Arriving at the Start in Concord Ca

Our departure from Lake Havasu this morning.

We had a great 4 hour flight up to Concord, flying out of the desert past Edwards AFB and turning the corner, overflying Bakersfield airport and heading up to Concord. We landed about 1:30 and were able to do our credential check in and airplane inspection right away.

The same team that inspected us last year in Pasco was on hand, and remembered our Flo as being a bit of a problem child for getting the cowl off and scoring the prop governor. They threatened to disqualify us if we show up next year! But we convinced them they were getting so fast and good at it, we were going to make a competition and time them.

"Flo" has her race clothes on and we are ready to go! Wonderful husband Bill went out this morning to apply a little more wax to the wings, while the team packed up and dropped off our suitcases to be shipped-courtesy of wonderful husband John:) And wonderful husband Jon has made all the plans to get the Bonanza Boys to the terminus in Harrisburg PA by Wednesday.

Thursday June 12th we plan to lift off around 7am for our 4 hour flight to Concord CA. Once there, we will have credential check-in, and our hostesses from the San Joaquin 99s have arranged for us to go tour the Viano Vineyards, the oldest winery in the County. Still owned by the same family since 1886, we will tour the winery and sample their fine wines.

Friday the 13th is the deadline for racers to check in. We will have "Flo" inspected, and then we turn in our keys and she is impounded until race start on Monday morning. The mandatory weather briefings, safety briefings, and fly by briefings will carry on through the weekend.

But in spite of all those briefings, we will still be very social! Abingdon Watches is hosting a Clocktail Party at the Jet Center prior to our barbecue on Friday evening. Saturday is the Start Banquet, and Sunday we hope to be done with meetings by lunch time and take a quick trip into San Fransisco.

Follow us on our Facebook page Classic Twentyseven
Once the race starts on Monday follow us on Spot Trackleaders.com/arc14

And, for today, we were FAMOUS PEOPLE! We made the front page of the local paper

The pilots will be flying a 1968 Cessna 182L. Here she is decked out in her racing flames with all our wonderful sponsors logos. Would you like to help sponsor the team? Check out our sponsor levels and email us

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!