Jan 2nd Registration Opens

Frances, our pilot

Shannon, our tactical coordinator

 Jan 2nd-race registration day!

Pam, our co-pilot

We have begun the process of registration for the 2014 Air Race Classic! This year the race takes us from Concord, CA to New Cumberland, PA - a distance of 2,655 statute miles. We had such good luck with her last year, we'll be taking "Flo" as our race plane. Flo is a 1968 Cessna 182 Skylane, and also goes by her race name of Classic Twentyseven.

 





Follow along with us here, and also on our FaceBook page "Classic Twentyseven" as we prepare for this awesome race. We'll have at least one other member of our 99s chapter racing with us this year, our Mama Bird - Tookie Hensley. Joining her is co-pilot from last year, Pam Bird. And there may be more....need to match some pilots, with co-pilots, and airplanes. It's the most fun flying you'll ever have!



 

 

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