Reno Pix Are Up!

See 'em at www.alexisparkinn.com/2004_reno_air_races.htm .
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Cool pictures Jay. So...I guess this proves that you were there :-)
Looking at how you guys were dressed while there, it's obvious you
didn't stay Saturday/Sunday. Brrrrr, it was cold. Jeans and a
sweatshirt Saturday were a minimum...and I was still shivering sitting
in the stands with a 15-20 kt wind blowing all day.

Many of the pictures look *very* familiar given our last two treks to
OSH. Thanks for posting them.

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL, IA Student

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jay Honeck"
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.piloting
Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 9:49 AM
Subject: Reno Pix Are Up!


See 'em at www.alexisparkinn.com/2004_reno_air_races.htm .
--
Jay Honeck

Y'know, I have lived at Tahoe for 21 years. And, after seeing your
pictures, for the first time I want to go to the Air Races!

Great job.

By the way, you said you crossed the "Sierra Nevada Mountains" (thanks for
not saying the "Sierras"). Unless you snuck in a visit to Jim in Grass
Valley, you crossed the Rockies twice, but the Sierra Nevada (and its
mountain waves) will have to wait for another excursion.

-cj

Jay Honeck wrote:

See 'em at www.alexisparkinn.com/2004_reno_air_races.htm .

Nice shots. The "Typhoon?" shot is a Fairey Firefly -- there are no Typhoons flying.
If I've read correctly, there's only one in existence, and it's static. And "Rare
Bear" isn't the world's fastest plane -- better stick the word "piston" in there
someplace. Nice panning on the race shots.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

cj wrote:

Y'know, I have lived at Tahoe for 21 years. And, after seeing your
pictures, for the first time I want to go to the Air Races!

Similar story here. Lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1974,
moved to Sacramento in 1980...first time to the races was two years ago.
Definitely one of those "why didn't I do that sooner" experiences.


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL, IA Student

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

Similar story here. Lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1974,
moved to Sacramento in 1980...first time to the races was two years ago.
Definitely one of those "why didn't I do that sooner" experiences.

I'm kind of confused by the Reno Air Races, to be honest.

Here they are, the fastest, most exciting motor sport in the world -- and
almost no one outside of the aviation community knows about them. Even in
Reno, which did have a fair amount of local media coverage, there were no
meaningful race results published daily. It was mostly "fluff" pieces in
the local paper, and on the evening news.

Strangely, there wasn't even any venue to bet on the results, which
(although I don't like to gamble) seemed odd in a city where gambling on
ANYTHING is encouraged. Wouldn't you think they would have had some sort
of method for betting on the races?

And here's the final mystery: They have no television contract. Why hasn't
ESPN jumped all over this venue? It's incredibly dangerous, exciting,
fast, and macho -- all the things NASCAR has, times three.

Or, perhaps, the organizers don't want them to? Are they trying to keep it
insular?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:ndI4d.245778$Fg5.212469@attbi_s53...

I'm kind of confused by the Reno Air Races, to be honest.

Here they are, the fastest, most exciting motor sport in the world -- and
almost no one outside of the aviation community knows about them. Even
in
Reno, which did have a fair amount of local media coverage, there were no
meaningful race results published daily. It was mostly "fluff" pieces in
the local paper, and on the evening news.

The focus is on the Unlimited class, but I do recall reading in the Reno
Gazette Journal about how the biplanes snuck up in the speed ranks.

Strangely, there wasn't even any venue to bet on the results, which
(although I don't like to gamble) seemed odd in a city where gambling on
ANYTHING is encouraged. Wouldn't you think they would have had some sort
of method for betting on the races?

Ladbrokes (sp?) in England will take bets on almost anything. In Nevada,
with boxing being the glaring exception, if a single person could throw the
event, they tend to not take any action on the event. Many years ago, when
Oral Roberts said he'd stay in his tower unless God sent him X million
dollars, you could bet on it in England but not in Nevada.

There used to be a club by the train tracks (across from the Silver Legacy)
called the "Turf Club". It was the only place where I ever saw bets on a
tennis tournament months before the event. They probably had Air Race
betting.

And here's the final mystery: They have no television contract. Why
hasn't
ESPN jumped all over this venue? It's incredibly dangerous, exciting,
fast, and macho -- all the things NASCAR has, times three.

I remember watching ABC's "Wide World of Sports", back in the day when they
had Acapulco cliff diving and such. They showed a crash at Reno where the
pilot's shoes were on the ground but the pilot survived. I wish I could
honor the pilot by remembering his name.

I suspect the lack of a series keeps the networks away. Before WW-II, there
were a number of air races and speed competitions. Now, there is one (the
"races" to fly-ins don't really count for TV). Wide World of Sports
devolved into gymnastics and figure skating, and the opportunity to see
unusual sports has evolved into the "Xtreme" crap. I have a friend who
races Skier-cross in the winter "X" games. It is a made for TV spectacle -
however, it is built around well marketted series of preliminary events.

The race organizers had a big setback in September, 2001. Hopefully, they
can find a way to get on the "Xtreme" bandwagon without alientating those of
us who keep the bill of our hat facing forward and don't use "Dude" as a
comma.

-cj

The race organizers had a big setback in September, 2001. Hopefully, they
can find a way to get on the "Xtreme" bandwagon without alientating those
of
us who keep the bill of our hat facing forward and don't use "Dude" as a
comma.

Well put.

You would think that ESPN2 would at least cover the event. It's a mystery
to me.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

("Jay Honeck" wrote)
You would think that ESPN2 would at least cover the event. It's a
mystery
to me.


I too remember watching air races on TV in the 70's. I assume it was ABC WW
of Sports.

BTW - nice pixs on your site Jay.


"Dodgeball on The Ocho - ESPN8"

Montblack

Jay Honeck wrote:
The race organizers had a big setback in September, 2001. Hopefully, they
can find a way to get on the "Xtreme" bandwagon without alientating those

of

us who keep the bill of our hat facing forward and don't use "Dude" as a
comma.


Well put.

You would think that ESPN2 would at least cover the event. It's a mystery
to me.

It's been on ESPN before, problem is is that it is terribly boring.