Want some noise and some close racing (and some more noise)? Come check out the
T-6 class. They squeeze every mph out these drag-laden warbird trainers. Race
tape is everywhere, covering every gap, seam and hole on the T-6. Also many of
them seal
off the rear canopy. If you are taking on any unwanted draft, it will slow you
down.
The cool thing about the T-6 class is the closeness of the speeds. Racers' speeds
are usually from the low 200s to the high 230s mph. Plenty of good racing action to
see from Wednesday to Sunday.
Al Goss in Warlock held the high qualifying speed and the pole all week. Al
qualified at 237.4 and Mary Dilda in Two of Hearts at 236.9 mph. Third
highest qualifier goes to Nick
Macy in Six Cat at 233.9 and fourth was Tom Campau in Mystical Power at 233.5 mph.
Those four were the only T-6 racers above 230 mph. James Good was the only
racer to qualify in the 220s and the large part of the field was in the teens.
Only five racers were below 210 mph.
On Wednesday's heat, Jim Eberhardt and Keith McMann ran real tight during the
race with Eberhardt in #30 Archimedes coming across ahead the #64 Red Knight of
McMann. Thursday showed us some tight racing up front in the Gold heat with Al
Goss holding off Mary Dilda. Mary's #22 Two of Hearts was parked right outside
Goss's right wing (and slightly behind). Very nice flying. They both turned over
239 mph with Goss at 239.9 and Dilda at 239.4 mph! That is the fastest speeds
for the week. The weather was spectactular this day with the wind only a factor
in late afternoon.
Friday's Bronze heat was close with Gary Miller taking first and Chris Rushing
very close behind. Keith McMann and Jim Thomas also battled for third with only
.3 mph separation. The Silver heat was also close up front as Wayne Cartwright
crossed ahead of Joey Sanders. At the bottom of the heat, John Zayac and Gene
McNelly were very tight with only .1 mph between them.
Saturday holds the Bronze final and the last Gold heat. Goss and Dilda locked
horns again and finished side by side with Goss slightly ahead. Both speeds
at 237.4 mph. The rest of the Gold heat was spread out. The Bronze final had the
top two jump out and pull away from the field. Chris Rushing in #42 Sugarfoot
finished 1st and Gary Miller in #55 Trophy Hunter took 2nd.
After following Al Goss around all week, Mary Dilda decided it was time to
change that. She finished 1st in the Gold Final at a very steady 237 mph. Goss
had been doing that speed or better all week but fell to 233 mph on Sunday and
settled for 2nd. The top six in Gold finished as qualified except for the switch
in the top two. Very good week of T-6 racing.
T-6 Results
Bronze
#42 Chris Rushing, Sugerfoot 216.7
#55 Gary Miller, Trophy Hunter 215.5
#64 Keith McMann, Red Knight 206.7
#30 Jim Eberhardt, Archimedes 206.0
#70 Jim Thomas, Mirage 205.3
#69 Lee Oman, Eros 204.8
Silver
#5 Joey Sanders, Big Red 221.1
#44 Wayne Cartwright, Six Shooter 221.0
#89 Fredrick Telling, Baby Boomer 220.2
#12 John Zayac, Thumper 212.6
#90 Gene McNeely, Undecided 212.5
#4 Dennis Buehn, Four Play 212.5
Gold
#22 Mary Dilda, Two of Hearts 237.2
#75 Al Goss, Warlock 233.7
#6 Nick Macy, Six Cat 231.0
#21 Tom Campau, Mystical Power 227.2
#77 James Good, Wyoming Wildcatter 216.7
#9 Bud Granley, Lickety Split 214.1