Originally Posted by
Bill Greenwood
Dudley, glad you are over here, though I wouldn't call you a newbie.
Do you have any thoughts on Reno?
Is it just too dangerous, with planes going almost 500 mph? Can it ever be safe enough for the crowd?
I have thought about it a lot. Mostly sorrow for Jimmy, he was a friend to so many of us.
But also for all those others lost or injured. Becky and I talked about going to the races and if we did we would have most likely been standing at the pit fence right next to the box seats. We went to AOPA instead.
The best I can come up with is to reconfigure the course so that all turns are before the spectator area, so that there is only a straight section where the crowd is. That is certainly not foolproof if a plane is uncontrollable, and I am not sure there is room on the other portions of the course.
I have never run a lap at Reno , have you? Art Vance talked to me about doing the qualifying school and it seemed like fun, but I never got around to it, and of course Art is gone now too.
The man who taught me won the Silver unlimited there one year in Habu.
Perhaps a berm and a chain link type fence could be built in front of the stands as some protection.