It was a wild week at this year’s Air Races full of unusual things as well as some great racing. STEAD (Sept. 18) – National Championship Air Races 2016 was a very different event than in previous years. While much was made about how thin Unlimited field was the other classes stepped up and one of them had the closest finish in years. Despite their numbers the Unlimiteds are still the stars of the show. And this year, one of the young lions notched his seventh championship. “You know obviously competition wise there wasn’t a lot of hard hitters out

STEAD – Air Race Update will be a short one tonight. The races ended on an upbeat with a popular pilot flying to his seventh Unlimited Championship. Still it was an interesting day with a few maydays but with only slight injury. Well slight unless you were an airplane then it was a a bit more serious. Topping the list is Steven Hinton, who not only won his race but got to play a very different role; pace plane pilot. While many races were runaways one wasn’t. In fact it was the closest race seen for that class in many

WEEK IS ALMOST OVER AND ONE MORE DAY LEFT AFTER THIS ONE. STEAD – Air Race Update has more racing, the Blues and a heat race that was a bit more exciting than one pilot planned for. I’m also going to tie up a couple of loose ends from yesterday. On Friday Pete Zaccagnino crashed his Vampire after first losing the canopy then having the engine shut down. Afterwards he took a photograph of his wrecked jet racer. Another pilot had an exciting heat race. When the Sport Heat 2D began Chiwami Takagi-Read declared a Mayday and pulled out of

Women at the Air Races subject this year is a lady mechanic, one that is looking after the motors in three jets racing at the National Championship Air Races. People like her that work on the crews hold a vital position. Without their labor pilots would be lucky to even get off the ground. Santina Estrada a single mother of two has followed her passion of being around aviation. And now she’s in charge of making the sure the pole sitting jet is ready for racing. Her love of aviation began at an early age. “My parents would take us

Another intense day of air racing with two surprise visitors and one very lucky pilot. STEAD – Air Race Update for this Friday was a day where almost everybody raced. Only the fastest T-6 racers weren’t in the air and everyone got to see a preview of Sunday’s Unlimited Gold. The morning began with the Formula One and Biplanes running their heat races followed by the Sport class, Jets and T-6 racers. After the opening ceremonies that included flag jumpers a pair of F-35’s arrived at Reno Stead Airport and took their places in the static display area. Don’t know

As we head into the weekend the tempo begins to increase. STEAD – Air Race Update for today has the pace quickening as the event tempo increases as well as some acts performing. The Blue Angels were both sighting the area and doing a practice program. Yesterday there was a small hitch when one of the Blues that was giving press rides blew a tire on landing. That also canceled a heat for the T-6 racers. Today however the Blues did a long scouting practice then later came back for their practice performance. Yesterday this reporter made a small error.

Now things start to get serious as the tempo picks up going into the weekend. STEAD – Air Race Update for today has the final qualifying sessions, some practice time for racers and the first heat races. In the pits chane continues as Dan Angelo from Valley of Speed puts the new vintage graphics on Miss TNT, a T-6 that has won six gold titles. Over in the VIP section of the pits two Unlimiteds are on display. One is the Rare Bear while the other is #232 that Hoot Gibson flew. Sadly neither are competing this year. Not far

Racing preview for this week has a major event in our area plus the start of another racing season as well as what can be seen on TV and the Internet. The biggest biggest here is the annual National Championship Air Races, it’s the only place on the planet where six classes of aircraft race each other. In addition to the races there’s an air show with many acts as well as static displays of both military and civilian aircraft. The headliners this year are the Flying Blue Angels. For further information please go to www.airrace.org. This weekend is also

For some it was the calm before the storm, for others not so much. STEAD (Sept. 13) – Air Race Update reflects a somewhat calm Tuesday. Well calm if you qualified but for the others, well time was running out. There were also practice starts for some classes plus the first T-6 1V1 race, which was decided at the home pylon by a half of a plane length victory. Last year these were called drag races as both aircraft use a standing start. Yesterday I showed the Logo that won’t be flying. Well with some changes here is the Logo

Busy Monday at the air Races. Stead (Sept. 12) – Air Race Update for Monday is about a day full of activity. With weather moving in on Tuesday the pace was intense as the smaller and other classes all scrambled to get in practice sessions or post qualifying times. On the lighter side there was a “Moose Sighting,” by the Voodoo pits. Wild life and aviation photographer Moose Petersen, his wife and son paid a visit as they were getting a crew portrait for the team. He was only here today and off to his next assignment in the Midwest

Well here we go, Air Race week has begun and things get serious tomorrow. STEAD (Sept. 11)— Air Race Update for Sunday will be a bit short. Planes are here, tech inspections going on, seems a T-6 was disqualified for some kind of problem. However Czech Mate made it after a stop in Fresno for repair to its prop. Voodoo came in on Saturday as did most of the remaining aircraft. The F-1 and Biplane hanger is full and the sport class is filling two other hangers. Didn’t have time to walk up to the jet area but that looks