I agree that vne is a very important number in an airplane. I will certainly always respect it when I fly. My point is that these guys are flying at high speed at 100 feet off the deck turning left, pulling g's and flying very close to each other and at power settings that could cause an engine failure at any second. VNE probably isn't their biggest concern while racing given it is the intent to go that fast in the first place. I would also suggest that these pilots have taken their aircraft to these speeds many times previously to test the airframe for flutter and any other concerns regarding the speed involved.