Dear "Rare Bear" Sponsor

Let me open this letter by expressing my sincere thanks for your great and valued support of our race team this year. Through your sponsorship, we were able to put the "Rare Bear" in the best mechanical condition it has been in for years. Our hard working mechanical crew has been able to perform critical structural, systems and powerplant maintenance, and repainted the "Bear" with a new, microsmooth paint job to reduce our overall drag.

We are right in the middle of race week and managed to get "in the show" yesterday with the leading qualification time of 495.039 mph! Our successful qualification lap was in no way a singular effort, but the culmination of all the seemingly endless hours of hard work by our all-volunteer crew and the tremendous support of individuals and organizations like you, our sponsors. But the week is still young, and we have a long way to go for ultimate victory.

As we progress through the competition, we sincerely hope to see/meet as many of our sponsors and supporters as possible. Our race engine is still maturing, as is our new race crew, and the pilot is comfortable with the new, tighter race course.

Nothing is ever guaranteed in this high stakes, high-energy business of unlimited air racing, as you are certainly aware. We operate these unlimited race planes right to their aerodynamic limits and push the race engines well beyond their designed thresholds of limiting horsepower! In years past, as many as one third of the field on "Gold Sunday" has had to pull off the race course in a dramatic "mayday" with a "blown engine". Our critical task as an integrated crew is to make sure that we don't end up in that circumstance, while still racing competitively to WIN! And...WE DO RACE TO WIN!!!

So, if you're not able to join us here at Reno, stay tuned to the media and the Internet and fly along with us through this exciting week. We have your support. Now if we can proceed with a smart racing strategy, and with a little bit of luck, the "Rare Bear" Air Racing Team will prevail.

"THE BEAR IS BACK"!!!
John Penney, Race Pilot
"Rare Bear" Air Racing Team