Last but definitely not least
the Unlimited Class. This class is by
far the most popular. It has been around
since the beginning of the National Championship Air Races at Stead Airport
north of Reno. The requirements for this
class are" Empty weight of 4500 pounds or more". All I have seen since I have been attending
are either vintage World War II(WWII) fighters and trainers or highly modified
WWII fighter and trainer aircraft. It is
an awesome experience to watch these aircraft in action. There are four divisions. Going from lowest to highest, Medallion is
run only on Thursday to allow the winner to advance to Bronze. Bronze is run Friday, Saturday and
Sunday. The winner advances to
Silver. Silver is also run on Friday,
Saturday and Sunday. The winner advances
to the Gold and yes it also runs Friday Saturday and Sunday. Now if a plane breaks and does not finish he
drops down to the next division and will have to work his way back up. So there is a lot of strategy being done on
how hard you want to push your plane in the beginning and during qualifying
because if you qualify for either Gold or Silver you don't race until Friday
afternoon giving your crew more time to prepare. This goes for all 6 classes of planes.
Some of the aircraft you will
see are:
·
P-51 Mustangs
#30 "Grim Reaper" P-51D
#16 "Lou IV" P-51D
·
F-8F-2 Bearcats
#77 "Rare Bear"
·
F-7F Tigercats
#3 "Here Kitty Kitty"
#3 "Here Kitty Kitty"
#1 "La Patrona"
·
FW-190
#145 "What Da Fockewulf"
· Yak 3
#0 "Rossiya Suka
·
Hawker Seafurys
#71 "Sawbones"
#8 "Dreadnaught"
· FM-2 Wildcat
#2 "Air Biscuit"
·
P-40 Curtiss Warhawks
#17 "Parrothead
#18 "Sneak Attack"
·
F-4U Corsair
#24 "Corsair"
These planes fly low, fast and turn left and are very
exciting to watch. So come on out and
join the fun this year as they have their 49th annual National Championship Air
Races in Reno this September starting the 13th on Thursday with the finale on
16th on Sunday.
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