Don't be fooled into thinking that Bronze is for slow people. Turning laps
of 360 mph is not going slow or loafing. Remember these speeds are around a
course, not in a straight line. The aircraft is almost always turning at
high speed-bleeding, g-pulling bank angles.
Bill Anders in #68 Val Halla qualified at 352 mph but developed a problem on
Thursday and Friday. Bob Hannah in #5 Voodoo had to fly the bronze heat
on Friday for cutting the deadline on Thursday. He took first in the
Friday heat at 379 mph. Bill Anders dnf on lap 1 as well as Bill Rheinschild
in Risky Business. Jimmy Leeward in Cloud
Dancer finished 2nd, with Stu Eberhardt in Merlins Magic at third. Saturday
saw Bill Rheinschild (in his Sea Fury this time) finished first at 385. Stu
Eberhardt and Ike Enns, both in P-51s finished 2nd and 3rd.
Final Standings
1st - Vlado Lenoch
placed 1st in the Bronze in his "Moonbeam McSwine" Blue-Noser #51 (cool #) at 368.771
mph. He qualified at 363 mph. Very steady and consistent 360's all week.
2nd - Thomas Camp in his Yak #2
"Maniyak" took 2nd at 349 mph. Qualifying speed was 350 mph.
3rd - Alan Preston in the Beacat #204
finished 3rd at 347 mph. He qualified at 366 mph.
4th - John Bagley #47 P-51
placed 4th with a speed of 346 mph. He flies one of the P-51s that Bob Hoover used
to fly at airshows around the country, "Ole Yeller". Get up close and you can
see that Bob Hoover autographed the rudder. John qualified at 357 mph.
5th - William Anders #68 P-51
Val Halla finished at 329 mph after having troubles during the week. Anders did
not finish two of the heat races.
6th - Sam Richardson #29 in a
Yak-11 named Czech Ride, finished at 316 mph. Richardson qualified at 330 mph.
7th - Brant Seghetti in #44 P-51
Sparky finished 7th at 309 mph. He qualified at 324 mph. Seghetti's
are some very nice folks, stop by and say hi.
8th - Rob Patterson in "Lady Jo" #81 TF-51
placed 8th with a speed of 300 mph. Earlier he qualified at 323 mph.
This TF-51 is based in Southern Cal owned by Mr. Bond.
9th - David Price flew his sand camo P-51 "Cottonmouth" #49
to 9th place finish at 279 mph. He qualifed this P-51 at 336 mph. This
is another Southern Cal Mustang and is part of the Santa Monica Museum of Flying.