Team Steadfast Air Racing

Racing a highly modified P51D Mustang at the Reno National Championship Air Races is a real opportunity to hone your skills as a pilot and an air racer. The competition is fierce. The pilots are exceptional, well trained and very hungry for that beautiful trophy. Unknown to many is the amount of effort that goes into being able to push the throttle well beyond any ever imagined by Rolls Royce in WWII or any other war. A team of experienced race mechanics work their magic on the engine, airframe and propeller. There is almost no part on the airplane that hasn't been massaged, reworked or considered in their quest to be the fastest piston powered, propeller driven aircraft in the world. The modification program happens over the life of the aircraft. That may take 30+ years of consistent work, testing and racing. It is arduous work. Many of the modifications are consistently put on hold due to financial crisis, lack of parts or loss of interest in the program then just when they think they have the answer to the burning question: "Did we go faster"? The engine blows or .......Worse!
Reno air racing began in 1964, since then only a small number of different race teams have taken home the coveted trophyin 45 years. It's a test of man against machine. A machine pushed close to the limit of it's capability. In the case of a highly modified P-51 Mustang, the wings have between 2-4 feet clipped from each tip, the tail is clipped and the vertical stabilizer straightened out. All of them have had the angles reset since the new mission is to fly near the 505 MPH redline and not the 230 MPH cruise speed during bomber escort. The radiator scoop has been slimmed from it's bulbous profile so that it produces far less drag at the high indicated race speeds. At those speeds a small area of drag becomes enormous. Much care must be taken to eliminate even the tiniest bits of aerial interference. The cowlings and fairings are made of carbon fiber so they are light, strong and smooth. The Windshield and canopy are cut down and the bullet proof glass removed. There is a serious lack of headroom in the new canopy. It would be totally inadequate for aerial combat but it is an absolute necessity to make the airplane turn average lap speeds over 500 MPH. As important as reducing the incredible drag produced near redline, is building and modifying one of the worlds most gorgeous power producing machines, the Rolls Royce Merlin V1650. Many modifications are made to the lovely compilation of metal parts, if you have ever heard one at idle or at race power then the point has been made. The lovely note produced by this work of art is the result of 70 years of trial and error by experts on the subject. The engines started life as a near 1300 HP design and now at race power screaming out near 3500 HP. The Grumman Bearcat has been Re-engined with an engine much more powerful than its original, its wings clipped and streamlined canopy. It's a monster. Probably most-modified of all is the Yakovlev 11 or "Yak". It's original 700 HP engine has been replaced with a 3000 HP Pratt & Whitney R-2800. To handle all that power on the tiny racer, the 4 bladed propeller is cut nearly in half so the tips don't scrape the ground.

Flying.
It looks brutal but the goal is functionality over looks.
The handling of one of these race machine varies. Reports of slower than stock stall speeds on some and higher on others. Stall characteristics are changed from original, they vary from modification to modification. Some are comfortable flying slow and some are uncomfortable flying fast. They fly straight as an arrow, the straighter they fly, the lower the drag which means the higher the speed and speed means first place. There are caveats to finding ones self in first place. There are systems to contend with. These systems are essential to the continued operation of the engine. These systems include Fuel delivery, air delivery, water delivery, ignition, electrical, hydraulic and flight controls. Any one of these systems could render the airplane out of the race or worse. To lose the race to a simple malfunction is shameful. The team spends endless hours removing, testing and replacing pumps, switches, hoses and the like. They are simple parts and systems but easily fallible. They try to eliminate any points of failure. The race only occurs one Sunday each year so there are no second chances.

9 days prior to the Big race, the team stops the flight test and modification program. They decide how many of this "off-seasons" speed mods have been looked after and they speak about how it would have been nice to have more time. They have had 55 weeks of time since last years race and it is just never enough. They begin to make plans for next years off season even before this years race. The wishful thinking and optimism keep their spirits high. So high that all of the teams in the top 10 secretly consider what it would be like to taxi into the winners circle after The winning the Unlimited Gold race on Sunday. They arrive at Reno and and set up camp. The first big hurdle and sometimes the hardest part of the week is just getting the most important part of the team, the race plane to the show on time and get checked in by the governing body or race promoter. This can be a real feat as weather, or mechanical problems have kept plenty of hopeful winners from ever getting to the race before the field is closed to new entrys.

Our race plane, a highly modified P-51 Mustang named "Voodoo" arrives right on time on Friday 10 days before the big race. We make our plans for the rest of the week. This year our team consists of previous crew members with well over 40 Unlimited Gold Championship wins to their names. They are determined, Steadfast. They wont sleep until the airplane is ready to race the next day, sometimes they don't sleep. We practice daily, flying every morning so as to land before the airshow starts. We run the power in the morning that we will run in that days event. After 3 days of practice, the racecourse is opened for qualifying. Every race team has its own idea of how to qualify. for Unlimiteds,The racing starts on thursday. Three groups of Unlimiteds will vie for the top place finishes so they can progress through the ranks. Every day the fastest are moved up and seed the Gold field. To save the engine for one day of hard racing, the most volatile, high strung race planes better known as the fastest 6 qualifiers, will stand down on thursday making Friday the fastest race of the year so far. The speeds ramp up considerably on Saturday and Sunday usually yields the fastest speeds for the greatest spectacle of aviation, Unlimited Gold! Two methods of thought go into qualifying. You can either run lots of power and try to be the fastest or you can just loaf around at moderate power to qual in the top 6 which is pretty easy if you have lots of power. The latter technique would be the conservative path but there is glory in being the top qualifier for the year!
The race pilots and team owners are very unique. There are a few Hired guns that dont own the plane they race and some owners that race others airplanes. No matter. All 27 teams want to win but Everyone in the top 9 aircraft want to win so bad that they will push their machines well beyond the factory limits to win.

Our 2009 Unlimited Race Team consists of The owner of the aircraft, Bob Button. He is a qualified Unlimited race pilot although he has turned the flying job over to one of the newer unlimited race pilots...Will Whiteside. Will owns and flies his own 5 year old racer named "SteadFast" a small russian fighter converted into a trainer then converted into an air racer. It finishes in the top 12-13 out of 27 each year and it is an exciting program to watch due to the low budget they operate on. They are the underdog and many of the teams lend a hand yearly to see the little Yakovlev or "Yak" succeed. This year the Yak didn't make the race. The engine was problematic for 4 months prior and despite help from aviation's best, it went unresolved. The airplane couldn't be brought Eastbound from California over the Sierras to Reno. Team SteadFast is disappointed, they struggled for 12 hours daily for the last 4 months to no avail. It will be costly, unlike most other teams, this team relys on the winnings to help pay the bills. Hopefully there will be next year. It turns out to be bittersweet. Will can now focus on Voodoo, the very fast, highly modified North American P-51D Mustang Fighter. Another big name in the team is Bill Kerchenfaut,(Kerch) Bill has won more races than any crew chiefanyone.is a 24? time winning crew chief. He is experienced, smart and patient. Motor Man Mike Wilton, Kerch's right hand man is another many time winner. Mike worked with famous engine builder Dwight Thorne to build the fastest Merlin V-12's ever run. Mike Luvara is telemetry and very good at it. We review Video and engine data after every race. It helps the pilot to see how he flies and what improvements can be made. It helps the crew to see the engine data to know how hard we can push it. J.C. Caulkins is a corporate flight department mechanic. He's been with Voodoo for many years. Lots of experience and willing to listen. Frank Young has been working on Voodoo for 16 years. He knows the airplane better than anyone. He has been working with engine man, Jack Hovey for years learning how to build a fire breathing race merlin. We were close!
There are 3 really fast, competitive Mustangs Vieing for the top spot this year. Strega, last years champion flown by a 2nd year racer, and Ridge Runner a super stock airplane that is owned and flown by an experienced racer that feels he is long overdue for a win. Rare Bear, a Modified Grumman bearcat Our answer to the Japanese Kamakazi fighter in WW2 is down on speed this year due to a problem with thier race engine and a super stock engine as a substitute. A Russian contingent, thought to be a real contender this year is a Yakovlev or Yak model 11. It is highly modified and has been re-engined with a 3000 HP american motor replacing a 700 HP russian one. Rounding out the top racers are a group of Hawker Sea Furys from England's late 40's. These are fast and they go around the racecourse effortlessly. They come out of the factory very advanced for speed. Furys have won this race in the past but this year........It was not to be.

The week started with 3 days of very fast qualifiers. The P-51 Strega ended up bending the throttle and layed down the fastest speed at 4? When the dust settled, we had qualified 6th, exactly where we had planned as our conservative plan and approach to Sunday. We started 6th on Friday and after the dust had settled we had moved up a spot right on the wing of Dreadnaught, a Super Sea Fury that has won the Gold years before. This positioned us for a competitive 4th place starting position on Saturday.
After the start of Saturdays Gold Race, we were chasing the very fast "Strega". We ran a good amount of power and it looked like a second place finish was in order. Then, as "Voodoo" taxied clear of the runway it was announced that "Strega" had cut a pylon putting "Voodoo" in first place.
We were elated. This was the biggest win ever in the 16 years of the Voodoo race program they had ever had! Not only was it a first place finish, the average race speed was 486. MPH. which is faster than most Sunday Gold Races. The win also put Voodoo in perfect position to start the race in first place tomorrow, Sunday.

On Sunday, we pushed the aircraft out in order of starting position. "Voodoo" led the parade proudly. We took off, joined the pace plane and proceeded to start the race. On the Run-in, It was Voodoo, Strega, Rare Bear, Check Mate, Ridge Runner, etc. Immediately approching the guide pylon, Strega made his pass to assume the lead from Voodoo. It was Strega that ran away with the lead from then on leaving Voodoo to avoid his wake on this windless day in the Nevada desert. We encountered wake 3 times in the 6 of 8 laps trying to keep the leader in sight in case he made a mistake like the day prior. It wasn't to be. On lap 6 of 8 the engine began to shake as it ran rough and belched smoke from the 12 exhaust stacks, it was over! As the engine shut down, Voodoo soared a mile high and slowed to best glide speed looking for a good runway to land on. After a safe touchdown, Voodoo was towed in leaking oil over most of the airframe and then onto the ramp. It wasn't the outcome the team had wanted but it was miles ahead of anything the Voodoo team had accomplished in the past. The team was solemn but they knew they were just inches from having the right combination to win this race.
Next year

Racing P-51D “VOODOO” at the 2008 Reno National Championship Air Races

At the end of the week at Reno 2007, I was asked by Bob Button to consider racing a highly modified P-51D Mustang for the 2008 Reno Air Racing season. I considered my options and that winter we shook hands on a one year deal to race the World Famous, Purple P-51 “Voodoo”.

When I was 20 Years old, I was air racing radio controlled model aircraft. This was called .60 sized Warbirds or “Mini-Reno”. It was nearly an exact recreation of the real Reno Unlimited air races but without the screech of Rolls Royce Merlins.I had been to a couple of airshows by that time in my life. My dad had taken me to the Moffet and Hamilton shows in 1987. Through a strange turn of events, I started flight training at the Santa Rosa Airport in 1994, I was 23 years young.

Fast forward 14 years, I am flying Daryl Bonds TF-51 over to have a meeting with Bob Button and the Voodoo crew, kind of a job interview of sorts. Unbelievable! How could I be this fortunate?

Voodoo was bought by Bob Button in 1980? and was owned previously by Bill Speers and called Pegasus. Once purchased, Button took the airplane to Bill “Tiger” Destefani and L.D. Hughes in Bakersfield, CA to be modified. After years of tweaking, the racer has been raced by a number of well known pilots. Matt Jackson, and Sherman Smoot are just a couple of them.

Some of the modifications to Voodoo include and depending on the race season can include: Clipped wings, (approx. 44” total) clipped tail, small canopy (2009), Race engine, P-51 H style cooling system, ADI, water spraybar, Queen Air Wheels and brakes, Carbon fiber cowl formers and cowlings, modified fuel system (all Left wing), Modified carbon fiber fairings. Removal of offset in vertical fin.

I accepted Bob Buttons offer and I began my flight training in Voodoo in May 2008 to get prepared for the 2008 Reno National Championship Air Racing season. The airplane flew great, I was very impressed how it handled the extremes in speed. Normally a P-51 resists increases in speed above about 300 MPH. This is due to a number of design features that kept young inexperienced pilots from hurting the aircraft in turn themselves, not Voodoo. It loved the speeds above 300 MPH, I was very impressed and it was obvious that this P51 was engineered from the beginning to win Reno Air Races. Prior to racing it, I was offered the opportunity to spend some time in Bakersfield learning the nuances of racing a race P51 with a very well known Bill "Tiger" Destefani and L.D. Hughes. I was grateful to them for helping me clearly understand the "WHY" behind the modified systems of this exotic racer.

On Racing a Highly Modified P-51 Reno Sunday 9-7-2008

“It was the first time I'd been on the course with Voodoo and I wasn't supposed to fly the airplane until Tuesday. This was Sunday and Bob Button came up to me and he was in his shorts and flip flops and said “if you want to fly the airplane, you can fly it”. It was out and ready to go so how was I going to turn that down?! To fly one of those airplanes at big power and fast speed you really want to get your head wrapped around it. I hadn't woken up that morning or gone to bead the night before thinking about doing this. I was thinking Steadfast. So I said give me 30 minutes to get myself ready for this. I sat down and had a coke to get my head ready. We talked power setting and these were power settings I'd never heard. Keep in mind that the most power I'd ever run on a Mustang was probably in “Speedball Alice” on take off of 61” manifold pressure at 3000 RPM. That's stock maximum takeoff power. Wartime power they could go to 67” if they were running away from somebody. I think an inspection ensued and it was kind of like, I'm going to guess it's something they didn't do a lot of. I don't know that. But 61” was the power of the day out here all the time. That was a lot of power. Generally we take the boost controller of a stock Mustang and we'll turn it back to 55” so the most power you can get is 55” manifold pressure. Bob say, “Ok, here are the power settings I want you to run when you fly it. I want you to run 70” and 3200 RPM.” I'm thinking well, that's pretty doable but I've never been there so I'm not sure. Then he says, “I want you to make two laps at that then I want you to make two laps at 90” and 3400 RPM.” I grabbed a Sharpie and wrote it really big on my arm. (70”–32…90”-34) I thought COOL – this is going to be really fast! I said to Bob, “Are you going to be ok if I never get beyond 70” because I don't want to set myself up for failure. I've never flown the course that fast and I know I can do it but I want to ease into this.” You want to do this in an educated manner. Everything you do you want to be pre-thought and calculated. You don't do anything out there that you haven't sat down and raced in your mind already. He says, ‘No problem if you only get 70”, but you're going to love 70”!

“So I jump in and taxi out. Of course I've got this other system I'm working with now. A race Mustang is quite a departure away from a stock Mustang, not just in the speed and power settings, but internally the way you operate things and the way things operate is totally different. Different switches, different ideas behind the systems. This thing is totally different and it's barely a Mustang on the inside. “

“I take it up and I'm overhead for about two circuits and I'm thinking well it's now or never! So I turn on the ADI, you open this valve we get from True Value Hardware we call the “tweedle valve,” and you're watching the induction temp as you bring up the power. I lower the nose and I enter the course right at pylon 8 and I come ripping through there and I've got 70” and 3200 RPM, and the thing feels great. Frankly Voodoo feels great when you fly it. The faster you go, the happier it is. At slow speed it kind of wallows around a little bit and you know a stock Mustang would like this better. Voodoo has a lot of roll due to yaw. I think is because of the shorter wings and it doesn't have all the dihedral working against each other. You would think it would be more stable because it has more tail per wing, but it's not.”

“So it feels great, I've got about ¾ of the lap done, and I say, “Hey Bob, this is easy, I love it, I'm in heaven and I can't believe how nice this is to fly. I'm going to go up to the next power setting.” I pushed it up to the next power setting, 90” and 3400rpm, and used the “tweedle valve” to adjust the ADI as I'm watching the manifold temp. We try to keep it under 80°-85° C. I get down on the course at this speed and the airplane definitely accelerated and it made a huge difference. I was looking at indicated speeds of between 410 and 420mph and the airplane was just singing. I mean it felt dead smooth. I was amazed at that because people had told me how loud and how violent it is in the cockpit at those power settings. Now maybe above 100” it's different, I'm not sure. I just can't say. But it felt great. My airplane, Steadfast, is rough and loud and shakes and is hot. It was great.”

“The airplane's laid over and you're looking up through the top of the bubble canopy to find the pylons and you have to look instead of two pylons ahead now three pylons ahead and you're trying to aim this thing for three pylons away. At that speed there's only about three to four primary pylons you're flying off of. So the course becomes totally different in not flying pylon to pylon, or pylon, skip one got to the next. This is pylon, skip two, and go to the next one. You definitely have to be way ahead of the plane. There was a point where I was coming around the home pylon looking at the situation thinking this is so much easier than my airplane. Bring on the traffic! I just couldn't wait to get in a pack of guys and race this thing. The ailerons were nice, the elevator was nice, the rudder's nice, it's smooth, great visibility, it's a P-51 so you feel comfortable that the thing's not going to come apart around you and I felt like racing!”

“I made two laps like that and I said Bob this is great. Our plan was to make two laps like that and come off back at four and come in and land. “Well,” he says, “Why don't you push it up all the way.” I said, “Say again.” He says, “Push it all the way.” I started pushing it up at about pylon six and I finished at eight. It took quite a while to get the power up nice and easy while watching the induction temp. I had the temp at between 80 and 85C. The engine was running great. I knew that fourteen and a half years of working toward those four laps was worth every bit. If you told me all your going to get out of this is four laps, I'd do it all again. It was that good. It was the neatest thing I've ever done. I loved it. I was born to do that. I can see why these guys spend millions to go 460 plus. I would do it in a heartbeat if I had the money. Those laps were at 460 mph.”

“As I came around pylon two, everything is just working great and I feel this little hiccup – a tiny little stutter and I'm wondering if that's what they meant when they said it was starting to blow up. I got through ¾ of that statement in my head then the plane did it again. I thought these are becoming more frequent. So I started coming back on the power and started pulling back on the stick, pulling probably 5+ G's. I got the nose up quick, laid on the G's, and got the thing pointed up while I still had a lot of energy and I was going for altitude. This thing started to shake like crazy with smoke coming out of the right side. I had a little bit of the denial that everybody talks about during an emergency so I have to that I didn't not have the denial but I got through it really, really fast, faster than I had expected. All I did was execute a plan. When I was taught to do this by C.J. Stevens, he said, “Look, you don't go out there and make up anything if you can help it. You have a plan for everything. If you have an engine failure on takeoff, you execute the plan engine failure on takeoff. That's what I did.”

“I was amazed when I looked over the canopy rail and I had to look a long way down and drop the wing because I couldn't believe how high I was. I'd never had that much energy before. Four hundred and something and you come off the power and you're suddenly a mile high and I'm thinking, how am I going to get this thing back down on that runway?! What's the path between here and there. I'm way back on the power and C.J. pulls up next to me in the chase plane and says, “Bob, you're smoking out of the right side and you've got some oil coming out.” He thought it was Bob flying. I said, “CJ, it's not Bob, it's Will, I sure wish it were Bob right now.” CJ said later on. “I knew you were going to be fine when you were cracking jokes!” He asked, “What runway are you looking at?” I said, “Runway 14, how's that look to you?” “Looks great,” said CJ. I thought I could chop the power all the way, throw the flaps and the gear down and go one shot down to this runway but I thought I've never done that from this high up. I could do it, no problem, but I thought the engine is still running and making some power so I decided why turn this major emergency into a major emergency. Why not just come back on the power some and make a normal, stay over the airport and circle and land, landing? So I made a pretty steep approach, power off with no chance for a go around. I can only say that it does change your outlook on it when you're doing it and you know you can't go around. I was committed to landing and made one of the nicest landings of my life. I put this thing on the mains and I made sure I had a little extra speed and little extra float. I rolled out at the end, pulled off to the side, and put the tail out into the dirt just like they had told me, and got out. I have to say that the thing I kept thinking was “how am I going to act normal in from of those guys when they see me?” I mean, I just got to go 460 and I just got to handle a mayday in a race Mustang at Reno? I thought this is the best thing in the world! It doesn't get any better than this! And I survived it and didn't wreck the airplane too! There were a lot of plusses to this deal. So it was probably my best flight in my life!”

“We tow the airplane back to the pits and all the guysare there watching me and I have to keep my head down and not smile too much. It was just fabulous and I have to play it down! Bob came up, patted me on the back, and said, “Great job. Thanks so much. We're going to put the stock motor in there now and I'll fly the rest of the week. You just concentrate on your airplane and if you want to race Voodoo next year, you're more than welcome.”

“It turned out I'd burned a piston. In reality it's not that big a deal when compared to CJ's mayday when his engine almost split in half.”

“Bob put the stock motor in and had a mayday on Thursday from a small problem. He said to me that I could race it, which I did.” I can only guess that Voodoo would have made 475+ MPH laps or so once it settled down on the course. I am amazed at how slick that airplane really is. I have to believe that we would have been a contender this year had that engine held together. Thanks to Bob Button and his crew for the opportunity of a lifetime. I cannot tell you guys enough, how much fun it is to go that fast on that course.

Note:
Will flew Voodoo with a stock engine on Sunday and easily took 1st in the final Bronze race at 371mph. He raced Steadfast that same day and took 3rd in the final Silver race at 385mph.

Here is the video from inside Voodoo's cockpit during the Sunday race!

This was the first Sunday win for Voodoo in it’s long history and hopefully will set the stage for a winning streak that will see us win the Gold in 2009!
Stay Tuned!

Though we are unable to identify all photographers who sent us pictures this year, we would like to offer a very SPECIAL thanks to photo contributors! Also, thanks to Evanflys.com

Will Whiteside

On Voodoo Versus the Stock Mustang
Voodoo is what I’ve heard called a 3rd generation Race P51. The two that it follows are Dago Red and Strega. Designed with many of the modifications that Dago and Strega had been, Voodoo I’m told is lighter and has less adverse handling effects as the others.

Voodoo doesn't fly like a stock mustang in the ways you’d think. I keep hearing it is the Version 3 of development of Dago, Strega. Considering the stock canopy, I compared speeds and power settings of the other two and there is a chance that in full race trim,(Small canopy) Voodoo may be an improvement in the design. I am just taking a WAG at this of course. Probably just wishful thinking since I hopefully will be in a good race with the pilots of the other two next season.

On Handling
Voodoo requires very little trim change for change in airspeed and has a lot of roll coupling. Meaning if the airplane is flown uncoordinated in yaw, it will develop a heavy wing requiring aileron input to maintain wings level or just rudder input to fly coordinated. This is much more pronounced than a stock P-51. At cruise speeds it feels less "Locked in" as a stock P51D, TF or C. The ailerons are always lighter than a stocker at any speed even with the servo tabbed trim tabs. At speeds above 300 Miles Indicated, the airplane gets a more solid feel to it and the airplane feels near Sea Fury stable in yaw, pitch and roll at 400 MPH indicated. I saw about 410-420 MPH indicated before Voodoo's Turbine smooth Merlin said "SEE YA"! and I will say it was the smoothest, most pleasant engine airframe combination I have ever flown. Not pitchy, not yaw unstable and not heavy on roll stability. I was in heaven! I see why it has endured the test of time in overall use.

If you were to go fly a Sea Fury and then a Stock P51D, you would reflect and see how much more improved the handling during maneuvering the Sea Fury is. Voodoo retains it light controls throughout its speed range like the Fury does. It makes racing at the higher speeds much more pleasant. The Fury is a much later design. It has much more aero refinement. Voodoo by comparison to a stocker when talking about the traffic pattern is apples and apples until you leave about 145 MPH. I was taught to fly a D or a TF by Art and Dan Vance. They use 115 MPH as a speed to shoot for "Over the Fence".

The stock airplanes have good visibility over the nose and good aileron control throughout the approach and landing phases using this speed. At less than this speed the tail starts to drop and the nose comes up a bit and you can feel that the airplane would rather be at the 115 MPH number. I found that this occurred on Voodoo below 140 MPH. Not sure if its a CG thing or clipped wings or tail incidence. When I flew the Collings P-51C, I found that this occurred at about 110 KIAS or about 126 MPH which may indicate it has something to do with CG but I have not researched the CG's of the above mentioned P51's well enough to say.

The sink rate was very high on Voodoo compared to a stocker at a lower comparable speed. I'm honored that I can say that for racing, Voodoo would be my choice of aero mods,(Bring on the little canopy). For just everyday fun and practicality, A stock 51 like the Vance's Speedball Alice would be my choice. I wouldn't change a thing from the original design. They got it so right and the nostalgia part makes the love affair complete.