Chasing
Reno Gold: DVD for the True Fan of Unlimited Racing
This
four-hour feature is packed with information and personality, as director Mark
Chiolis interviews every living Unlimited Gold winner of the National
Championship Air Races. These remarkable men, aged from the low twenties to
their seventies, are among the fastest humans on the planet, and the
fastest-ever behind a spinning propeller. They openly share their insights and
recollections with us mortals, and it’s surprising how similar their piloting
experiences are to those of the rest of ours – and how
different!
Each of the
interviewees is casual and open, happy to talk of the good times, the scary
times, and the occasional bad times; their dreams when they started and their
ideas, today.
The
Unlimited winners, always an exclusive club, are rarer still in this year’s
entry list: Darryl Greenamyer has retired from Unlimited racing at least until
his 4360-powered special – (more on that in the video) gets ready; Mira Slovak
retired after winning the first Gold in 1964; Bruce Lockwood has stopped flying
altogether; Skip Holm and John Penney aren’t entered in 2012; Steve Hinton flies
the pace plane; Ron Hevle and Mike Brown don’t compete any longer; Clay Lacy is
running his corporate flying empire; Bill DeStefani has handed Strega
over to younger hands; and the Sanders brothers, Dennis and Brian, share turns
in Dreadnought. Only they and Steven Hinton (Steve’s son) are Chasing
Reno Gold.
Of the
winning airplanes, only two-time winner Dreadnought, ten-time winner*
Rare Bear, nine-time winner Strega, and September Fury are
still flying. The breed is getting rarer each year, and attrition and price
inflation are culling the available warbirds, fast. That makes this DVD more a
treasure; Unlimited Air Racing as we know it is folding in on itself, and its
new regulations are keeping a lot of other prospects out – the good times are
right now!
It’s not
just the pilots who contribute, either. The top names in Reno speed – Pete Law,
Bill Kerchenfaut, and others give up some of their secrets. History is provided
by Bob Hoover, Grand Marshal for some 30 years; and current insights by RARA
(Reno Air Racing Association) officials, bring us up to the
minute.
Any fan of
the Reno Championship Air Races, of air racing, or of the heroism and hard work
that go into a championship motorsports effort will gain a lot by watching this
video. It’s more education than entertainment – but so is college, compared to a
movie; and which does your soul more good?
Available on
DVD and high definition Blu Ray.
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