Bonneville News

[Hank Murrow]

Wondering if the tropical storm that rode up the Coast to Los Angeles came further north to spoil the fun at Bonneville Salt Flats?

Cheers! to Dan & Crew anyway, Hank in Eugene

[Doc B.]

Yes, the event was cancelled for the second year in a row due to flooding.

[robertod]

oh man, what a shame.

[2wo]

I am just back from the Reno Air races. This is the last year and we were having a great time.

Unfortunately it ended on a sad note. After the gold T6 race the first and second place pilots  collided while landing and were killed. The rest of the races were canceled...John

[Mucker]

The end of the races this year was indeed very sad. However, I don't think it tarnishes its' legacy at all. RARA put on one hell of a show every year! Completely unique, it's hard to imagine replicating anything like it going forward, wherever it ends up if it survives.

I was fortunate to attend a half dozen of the events and have wonderful memories of being there. Especially watching my favorite pilot on multiple occasions, Bob Hoover. I did witness a few fatalities and it always leaves an aching pit in your stomach when seeing pilots go down. These guys loved what they did and were well aware of the risks involved when climbing into those T-6 beasts. Consummate professionals, the best in the business. May their souls rest in peace!

[Doc B.]

It is shocking when someone gets hurt or killed at an event. Our community is a very tight knit family and I'm sure the air racing community is too. Luckily fatalities are rare in my sport, considering the risk (You go as fast as you can? On a motorcycle? You are insane) and the number of entrants at an event. One advantage to LSR is that you are on the course by yourself and thus are solely responsible for your screwups.

The members of a high risk sport community do indeed understand the risk, and accept it. Those pilots hopefully went pretty quickly and died doing something they loved. You always have an ending and maybe that wasn't the worst kind. I can tell you that this kind of grim discussion does not make me want to get back to racing any less. Crazy? I won't argue against it.

[2wo]

I agree with everything said, anyone who  participates in this sort of activity understands the risk and that one day,  you may not make it, but certainly want your 
colleagues to continue on

The kick in the gut for me is, the race was over. the landing should have been just routine.
Just shows you can't let your guard down.

Forgive me if this seems selfish...John