Not everyone can make the gold. Beyond the racing, Reno is also a great war bird show. There are famous and interesting planes scattered throughout the field.

Qualified: 419.9 mph

Riff Raff

I spy a Skyraider scoop. Apparently, like Mike Brown before them, the Riffraff team decided Skyraider scoops are best left on Skyraiders. After an early qualifying session, the new scoop was relegated to garage duty. Hoot Gibson flew his usual low line around the course, and the 99 team in general did a very credible job of looking racy this year. In fact, the Silver final was the best, hardest fought Unlimited race of the week.

Race: Silver winner 414.2 mph

Qualified: 435.1 mph

Spirit of Texas

Sporting its flashy new paint scheme, Spirit no doubt expected to be in the thick of the Gold fight. An unfortunate mayday on Friday put an end to that. The plane was repaired overnight, but I suspect pilot/owner Stewart Dawson was a little more interested in keeping it together than going balls out on Sunday. Hmm, I kind of miss the bright red spinner.

Race: 414.1 mph

Qualified: 405.5 mph

Precious Metal

It looks as if Precious Metal is going for the consistency award. Their Sunday race speed was within 1 mph of last year's. This time it was good enough for third place money in the Silver final. I always end up shooting more photos of Precious Metal than any other plane (except maybe the Bear). Something about those props...

Qualified: 363.9 mph

Big Bossman

Okay, I know the Bossman raced on Sunday, I have the photos to prove it, but there's no time posted on RARA's web site. When it wasn't looking and sounding positively awsome, pilot Mike Brown was giving the ex Bob Hoover Mustang, Ole Yeller, everything she could handle.

The amazing thing about the Tigercat is it sounds as if about four planes are flying by. The sound is unique, and I believe is the result of wind noise in the wing mounted air intakes. If no other planes were flying, watching Mike hustle the big plane around at treetop hieght alone is worth the price of admission.

Ole Yeller ran 377.8 mph on Sunday, so Big Bossman had to be somewhere in the 370 range.

Race: (?)

Qualified: 412.3 mph

Argonaut

The other flavor of Sanders Aircraft, this year flown by Dennis Sanders. Argonaut is your run of the mill R3350 powered stock Fury - not that there is anything wrong with a Sea Fury. They made the web site this year because I got a couple nice shots.

Race: 398.2 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 41 years, Reno has witnessed the tragic deaths of 15 pilots.