STEAD, NV (Sept 16) – The Stihl National Championship Air Races completed a week’s worth of qualifying and competition under wonderful weather Sunday. And it was a history-making event for at least two classes of racing planes.
International Formula One has a history that dates back to the golden days of Air Racing. These are usually home built aircraft for the sole purpose of racing.
Due to their size they usually race in the morning around a 3.1875 mile course. Even though they have about 100 horsepower these little speedsters race at Indy Car speeds.
First race was the Silver and many time champion Steve Senegal won, which allowed him to move up to the Gold, or national championship race.
Standing starts are used and racers line up three abreast on the runway and wait for a flagman to wave a green flag. After that they are off and flying.
Unfortunately the pilot on the pole, Lowell Slatter had a motor problem and had to be pushed off the runway. This Justin Meaders, who sat in the middle of the front row, actually on pole.
Justin Meaders is helped out of his wheel chair and into his Formula 1 air racer.
Senegal had to wait an additional five seconds after the last row rolled away but once airborne the chase was on.
Lap after lap as Meaders was tearing around the course using a low, tight line while Senegal was picking off the rest of the field one at a time.
Up front the leader began to lap the slowest as did Senegal, who ran out of time after taking second.
In the end Meaders flew into the history books by becoming the first paraplegic pilot to win a national championship in the 55-year history of the Reno Air Races.
Justin Meaders takes off when the Formula 1 Gold race began and flew into history.
After recovery and debrief he said, “It was good, we got to the front, just pushed as hard as we could the whole time. We didn’t know how fast Endeavor (Senegal’s plane) might be coming through the pack so we were worried about him,” he said. “I pushed as hard as it would go the whole time.”
Although this was his first victory ever it did have special meaning course but he wished it might have been closer. As it was Meaders ended up with a 15 second lead over Senegal at the end.
“I mean we would have liked to have Endeavor and Fraed Naught (Slatter) on the front row with us. I guess Fraed Naught had some kind of mechanical issue. We really wanted to race those guys as it would have been a really good show but we’ll still take the win,” he said.
Then he thanked Catteo Propellers for their for their work that helped his plane go fast. Challenged Athletes Foundation for their help in his athletic endeavors and now into air racing and his crew and family that has helped him.
The other small plane class is Biplane that race on a 3.3414 mile long course. Like the Formula One they too use the classic standing start on the runway and go when the green flag waves.
Once again Andrew Beuhler, in the cockpit of many time champion Tom Aberle’s Phanton, pretty much owned the race. In fact he ended up at least 30 seconds ahead of second place John D’Alessandris.
Biplane winner Andrew Buehler is chased by John D’Asessandris at the start of their race. They finished in that order.
Heading back to the hanger Buehler said, “The race was really good, everything came together, the air was absolutely beautiful morning, nice and still. It was great, thanks to the crew and the sponsors.”
Then he gave thanks to his major sponsor Northern American Aerospace, Aberle Custom Aircraft as well as friends and family.
Despite being at low altitudes air racing is actually a version of oval track racing. At Reno and any other air race, the corners are marked by pylons.
The Home Pylon in front of the grandstands has a tower while the rest are marked by telephone poles with large barrels on top of them. The aim is to all them on the right and a crew is there to mark if a pilot is either two low, below the top of a pylon or makes a cut which ended with time penalties or maybe disqualification.
The Patriot Jet Team performed for the fans everyday during the air races.
In addition to the racing there were several specialty acts including the Patriot Jet Team as well as the Commemorative Air Force that brought one of the five flying Japanese Zero fighters left in the world.
The Commemorative Air Force brought a B-25, Hellcat, Bear Car and one of the five flying examples of a Japanese Zero Fighter to the air races.
While the two small plane classes use a standing start all the other classes use an air start. The field forms up line abreast off a pace plane that leads them to their starting point.
The next “smaller,” class is the Sport, which is comprised of kit planes for the most part. This group is having continuing growth.
Due to their speeds pilots in the Sport class race on one of three courses. The slowest group, Medallion class fly a 4.9352 mile course.
Next fastest are the Bronze and Silver group and they race on a 6.9680 mile long course. Finally the fastest of all is the Gold class and those aircraft use a 8.0782 mile long course.
One of the biggest boosters of the class was the late John Parker, who passed away this year so the Gold race was named in his memory.
The sport racers launch, catch and line up with a pace plane. After rounding Peavine Mountain they start a downhill decent at speed and when released head to the right of an alignment pylon, where several bright lights are pointed in their direction.
After a close heat race Saturday Andrew Findlay had the bit between his teeth and headed onto the course in his plane named “One Moment,” which also sports Stihl corporate colors. Stihl is the corporate sponsor for the Reno Air Races.
Over the past few years the late John Parker was trying to post an average speed of over 400 miles an hour. Well in this race Findlay made history with an average speed of 402.716 mph and finished 20 seconds ahead of runner up Jeff LaVelle.
A few years ago there was a short lived Supersport class and in 2009 John Sharp did post an average speed of 407.061 but today’s speed was the first for the regular sport racers.
While Findlay hails from McCall, Idaho he now lives in Virginia Beach working for Stihl as his day job.”
Andrew Findlay taxies in after a heat race and on Sunday would set a record of just over 400 mph when he won the Sport Gold race.
After the race Findlay said, “The whole week was awesome, we kind of had challenges in qualifying and practice. Smoked a piston on Sunday, overhauled that then kind get qualifying down. Wednesday we did some testing for the setup we had today.
“We backed it down a little bit more to kind of keep it safe. On Saturday we were able to pass Jeff (LeVelle) and were on the pole today. It was pretty exciting to have a clear track, smooth air, the conditions were better than yesterday and with the extra power we whipped it up. First time a legacy has one over 400 miles an hour on the course and we did it for an average race.”
He added that the entire crew came together and it made for an amazing experience. Then he thanked McCauley Propellers and the Black Works Group that designed the propeller, Turbonetics as the aircraft uses twin turbos, Air Captiol Insurance, Air Frames Inc for the bodywork and paint and of course Stihl.
Chiwami Takagi-Read made history when she was the first woman to win a Sport class race. Here she is landing after winning the Bronze race on Sunday.
Another first for the Sport class was when a woman won one of their races. Flight instructor Chiwami Takagi-Reed was the Bronze race winner Sunday morning.
The next three classes are the big planes, which includes the fastest classes. Slowest and probably closest in competition is the T-6 class. This class operates under some very tight restrictions and the result is usually very close racing. They also have a slightly different entry to the course.
After taking off, forming up the field aims down the main runway before they are released. In the stands rather than coming from the right the T-6 field storms down the front straight before the first pylon.
Last year’s Gold race had an extremely close finish with John Lohmar winning by the width of his aircraft’s cowling. This year he was on pole and led the charge down the front straight.
In the end Lohmar flew his aircraft, “Radial Velocity,” to its second Gold victory in a row with Chris Rushing ending up second less than two seconds back.
When the T-6 Gold race began winner John Lohmar (bottom right) lead Chris Rushing and Nick Macy. They finished in that order.
“Two years in a row, it’s been awesome,” he said. “Last year I started in second place and actually passed Nick Macy right at the end so that was a very, very exciting race. Where this one I was in first place and was able to keep Chris Rushing off. It was a good for racing.”
Then he thanked Tulsa Engines and Rod Hightower as they are his main sponsors.
The Jet Class as well as the Unlimiteds wheel around the mountain then set up for a long, fast decent to the course before they are released to their 8.1025 mile long course.
This year Mike Steiger, flying “American Spirit,” took the lead at first and never looked back. At the end he posted an average speed of 486.206 mph and finished nine seconds ahead of runner up Pete Zaccagnino.
After winning the Jet Gold race Mike Steiger taxies American Spirit back to the jet pits.
Unfortunately this reporter was unable to get quotes from the winner as the jets are at the opposite end of the field from where the rest of the pits are.
Unlimiteds are still the stars and their Gold race ends the event where the winner gets their name put on a very special trophy. This week a record was set as for the first time four aircraft from the same team were in the race.
Rounding the field was two P-51’s including “Miss America,” returning after 5 years and “Gold Finger.” Another racer from last year, that once again was shipped from New Zealand was “Full Noise,” a Yak3M flown by Graeme Frew.
From the start of qualifying setting the pace was the Unlimited “Dreadnought,” which has won more money than any other aircraft including three previous national championships.
This field uses a pace/safety jet to not only form on for the start but to give aid if there is an inflight emergency.
After the introductions all engines were started warmed up then take off and catch the pace plane so they can form up for the start.
Joel Swager in Dreadnought rolls out to start the Unlimited Gold race.
On the release Swager leaf the field in his wake but as Dreadnought was pulling away the race was between Brent Hisey in “Miss America” and former space shuttle pilot Curt Brown in “Sawbones.”
As the laps wound down Swager was going around lap traffic as did Hisey, now in second and Brown, who was chasing him. At the finish Swager posted an average speed of 417.735 mph and was nine seconds ahead of runner up Hisey.
After winning the Unlimited National Championship pilot Joel Swager hoists the trophy that his name will be engraved on
“You know the airplane really makes it easy. Dreadnought got to be one of the most refined racers as far as systems, easy to fly. It almost knows its way around the pylons its been so many times,” Swager said. “We started coming up on the traffic, everyone is very professional, we let them know we’re coming around and just go right on by them.”
Then he thanked friends, family and those that have supported him and gave him a chance to be part of this world.
For runner up Brent Hisey it was a great homecoming for him and his long time racer “Miss America.” The aircraft has a very long racing history and Revell once made a model of it.
Bret Hisey brings Miss America home after finishing second in the Unlimited Gold race.
“It was wonderful, I had a great time out there and the engine never ran better. I kept waiting for something to go wrong and nothing did,” he said. “I kept it full throttle the whole time that was all she had. I had really had a lot of cobwebs I had to blow out but RARA was great for me, Unlimited racers were so kind to me so anyway it’s been a wonderful year, treasured memories.”
For Curt Brown third place was a bit disappointing as he hoped for second.
Curt Brown flew Sawbones to third place in the Unlimited Gold race.
“Well obviously it didn’t go as planned but we knew that Miss America had a lot more than she was showing during the week. We ran our airplane according to the game plan, we like to fly it home so we’ll be doing that tomorrow. We did the best we could with all we had, Miss America had better and congratulations to Joel and Dreadnought,” he said.
Now Reno/Stead Airport is quiet again but next June those wishing to race will attend the Pylon Racing Seminar then next September racers will flock to the field to compete in the only event of its kind on the planet.
Next year qualifying should start on September 9 while racing begins the afternoon of Wednesday, September 11 and runs through Saturday, September 15h. It’s another chance to see the world’s fastest motorsport.
For further information please check the event’s website at www.airrace.org.
OTHER RACING NEWS:
- Endurocross will be at the Livestock Events Center Saturday but on Wednesday PJ&Co is having a meet and greet for two local racers competing in that series.
Endurocross meet and greet poster.
Ty Tremain and Reece Honea will be present from 6 until 8 p.m. and have their bikes on display. There are free tickets to be won as well as free raffle prizes.
• Please tune in or stream Teresa’s Garage Radio Show from 2 until 3 p.m. Tuesday. It’s an hour of automotive talk that covers about everything, including what is coming in the future for cars and racing.
Teresa’s Garage Radio Show graphic.
I have a preview segment around 2:15 so hope you’ll give us a listen.
If you enjoyed this article please “like,” and share it as widely as possible. Comments are welcome.
Subscribers has articles posted to their inbox as soon as they are up on the site.
We now have five very appreciated sponsors that support his site. Please patronize them as they support your sport and help motorsport news coming.
Two of them are first class motorcycle shops located in Reno.
Our first sponsor is Reno Motorsports. Not only do they have about anything a rider might want or need and the store also has a full service shop for any kind.
The location is at 964 Terminal Way, by the intersection with Mill Street. Store’s phone number is 775-322-1499 and the site is, www.rms-renomotorsports.com.
The next shop, and our newest sponsor is Moto Source located at 3180 Mill Street. Once again the shop has a full service shop plus about any thing a rider might need or want.
Phone number is 775-856-3855 and the website is, www.moto-source.com.
The next sponsor is an excellent place if you need collision repair on your car or truck. It’s Concours Body shop, located at 250 Telegraph Street in Reno that has a long history of first class repairs
The original owner is Gill Grieve, a long time racers and supporter of motocycle racing. He’s now in the process of retiring and the new owner will be Brian Saul, a car enthusiastic himself is also committed to continuing the shop’s history of quality work.
Phone number is 775-329-4557 and the website is, www.concoursbodyshop.net.
If you are in to karting or want the most cost effective way to start racing please check out Nevada Kart Sport, our own full service kart shop in this region. Owner Rodney Rivera will maintain, build or store your kart.
The shop is located at 894 Deming Way, off East Glendale, in Sparks, Nevada, and their website is currently undergoing a change but the phone number is 775-219-4184.
Hungry, want a great place to eat, then try PJ&Company for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and its a great place to watch your favorite sports.
If you’re a rider, well Wednesday evening is Bike Night, always a great time to see some great looking bikes and meet like-minded people.
The location is 1590 South Wells Avenue, just north of the round about. Phone number is 775-323-6366 and their website is www.pjandco.net.
Have a business targeted toward motorsports or an off road demographic? We are always looking for more sponsors and will expose your business to the racing and off road community in this area.
You can contact us either through the comment section of this site or on our facebook page.
RESULTS:
Stihl National Championship Air Races – Sept. 19
• International Formula One:
+ Bronze: 1. Paul Newman, 2. Rob Michle, 3. Steve Tumlin, 4. Jason Barksdale.
Not Competing: Scott Holmes, Philip Goforth, Steve Temple, Kent Jackson.
+ Silver: 1. Steve Senegal, 2. Justin Phillipson, 3. Ryszard Zadow, 4. Lio V. Mougel, 5. Kent Jackson, 6. Steve Temple, 7. Scott Holmes, 8. Joseph Clark.
+ Gold: 1. Justin Meaders (239.521 mph), 2. Steve Senegal, 3. Matthew Coughlin, 4. Justin Phillipson, 5. Jerry Marshall, 6. Ross Killin, 7. Philip Goforth, 8. Anders Trygg.
DNS: Lowell Slatter.
• Biplane:
+ Silver: 1. Jeffrey Lo, 2. Anthony Oshinuga, 3. Casey Erickson, 4. Kevin Harper, 5. Tommy Suell, 6. Scott McDonald, 7. Robert Austen.
DNS Andrew Buehler.
+ Gold: 1. Andrew Buehler (221.721 mph), 2. John D’Alessandris, 3. Scott Thomson, 4. Sam Swift, 5. Dave Roelofs, 6. Tony Higa, 7. Alan Hoover, 8. Eric Zine.
• Sport:
+ Medallion: 1. Pete Zaccagnino, 2. Mark Frederickson, 3. Neil Wischer, 4. Skylor Piper, 5. Louis Gabriel, 6. Scott Prewitt, 7. Paul Dowing, 8. Olivier Langeard.
+ Bronze: 1. Chiwami, Takagi-Read, 2. Tom McNerney,3. KirkMurphy, 4. John Flanagan, 5. Dan West, 6. Jason Rovey, 7. Lee Ulrich.
DNF: James Stringer.
+ Silver: 1. Ernie Sutter, 2. Vicky Benzing, 3. Jessy Panzer, 4. Sean Van Hatten, 5. David Robinson, 6. George Cataano, 7. Abe Gaskins, 8. Dave Morss.
+ Gold: 1. Andrew Findlay (402.716 mph), 2. Jeff LaVelle, 3. Bob Mills, 4.Jim Rust, 5. Peter Balmer, 6.Mathias Hald, 7. Vince Walker.
DNF: Karl Grove.
• T-6:
+ Bronze: 1. Ralph Rina, 2. Lee Oman, 3. Bill Muszala, 4. Michael Pfleger.
Not Competing: Chirs LeFave.
+ Silver: 1. Eric Woelbing, 2. Gene McNeely, 3. Greg McNeely, 4. William Walker III, 5. Pete Stavrides, 6. Vitaly Pecherskvy.
+ Gold: 1. John Lohmar (228.612 mph), 2. Chris Rushing, 3. Nick Macy, 4. Dennis Buehn, 5. Chris Lefave.
• Jets:
+ Bronze: 1. Zach McNeill, 2. Joe Gano, 3. Larry Labriola, 4. James Beyer.
DQ: Kevin Roll.
+ Silver: 1. Lachie Onslow, 2. Jeff Turney, 3. Charlie Camilleri, 4. Zach McNiell, 5. Larry Labriola.
+ Gold: 1. Mike Stelger 486.208 mph), 2. Pete Zaccagnino, 3. Pete Stavrides, 4. Scott Farnsworth, 5. Vicky Benzing, 6. Bob McCormack.
• Unlimited:
+ Silver: 1. Dan Vance, 2. Brant Seghetti, 3. Mark Moodle, 4. J.P. Thibodeau, 5. Michaell Pfleger, 6.Rob Gordon, 7.Jim “JD” Dale.
+ Gold: 1. Joel Swager (417.735 mph), 2. Brent Hisley, 3. Curt Brown, 4. Sherman Smoot, 5. Mark Watt, 6. Mike Brown, 7. Graeme Frew, 8. Dennis Sanders.
