They Look Like Your Airplane.

ANN's Firsthand Coverage of the Reno Air Races

I talked with Mike Jones (above), the President of the newest class at Reno. Sport Class has been around since just 1998, with a guy named Dave Morss out there in front every year... until last year, when former Unlimited champion Darryl Greenamyer [seen below, working on his red Lancair -- he was champ in 1965 through '69, '71, and '77] came back in spectacular fashion and cleaned everybody's clock in his twin-turbocharged Lancair Legacy.

Sport Class airplanes look like what you can build or buy yourself -- there's a lot of Glasairs and Lancairs, and Ventures; and you'll see EZs and even a Swearingen SX-300 (right) or two. In many respects, the planes are what you'd find at your local airport... cleaner, perhaps, and in better tune -- but very much like the birds in your very own flock.

Except

...they run over 300 mph -- average -- over Reno's closed course. The very fastest racers are in a class by themselves, with race-built machines, but Mike said, "There's going to be a lot of 'races within the races' this year."

He thinks Sport Class racing will become more and more popular, "especially when pilots see they don't have to spend enormous amounts of money." The planes, he says, "are of interest, and you see interesting permutations of design."

What's happening in the design, in the field? "There's no trends emerging," Mike figures. "It's been fascinating to watch."

That may change, though: "Jon Sharp [1982 and '86 F1 champion, who also won every Gold F1 race between 1991 and 1999, inclusive] has a design [Nemesis II] that could conceivably go 400 miles an hour. Darryl (Greenamyer) still has a few things up his sleeve, too."

The Sport Class racers aren't 'formula.' "You can run a turbo, or supercharger; you can run geared engines up to 650 cubic engines," Mike noted. The sanctioning club doesn't have the manpower to monitor everything, either.

"We're not the NHRA or NASCAR," he explained, "we can't just sustain a rulesmaking body. We're trying to keep it a sporting venue -- we're not trying to anticipate ANYthing that ANYbody might come up with."

What's he thinking? "Jon [Sharp], for instance -- he had to produce and sell five kits." That makes the fastest planes more-accessible. It's a double-edged sword, too: "We're not going to have just Jon to contend with. I hope that it doesn't negatively affect the class, long-term."

Purses help...

The payout structure of the class is designed to encourage participation by as many pilots as qualify. "The purse used to be front, loaded, Sunday-loaded," he said, meaning that the winner, and those at the front of the field, took home most of the prize money.

"We used to pay $200 a race until Sunday." That's great for the few front-runners, but it's rough for the guys in the back, who generally don't have the sponsors and the money, in the first place. "A guy could just hold back [or nurse a crippled plane]... now, the purses get bigger each day, and the pay goes farther down the finishing order. Even if a guy places last in the Silver, he can still make expenses."

More planes means more sponsor awareness, as well. "Now, we're getting more interest from sponsors, all across the board." All those stickers you see on race planes? Every one makes the plane go faster.

There's a lot of racing going on. "The Glasair, for instance, has a huge base of fans." He still thinks that faster is better, though. "The spectators -- the faster the front of the field gets, the better." There's a lot of room within a particular design, too. "Look at the Glasairs," he said. "They go anywhere from 240 to 290." He thinks the class "...should hopefully retain its diversity."

Big, Encouraging News: Lycoming Factory Support

Big news this year is that Lycoming has a brand-new six: a 580, and it's racing in the front of Mike's Glasair. "I'm about 11 miles per hour over last year," he said. "It's a learning experience for them [Lycoming]," he offered. "They're developing a performance engine -- they're learning things they just don't see on the dyno." His engine-monitoring system is a model of simplicity. Unlike what you'd expect from, say Japanese engineers, Lycoming's system in Mike's plane is really simple, and removable; and it doesn't take a team of technicians to keep it running.

"We instrument everything; and we run a camera on the instruments," he said. (See photo.)

How about getting a job on a team as a spotter?

Forget it. Mike's been around the pylons a time or two, and he said, "In order to fly a good line, you've got to be looking at the line. If I see oil pressure, say, more than once a lap, it's lucky. If you have to look at the instruments, you're going to slow down." So, how about live telemetry, and a spotter?

"Nobody wants the distraction of a spotter," he said. "Lee Behel, though, has a rear-view mirror."

FMI: www.sportclass.com