Wow, what an adventure! I haven't been involved in any competitive events since I was Aaron's age. This last week provided all the excitement that an air race should.

I left Pecan Plantation Saturday afternoon, July 24, 1999, heading for Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, with an overnight visit in Baton Rouge with Mother. The Experimental Aircraft Association 1999 AirVenture Cup starting line was the First Flight Airport centerline abeam the Wright Brothers monument. Dare County airport was the staging area for all the pre-race activities, which was about 7 miles away.

Sunday afternoon, most of the pilots were able to spend some time at the Wright Brothers museum. There are large boulders marking the takeoffs and landings spots back in 1903.

There are some pieces of the original equipment such as the sewing machine used to make the fabric panels and part of the engines that were developed by Orville and Wilbur. The large monument is on a hill overlooking the site. The first Flight Society has worked very hard to preserve the events of that era. North Carolina pork barbecue was served that evening with all the fixin's.

The next morning, a breakfast briefing was held to discuss the weather and revise the race plans to accommodate Mother Nature. We revised the race from a single leg to two legs since there were storms around Chicago. The intermediate checkpoint was the Wright Brothers Airport near Dayton, Ohio. This changed the nature of the race from a high altitude / endurance race to a low altitude / high power dash.

After a staggered takeoff, each aircraft passed the starting line at full speed. Several hundred people were at the first Flight Airport to watch the start. I started the race at about 1000 feet above the ground with the engine running just about wide open (28" and 2600 RPM). I was cruising about 185 knots and burning about 13 gallons of fuel per hour. About half way to Ohio is the Appalachian Mountains.

With the mountaintops at 4000 to 5000 feet MSL and the winds from the west, the turbulence was moderate to severe. I decided then to change the CD from a classical to some Rock n' Roll (seemed fitting for the occasion). A low pass down the runway at Dayton-Wright Brothers field at about 230 MPH was the end of the first leg. I was the second aircraft in just behind the Polen Special (less a spinner on the Polen).

After all the aircraft arrived, we waited for the weather to move east over us and when the clouds turned from gray to black to green, we decided to move the aircraft into a hangar and spend the night. We made the Dayton News for the next day with a picture of Dick working on the prop where the spinner came off during the first leg and all the rest of the aircraft in the background.

The next morning was pleasant and good for racing. Similar starts were conducted and once again, a low altitude dash was in order. There were head winds aloft so the lower altitudes proved to be advantageous once again. I was flying so low that I had trouble talking to the air traffic controllers around Chicago. There was a checkpoint at Aurora, IL so as to avoid going over Lake Michigan; that would obviously be a bad place to run out of fuel. I crossed the finish line just south of Oshkosh in 4 hours, 49 minutes and 18 seconds for an average speed of 196.77 miles per hour.

Once at Oshkosh, we had center stage parking on row #2 for the race airplanes and a welcoming committee with refreshments and food. We had trouble closing our flight plans at Dayton, so we closed the plans both via radio and telephone just to make sure. Several hours later, the results were official and I had beaten my nearest competition by 13 minutes.

That evening, there was a banquet held for the racers in Paul's park. Paul Poberezny gave a speech and sat to talk for a while. He signed my results sheet and posed for photos.

The next evening, the trophies were presented by the coordinators of the race at the Theatre in the Woods. I gave a short speech and challenged all the builders and pilots to participate in next years race.

The next day, Dick and I were interviewed by Jack Cox who is the Sport Aviation Magazine Senior Editor. He seemed to take an interest in the fact that Dick and I were from the same town and were able to win each of our classes. Later, he recommended that we conduct a photo session with the EAA professional photographers. This is the group who makes the marvelous photos seen on the covers and inside stories of the magazine. There was a 4:00 briefing for the session and the following morning, Dick and I flew both formation photos and solos with the EAA Cessna 210. There were static photos taken of the airplane along with video taped interviews. I expect that in the coming months, the story will be published.

After a few interesting days at the world of Oshkosh, I left for home. I stopped in Arkansas to spend the night with Aaron and then home the next day.

That was some fine week! – Don