"Jay Honeck" wrote in
newsNp1k.139052$TT4.90385@attbi_s22:

For those who want to jump straight to the pictures:

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/2008_-_...in_detroit.htm

We intended to fly to YIP (Ypsilanti, MI) last Friday, to meet this
group's own Jim & Tami Burns (& Family) for a fun weekend at the
races. Unfortunately, Mother Nature brought a line of Level 5s to bear
on our route of flight, and we reluctantly made the decision to drive
to Detroit -- a 1,000 mile round-trip.

The no-go decision was the right one, though -- I ended up driving in
torrential rains like few I've seen before, and flying would've been
suicidal. Luckily, Jim (coming from WI) was able to fly his Aztec
over the big lake, and pulled a neat northerly end-around the line of
storms.

We stayed at the GM Renaissance Center's Marriott. Normally I avoid
big-box chain hotels like the plague, but this facility was "show
center" for the entire weekend, so I gritted my teeth and paid over
$200/night for a room less than half the size of one of our 2-bedroom
suites. As expected, it was a huge rip-off, with no continental
breakfast, a one-cup (!) coffee maker, and NO wireless internet.

But it *was* centrally located. We were able to simply walk out the
front door and watch the races, which was marvelous. Had we opted to
stay at a better (cheaper) hotel, any savings would have been offset
by additional parking and gas expenses.

In the evening we found the hotel bar to be chock-full of "Red Bull
Beautiful People" -- mostly young, blonde floozies apparently
recruited for the event. They mostly hung all over the pilots and Red
Bull big-wheels, but Jim and I enjoyed our time in the bar, and were
even treated to a round of drinks purchased by one of the floozies who
flashed us from the bar! (Our wives complained, but didn't send the
drinks back... :-)

Saturday dawned promising, but the winds following the storms were
impressive, gusting to 59 mph. Unfortunately, the announcers (Red
Bull sets up speakers and giant-screen TVs everywhere in the viewing
area) kept up a steady, optimistic banter that pretty well promised
that racing *would* occur...eventually. So, we sat, and sat, and
waited. Every now and then a couple of T-6s would fly by, and the
B-25 was fun, and the Heritage Flight with an F/A-18 and Corsair was
cool -- but, for the most part, there was not much to do but watch the
boats go past...

When one of the pylons broke loose from it's moorings and started
rolling down-river, we knew the writing was on the wall. It was a lot
of fun, watching them try to corral the damned thing with boats, but
at 3 PM they called it due to wind.

So, we did what every red-blooded American would do -- we sent the
kids back to the room with pizza and pop, and went bar hopping!
Detroit comes equipped with a wonderful "People Mover" system that
aids and abets this sort of behavior, and -- for just 50 cents -- you
can ride all over downtown Detroit in style.

Now, I know what you're thinking. I was expecting Detroit to be an
open sewer, with gang-bangers and trash everywhere, but we were
pleasantly surprised to find a clean, modern, nice riverfront area,
and some fun bars to visit. We never felt the least bit threatened,
and, in fact, we walked back to our hotel from the bars, enjoying the
night air. They've spent HUGE amounts of money cleaning up the area,
and it shows.

We eventually settled into the Hard Rock Cafe, where (for reasons that
may become clear at the HOPS Party in Oshkosh) we endeavored to
explore and discover the perfect Long Island Iced Tea recipe. It was
hell, but someone had to do it -- and we eventually discovered the
LIITs can be made both with and without tequila.

This seemed incredibly important at the time, for some reason... I
don't know why.

Sunday dawned sunny and nice, in the 70s. The organizers had to pack
two days of racing into a single day, and it was chock-full of good
stuff. Once the racing got started, they were very good at keeping
things moving, with very small gaps between each racer. (Prior to
racing, however, they lagged badly. They need to study Oshkosh, and
learn how to keep the crowds entertained...)

The races themselves are fabulous, with real danger and excitement at
every pylon. For those who may not know, they don't race
head-to-head, but rather against the clock through a complex course
made up of 60-foot inflatable pylons mounted on anchored barges in the
Detroit River. Some pylons must be split in knife-edge flight,
while others must be done wings-level.

The consistency of these competition pilots is simply incredible.
Kirby Chambliss ended up winning by a scant fraction of a second
(like, .015 of a second), over a course that takes between 1:12 and
1:20 to complete. To say it's exciting is an understatement, and even
the "NASCAR crowd" (meaning non-aviation folk) was able to appreciate
the skill that went into flying the course.

Surprisingly, the Red Bull organizers muffed some pretty basic stuff.
For example, there was just one (1) vendor selling shirts and T-shirts
for a crowd of thousands, and the lines were interminable. They
could've sold many more, if they had the foresight to place more
vendors in the area.

Ditto with race souvenirs -- there simply weren't any. With all the
down-time waiting, Red Bull left tens of thousands of dollars on the
table by not catering to the crowd.

The biggest rip-off of the weekend surely had to be the upscale $200
seats that were placed inside a cordoned-off area right up against the
hotel. Unfortunately, tens of thousands of people continually walked
the sidewalk in front of these poor saps, meaning that they were
unable to see anything most of the time. I would have been furious,
and demanded to be "upgraded" to the $30 riverfront seats like ours...

Still, these were minor glitches in an overall wonderful weekend. If
you EVER get the chance to see this international "World Series" of
air racing, jump at it. I had seen their first "exhibition race" at
Reno, back in '04, so I knew what it was about -- and I'm here to tell
you that they were worth every hour of that horrible, 1000-mile drive
to see them.

Barf


Bertie