Not everyone can make the gold. One of the fastest, and certainly one of the coolest planes ever, failed to make it through qualifying. Beyond the racing, Reno is a great war bird show. There are famous and interesting planes scattered throughout the field.

Qualified: 365.7 mph

Big Bossman

Mike brown only recently bought this incredible F7F out of a museum. Not only did he bring it to race, but qualified it with two different pilots. This year would have been the first time a Tigercat has ever raced at Reno. Sadly, the plane suffered a mechanical failure at the end of qualifying, so we never got to see it share the course with other racers. Though only capable of bronze class speeds, Big Bossman sounds awesome and looks fast at low level. We can only hope Mike will try again next year.

Race: DNS

Qualified: 389.1 mph

Precious Metal

There have been three Griffon powered Mustangs at Reno. Two of them crashed, one fatally, so its no wonder Ron Buccarelli places survival ahead of race wins. The 2250 ci Griffon engine has the potential for much higher speeds. As Sunday bronze winner, Precious Metal could have given up the win and bumped to silver. They would have had a real chance to take the silver win as well. However, the plane was already running on borrowed engine parts, so no one can fault the Florida based team for calling it quits with a class win.

Qualified: DNQ

September Fury

After last year, big things were expected of Mike Brown's awesome looking Fury. With a solid second place in last year's gold, there was every reason to believe September Fury would once again be fighting for a win. Sadly, the big R3350 went pop in qualifying and never flew in competition.

Race:

Qualified: 442.8 mph

Dreadnaught

The leader in lifetime earnings, Dreadnaught no longer looks to win on shear speed, but rather relies on the clockwork reliability of its massive P&W R4360 engine. That's 28 cylinders in four rows and 56 spark plugs. I wonder how they can tell if they've got a bum cylinder? Unfortunately, after a long string of successes, Dreadnaught has experienced mechanical troubles in its last couple outings.

Race: DNS

Qualified: 445.4 mph

Miss America

One of the most famous air racers in history, Miss A is a fixture at Reno. If the paint scheme doesn't look familiar, its because the plane was completely restored after an emergency landing crash at last year's race. Owner/pilot Dr. Brent Hisey deserves a big thank you for going all out to get Miss A back in the air. They simply ran out of time on the paint job. All the effort was rewarded with a silver win.

Race: Silver winner 428.5 mph

There are many additional Mustangs, Furys, Yaks and assorted war birds who show up to race. All of them deserve credit for risking their lives pushing overstressed vintage airplanes around a closed course. Air racing is not for the faint of heart. In 40 years, Reno has witnessed the tragic deaths of 15 pilots.