Reno 2021

[ChasenSFO]

Crazy what cancelling an event for 1 year can do. My Mom runs the Chamber of Commerce at a city in the Bay Area and cancelling the Art and Wine festival, which is one of the largest events in the county, nearly bankrupted them as they had to refund so many deposits and had all this useless merchandise to sell. Really pulling for these air races to return, never made it to one yet. With all the money involved and how wealthy man running the show are, I'd imagine they return when practical.

 

[Richman]

Most of these deals are hand to mouth anyway. One bump in the road and it’s very, very hard to come back. Even if you can eek it out financially, your movers and shakers and experienced volunteers who really make things work have moved on to other things.

My guess is if Sun n Fun isn’t back next year they’re done.

 

[WacoFan]

It sounds like you would've been a fan of Tsunami, a Merlin powered homebuilt. It was fast enough to finish in the top three in the unlimited gold 1991, a race that at the time held the record for the fastest race ever run at Reno. Like a lot of the really fast airplanes it was under constant development and it was getting faster every year as they worked out all of the bugs. Unfortunately one of those bugs killed the owner, John Sandberg, and destroyed the airplane in a crash on the way home from the races that year. A group of people including some of Johns family have the wreckage and they are rebuilding it using as many pieces of the original plane as possible and trying to decipher the original design drawings.
You can find more info here if you're interested https://m.facebook.com/thetsunamiproject?__nodl&ref=external:duckduckgo.com&_rdr

Thank you. Will take a look.

 

[WacoFan]

I haven't read Flying Magazine for at least a decade and a half (unless it was sitting on the AME's table in the waiting room), but I always thought Peter Garrison's Melmoth encapsulated everything that I love about homebuilts. A Harvard-educated (but, like, an ENGLISH Harvard degree) dilettante designing, building, and flying a fairly revolutionary (or, ok, at least very impressive) aircraft from his garage to, you know, Europe. That's the kind of thing that gives me the fizz.

Don't get me wrong. Like you, I LOVE big radials and absurd speeds at low altitudes, but for me at least, the true Murica is some guy saying "hey, who says *I* can't do better?" And then doing it.

His "Aftermath" columns were also great. 110% maudlin-sentiment free, and also refreshingly technical. There was a book made of various "Aftermath" columns in, I dunno, the late 80s/early 90s? And while the little Boris-Nerd who was dog-earred the entire book, I read his, in particular, so much that the pages just about fell out.

Melmoth was cool. And the Aftermath columns were great - I'd like to read the book.

 

[trafficinsight]

Melmoth was cool. And the Aftermath columns were great - I'd like to read the book.

And Bax, of course, Flying back in the day was world class. Magazines in general just aren't as good these days. I like Martha Lunken though.

 

[MikeD]

No one remembers Len Morgan’s great “Vectors” columns on the last page of Flying magazine back in the day? Stories of his daily experiences and history in aviation, from WWII in the RCAF and USAAF flying C-47 transports to especially his Braniff days up to the 747-100/200, were some legendary writing.

 

[WacoFan]

Len Morgan, Bax and Peter Garrett were all great. Used to be a great magazine. There used to be a lot of them - Air Progress, Air Classics, Flying, etc. I remember you could go to any decent sized grocery store and on the magazine rack they would usually have Flying, Air Progress, or both every month.

 

[trafficinsight]

No one remembers Len Morgan’s great “Vectors” columns on the last page of Flying magazine back in the day? Stories of his daily experiences and history in aviation, from WWII in the RCAF and USAAF flying C-47 transports to especially his Braniff days up to the 747-100/200, were some legendary writing.

Yes of course

 

[Richman]

Len Morgan, Bax and Peter Garrett were all great. Used to be a great magazine. There used to be a lot of them - Air Progress, Air Classics, Flying, etc. I remember you could go to any decent sized grocery store and on the magazine rack they would usually have Flying, Air Progress, or both every month.

Teh internets killed the magazine star.

 

[fholbert]

I've gone to Reno and sat it my friends box, the one with the SOD banner, an outstanding place to sit. I didn't go the year this happened.

I returned in 2016, a couple people in the box to the right has prosthetic limbs.

 

[knot4u]

I've gone to Reno and sat it my friends box, the one with the SOD banner, an outstanding place to sit. I didn't go the year this happened.

I returned in 2016, a couple people in the box to the right has prosthetic limbs.

View attachment 56544

I'm sorry. Based on your experience should the races end?