We Finished in the TOP TEN!!

 

Our pilot said and we concur:

Sat for 2 nights, due to bad weather. Raced a 4 day, all VFR race in 2 days. I am beyond thrilled to be blessed to be amongst a group of such incredible legends that have raced this all women's air race since 1929 and place in the top ten.
Thank you all for your support and prayers for safety.

 

Classic Twentyseven finished in seventh place for the 2013 Air Race Classic

 



 

 



The last day....

Sunday we had an early racers breakfast to attend and then the mandatory debriefing for several hours afterwards.  Everyone gets to share their thoughts on what went well, and what didn't, and how we could improve. Today's meeting was very positive, especially of the new inspection team this year. Having all the airplanes handicapped before the race was an improvement over last year. And everyone loved the Spot GPS tracker! You could follow the race on www.trackleaders.com/arc13

There were over 11,000 hits on that site the first day.

We spent the afternoon checking on the airplanes, visiting with other racers and have lunch down on Dickson Street. Killing time until the big event tonight, the banquet & RESULTS!

We know we will place in the top 15 racers because we had the call Saturday morning to have the race plane re-inspected.  

We get The Call!

We got into Fayetteville before the deadline, after two days of hard flying, 1000+ miles each day. (Go to our Facebook page under Classic Twentyseven for details and pictures) 

We were very happy to have been able to finish the race, we were delayed by bad weather in the Washington area for two days and couldn't even start. The Bonanza Boys were the to greet us as we landed in Fayetteville about 5pm with frozen washcloths and cold drinks. Also, we participated in the Adopt a Racer program and our girls from Alabama were there to greet us! 

Our keys were turned in to race officials, log books on the seats, and we were off to the melt down party! Official scores were emailed to us about midnight and agreed with our tabulations down to 0.12 And then, at 6:30 this morning, we got The Call. We have placed somewhere in the top 15 places in the race and had to have our airplane re-inspected. So excited! So happy! And somewhat stunned! But we have been through the inspection and met with the scorer and its true, we are in the top 15. Plus, we flew a penalty free race - so important as they dock you several points for each penalty. And it's important to us that we fly as perfectly as possible.

Out at the hangar for the top 15 inspections we found we were in very respectable company! Tookie, Mary Wunder, Marge and Helen, Terry Carbonell.....racers we so look up to & aspire to emulate, also in the running for the top prizes. 

So stay tuned...awards are not announced until the banquet Sunday night. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Meetings, briefings, safety seminars,and more meetings today! We received another Spot tracker, all the racers will be  carrying this and you can watch all on
http://trackleaders.com/arc13

Saturday morning, up early after a fun day Friday. We had our pilot credentials checked, then had our race plane inspected by mechanics, so can cross that off our to do list. This weekend we will have briefings and safety seminars in preparation for race week.
Racers were arriving throughout the day, we met up with new friends, our baby birds Heather and Moe, and long time friends, Tookie and Don. And we did some more touring of the country side around the Tri Cities, no, we weren't lost again....we're calling it touring.
The FBO, Bergstroms, is hosting a pancake breakfast for us this morning. Later today we have youth activities, a meet and greet with the Mama Birds and Baby Birds, then a barbecue hangar party.
Watch our Facebook page for pictures and more info - you can find us under Classic Twentyseven
Or go to our web page www.psaracing.org for links to everything

We have arrived in Pasco! We had a warm welcome from everyone here and lots of oohs and aahs over the cool looking race plane. We met up with Donna for dinner, after an afternoon of driving thru the wineries. Only about 6 teams here, should be lots more activity Friday

"Flo" gets her Race Numbers ON!

 

 



We are so pleased with Flo's Race look - thank you so much to Gina and Scott at www.inkwrap.com ! We plan to leave first thing in the morning, fly up to Mountain Home and over to check out P&R field, then on to Pasco. At last, its race time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Race numbers going on this weekend!

 

 

 

Yesterday "Flo" had a fitting for her race numbers. This weekend that Cessna logo will be covered up with our Classic number 27. In our first race last year, we drew number 27 and we were so jazzed as we had always associated that number with veteran racer "Miss Cherokee" Dr. Dene Chabot-Fence.

 

 

Dene is a legendary racer, finishing in the top ten in the Air Race Classic ten times, and being the winner twice! So this year we picked Classic 27 again, and hope having number 27 will rub some good luck off on us.

 

 

We've been fortunate to meet and race with some of these renown racers like Dene, and Tookie, Fran Bera, and Marge & Helen & Ruby. (And you'll find us lurking around,  hoping they will drop some racing secrets our way)





 

 

 

 

 

Highlight on our Sponsors-

Hicks Cooling and Heating, Aircraft Spruce

Cessna Gold Level Sponsor

 

Not just great sponsors, but our biggest fans, are our families. Hicks Cooling and Heating was started by Shannon's Mom and Dad. Ken Hicks moved his family to Lake Havasu City, AZ in August 1974. He worked various jobs including the McCulloch Chainsaw Company and a few Air Conditioning companies when he arrived in Lake Havasu. Then in 1989, he and his wife Susan started a new family business serving the community in commercial refrigeration and air conditioning service.
We lost Ken last year, and miss him very much - but we try to live by his motto:

"You can never have too much fun!"

Shannon has three brothers, and all of them play an important role with the race team.

Jim is the inspiration for the fast look of "Flo" our race plane. Ben is a graphic artist and designs not only our cool race logos, but many logos and tee shirts for our 99s chapter over the last ten years. Charlie helps us with our press releases and interviews us for his radio station-makes us feel like Famous People!

And then there is Wyatt, when shopping with his Grandmother Susan after last years race, said "why not this trophy?" She said, "yes, why not!"



And that's how Classic 27 ended up with the best ever trophy!

 

That's right, 24th place! We beat half of them our rookie season:)

 

 

 





Cessna Gold Level Sponsor

 

Aircraft Spruce and Specialty Company

 

 Last month we told you our race plane is named "Flo" after Flo Irwin, Mom to Frances' husband John. After Bob and Flo Irwin sold their Fullerton Air Parts business, they founded another which sold only one product, aircraft grade spruce lumber for aircraft construction and restoration. Aircraft Spruce Company quickly added more products to its small catalog and adopted the name Aircraft Spruce and Specialty Co. with a goal to offer everything pilots and aircraft builders' need. As Aircraft Spruce served more and more customers and more and more products were added, the staff grew from 2 in 1965 to over 150 today.

Jim Irwin, John's brother and Bob & Flo's older son, grew up in the business, working in jobs such as cutting metal and spruce, pulling shipping orders, and managing kit programs such as the Vari-Eze back in 1975 while still in college.

Jim acquired the company and became president in 1980. Jim's wife Nanci, is vice president and works full time managing the company's accounting and data processing departments. Jim and Nanci have 4 children. Mike, Jeff, and Rob are in management at Aircraft Spruce. Mike and Jeff are licensed pilots. Krissy works in the apparel industry.
Thank you so much to our family at Aircraft Spruce for your support of our race team!

 

 

 

 

Race Practice June 1st

RACER GIRL!

 

Race practice: Today its only 98 degrees, the wind is only gusting to 26. We've got our pilot leaving tire tracks on the ridgelines and getting used to flying it in the yellow:) She is a RACER GIRL!
Meanwhile the copilot finds she is totally dependent on her technology and when it goes down, must wake the team mate/tactical coordinator in the back seat to ask how to figure out when to tell the pilot to start the descent-since she no longer has a magic electronic device doing it for her!