Rocket 100 Race Recaps - Tall Tales and First Hand Accounts

From Bob Axsom:

I flew down to Taylor (south central Texas) from Fayetteville, Arkansas (northwest corner of the state) on Friday thank goodness because I heard several missed approaches in the fog and low clouds Saturday morning. Before landing I flew the race start location and the first three turns because they would come up fast in the race and I wanted to have seen them before it was for real. I would have flown the whole course but I was low on fuel and the rest were not as demanding (and airport versus a VOR for example). After landing I found there was adequate parking, which I thought might be a problem with such a large entry list.

The fog and low ceilings Saturday morning delayed some racer arrivals and the start of the race until near noon. Arriving aircraft, crowds for the open house/air show and flow of race aircraft from the ramp was masterfully handled by our own Darrell Reiley - believe me it was a tough job and he appeared unflappable. Several racers were at nearby airports waiting for conditions to improve so they could fly into Taylor Municipal Airport, get race briefed and fly the race. Mike Thompson who flies an RV-6 and is my closest competitor, also had the responsibility of race director. He bent over backward to accommodate everyone that wanted to race. There is no doubt in my mind that this was a terrible distraction for him as a racer but he did not lose his composure once during the briefing, patiently answering every question and giving personal briefings to all of the late arrivals. Another masterful job that made it all possible.

The night before the race I studied the wind charts and planned my race strategy. The wind charts I used were those on-line at the aviation weather center for 1500Z, surface, 3,000 feet and 6,000 feet. I had developed a race leg spread sheet where I could plug in independent variable like leg length, climb speed, descend speed, cruise speed, relative wind angle & speed, altitude change. The functions were imbedded in other cells of the spreadsheet to automatically calculate intermediate values and the time and speed results for my selected choices. I spent hours in my motel room Friday night running options for the 9 race legs. In the end I settled on a climb to 1,600 ft after take-off then descend to the start for speed and maintain minimum altitude (500 ft agl) to turn 1. In the very short leg between turn 1 and 2 I would start my 500 fpm climb toward 3000 ft and continue the rest of the climb on the way to turn 3. I would maintain the 3,000 ft altitude until turn 5 then descent rapidly to 500 ft agl in the less than a mile to turn 6 and on the initial part of the long leg to turn 7. From there on to turn 8 and the finish line I would remain at minimum altitude. My work showed that if the winds were as forecast I could average 217 mph for the race.

After we were launched for the race on Saturday I flew as planned except the low clouds prevented me from reaching 3,000 feet. Just before the first turn I was passed by and unpainted RV-8 and he was going away as we rounded turn 1. I started my climb and he stayed low so I thought to myself I may be able to catch him if he stays low for the whole race. I did pass him and stayed ahead until shortly before turn 7 at the radome. I saw him creeping by off to the left and by the finish I was about 1 mile behind Race #390. Back at the airport in the refueling line I learned that the RV-8 has a 390 cu. in. engine so I felt a little better.

I met more people at this race than at any previous race and I visited with a lot of old friends and competitors but I also saw a lot of young children (far less than 10 years old) fascinated with airplanes. One little girl drew a very good picture of my plane and accurately colored it to match my plane's paint scheme. How can you not be moved by that?

I flew home after refueling so I don't know the results yet but I had a good time so whatever the results are, I'm happy.

Bob Axsom
RV-6A, Race #71

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From Bob Mills:

Really fun race day. Fog in the am, so pre-brief preps saw everyone squeegeeing off their airplanes as locals began showing for the fly-in and open house. Good brief with numerous questions and some last minute procedural adjustments to ensure safety with a large field of varied speed aircraft (SX-300/P51 down to C-150!), multiple fly-in arrivals, wx impacts and a comm discipline discussion (which went very well by the way...racers were great on the radio yesterday!)

Start was delayed for clouds to lift and a few last minute racer arrivals, then start went very smoothly (AFAICT). Greg Nelson and I smoked for the takeeoff, and at the start finish line. I think the T-28 did as well.

Wind was out of the south, and the course was somewhat bumpy. Those that climbed at turn 1 and stayed high (2500 or so...just below the cloud deck) till turn 5/6 (Hearn) seemed to do best. Gary Wilcox and I did not, and paid)...I watched Wayne Hadath and Mark Frederick walk away from me, and Gary tangled with Jason Rovey the whole way. Wayne ran a super race and passed Mark, and after turn 5 I slowly reeled in Mark, and got him by 7 second (didn't catch him, just got closer...had I gone higher earlier, it may have been a photo finish). Mark experimented with mogas for this race, and had to run quite rich to stay cool, so that cost him speed.

The radome killed some Garmins again, but miraculously mine survived this time. However, I had Mark to chase down in the weeds to turn 8 and the finish...way fun!

Recovery was interesting, with multiple airplanes entering downwind or coming into the break, while others were calling the last turn and the finish. But everyone kept their heads on a swivel, communicated well, and everything went well...even with a gyrocopter hovering near the base turn...why, we couldn't figure out! :-0

As you noted, like Courtland, the speeds were really fast. It was my first average time over 250 mph, so I was very happy with the run...except for the bad call to stay lower early...dern it!

Tom Martin ran super fast, and I'll let him tell ya the story about almost catching a slightly wayward P-51, then seeing that the Mustang had some power in reserve...good story!

Good post-party at Macho Grande last night, with copious amounts of beer and pizza consumed...great time!

Several launched yesterday for home. The Canucks left this morning and are on thier way. Bruce Hammer dashed for Cajun-land, and Greg Nelson is on the way to CA. I'm flying commercial home, cause Vegas and Reno look bad, with wind, rain and snow, so rather than get stuck where no jumpseat availabilty exists, Ill head home, fly a trip, then come get the plane after turkey day, when wx looks good.

Ann Elise appears to have a busted NWS on her 182, with parts needed, so they will be back too. Mark and I looked it over this am, and Bobby is on his way back to get the Bennett girls in the Bonanza. But Ann-Elise is super happy with her SARL overall Bronze trophy (she called it the man-trophy, as she's the first woman to win one...gotta chage the nick-name, I guess!)

It was a great event...suitable finish to a great SARL year!

OK...next story teller jump in here!

Cheers,

Bob

Race 43

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From Tom Martin:

I chased a P51!

When I heard that there was going to be a Mustang in the Rocket 100 race I was very pleased that our league was getting this type of competitor, not to mention the two T28s that had entered. Being a competitor I started to wonder how fast is a P51 down low? The day before the Courtland race Chris Murphy had tested his speed dash system with a mustang and it clocked 299mph. This is faster then my plane but what, I dreamed, if he did not want to work his engine, how big are his turns, has the pilot done this type of thing before, etc. Chances are I will never get to ride in a Mustang but keeping close to it would be awesome.

When the race order was posted I was even more excited as I was following the big bird right from the start. The first thing I learned is that three plane lengths are not enough spacing when he turned his aircraft for a run up. My little bird was dancing on the taxiway for a few minutes when that big prop spun up.

I maintained our 20-second separation until the start and then I was on the chase. Right off the bat I knew that I could get up to speed faster then he could and I was gaining ground up to turn one. Here he did make a much bigger turn then I did and I was closing the gap even more, Oh man this is going to be close! My flight plan was to climb after turn one to catch some upper winds. He stayed low and thus started to pull ahead while I lost airspeed in the climb. Turn two comes up very fast and just before turn two he turned to the right to go around the WRONG water tower. Of course now I am wondering if I have the right turn point entered! He makes his turn climbs and banks and there he is right in front of me 90 degrees, wide open. How often has a tin can built in a barn caught a P51 in that position? I made my turn and climbed even more. I now was even with him and if I could just stay there my finishing time would be better then a P51! But I made a mistake. When he had made his turn in front of me I should have stayed behind him. I am sure that he saw me, perhaps not, but after that he started to pull away, obviously applying more power. I did have one more chance though, as he started to go way off course to the right. I pondered for a minute and made the call “Mustang turn left to course”. By the time we got the dam turn he was well ahead and my visions of glory were gone but I will never forget the site of him in a bank right in my line of sight, how good is that!

His speed of 298 mph was 22 faster then my 277mph. I did manage to best the T28, 262mph, by 15. What a great end to the season, thanks Mike and Mark.

Tom Martin

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