The Race Starts in the Morning

We have gone through two days of briefings and spent all sorts of time going over FAA regulations, flight planning, and strategizing over the best airplane configuration to fly (manifold pressure, leaning, prop rpm, cylinder head temps, exhaust gas temp, cylinder temp differential, etc). Our heads are spinning with all the data.

At this point, the night before, I think we are in pretty good shape. The stress is beginning to creep in but Sheryl and I are doing a good job at keeping it at bay, thanks to family and friends we keep calling and asking questions of.

Just to add a bit of fun to the equation we lost electricity in the hotel for about two hours during a severe thunderstorm that looked more like a tornado when we looked out of the window and decided to step away from the glass. As we sat in our ever warming room we could hear the rescue squad from the local FD getting a little girl out of the elevator while her mother talked to her on her cell phone and wrung her hands in worry.

As for the race, the big concern is over safety for this particular racing event due to the large number of racers (51 teams at final count) and percentage of first time fliers (2/3rds). Launching 51 planes within 15 minutes to fly the same route over low altitude and going into an uncontrolled field could well possibly be a recipe for disaster.

This was the best possibly year for Sheryl and I to be in a fast airplane and with the opportunity to take off first for safety purposes. We will initially start out ahead and be able to stay ahead of the "traffic".

It looks as though we may be able to take advantage of a rare tailwind blowing east to west so initially plan to fly from Fort Myers, to Waycross GA, to Tuscaloosa, AL to Hot Spring, AZ finishing up in Cameron, MO tomorrow. Our only regret will be to pass up on the Tuscaloosa hospitality of cousin Pam.