After a year of working feverishly, Alan Hoover and his son Brian, Warsaw, applied the final touches to their airplanes to leave today for Reno, Nev., to compete in the 52nd annual National Champion Air Races. This is the first time in decades that a father and son will compete against each other at the race. Alan said typically a father will race and then his son will take over later. He said he is looking forward to competing against his son. “I’m not going to give him an inch – if he’s going to beat me, he’s going to have to earn it,” Alan said with a laugh. “But if I beat him, I’m going to have to earn it.” Alan said they planned to leave today around 5 a.m. to begin their 30-hour trip to Nevada. Alan said they chose to drive to Nevada instead of flying to reduce their worries of weather and to save their fuel. The race is Sept. 18 to 20 with three days of practice, two days of qualifying rounds and then three days of racing the six different classes. Alan and Brian will compete in the Biplane division with a 3.2 mile course and fly low to the ground, 50 to 200 feet, at around 200 to 240 miles per hour. Before taking the wings off and loading the planes into their trailer, they applied the final decals and numbers. Alan modeled his plane after his own first fighter plane. He named his one-seater Pitts Special “Panther” after the Black Panthers, with the number 84. He said his buddies from the air force will recognize his paint scheme. Brian’s Pitts Special is painted red with the number 32. Alan said they both made tiny adjustments to their planes to achieve optimal speed. One of the differences between their planes is the size of the wheels. Alan’s wheels are 6 inches wide, which makes it possible for him to land in grass. Brian’s wheels are four inches wide, which make his plane faster with less drag, but unlike Alan, he will need to land on asphalt. Alan also took out the instruments in his plane and replaced them with a new glass cockpit, similar to an iPad. This has made his plane lighter and faster. There are also differences in their fairings. Alan said even the smallest changes make the most impact, like changing the wheel pants. He said changing these can increase speed by 1 to 2 mph and “when you’re racing, you need that,” he said. “The winners do the little things and they do them well,” he said. “We’re not in this to lose, we’re in this to play and to win, that’s part of the reward.” Brian said he is already planning to take his airplane apart again when the race is over. He said finishing both planes has been an ongoing intense process since he competed in Reno last year. His plane has been a complete ground-up restoration. “It takes a lot of work,” Brian said. “It’s worth it, absolutely.” Alan said he enjoys sharing his passion for aviation with his son and he’s looking forward to competing against him. “He may be faster, but he’ll have a hard time passing me,” Alan said with a grin. “Just competing is worth everything.” The race will be livestreamed at www.airrace.org
