and gets into your blood. You can see it in the crowds who mill around the airplanes in the pits and display areas by the shirts they wear and the grins from ear to ear as they see their favorite planes. Some of the photographers and fans sport fishing vests and caps loaded with pins from the teams they love. I had one press photographer who let me see his cap and with all the pins on the cap it must have weighed 20 pounds! But truly the dedication of air race fans is something really remarkable and well worth going to Reno to see. It was with a heavy heart that I saw today come because it meant the year was over and we all had to go home. The Reno Air Races really are a home away from my sweet home in Twain Harte for me, and seeing it all end is always a bittersweet affair. But at least there is next year to look forward to…

A year from now I will be ready to do it all again. To come here and to hear the sound of the airplanes racing by, to smell the oil and aviation fuel in the air, and to feel the ground shake as the F22 tears the sky above, is an amazing experience. It has been and will be a time I will never forget and cherish in my heart forever…

Thanks goes out to those who made this trip possible: The Sierra Mountain Times, The Reno Air Racing Association, The Warlock Air Racing Team, Alan Smith, Susan Geritz, Al Goss, the folks in Twain Harte who supported me, Nikon Cameras, The T6 Racing Association, Valerie, Mike Houghton, my fellow photographers, my sister Michon Compston, and all the legion of Reno Air Race fans throughout the world who live to fly fast, fly low, and fly left!!! Thank-you all. Dedicated to my friends Skipper and Scooter.