Rare Bear® Update
October 04, 2003
by Lyle Shelton

Bear Facts - Oct 2003 Message from Lyle Shelton I want to give my enthusiastic congratulations to all involved in the Rare Bear Air Racing Team effort of the 2002 and 2003. I'll keep this message pretty short. Pilot John Penney and administrator/organizer/all-around-gal Sharon Coates can provide more details, names, companies, and organizations an their involvement and contributions in later messages to you.

We had a very successful effort in racing competition at the Reno National Championship Air Races this year. This was in spite of a lot of problems and obstacles that had to be overcome, because of several years of underfunding, organization problems, and consequent neglect in mechanical and modification work.

I think that most all involved in our effort are reasonably satisfied with the Reno 2003 result. I certainly am! I know that all want to win first place. But the fastest qualification and second place in the final Gold is pretty darn good, considering where we come from two years ago. We had to upgrade and maintain most systems in the airframe, plus build up a new, costly engine - mostly in our shop/hangar! We had a very hard time last year getting the cylinder shop to do our valves and guides properly for example. We still had three cylinder changes during race week from failing valve guides! The race crew worked around the clock two times during race week to keep us in the competition.

I thank our many product & material sponsors, some of whom provided much needed cash, for hanging in there with us. They were very vital to the effort.

The race crew (mostly Reno based American and Southwest Airlines mechanics, plus a few other professional mechanics/technicians) was simply outstanding in capability and applied effort.

The race crew wives and girlfriends were an integral part of the Reno hangar based work. They contributed substantially in many ways. They kept the crew supplied, supported, and fed. They also fed and aided a lot of visitors to the hangar and pit.

There is one person without whom we would not have been able to run this year. That is Sharon Coates from Payette, ID. Sharon conceived, created, and worked the Fan Sponsor Program. This program was absolutely essential for Rare Bear to operate this year. Sharon has been working on Rare Bear projects full time for the last two years. She has been an outright sponsor also, with part of her contribution in memory of her husband, Doug Coates. Without her, we simply would not have been running.

Her/our Fan Sponsors were also essential to our operation. Fan Sponsorship is a new idea in air racing and it is proving valid, feasible, and also a lot of fun for all involved. A number of Fan Sponsors people are helping with various tasks on the race site and in other ways (like looking for major sponsors - Thanks Howard Lowry for your work in this area.).

We really like Sharon's Fan Sponsor program. We only wish we had more time to spend with, and work with these fine people. We will continue to expand and improve this program. Sharon will write more info on Fan Sponsorship and the people involved in her subsequent message on this website.

Our pilot and operations headman John Penney is another vital, essential part of our operation. I consider John to be the most capable, proficient and professional pilot in unlimited air racing. He is a qualified, experienced test pilot, an airline check/standards pilot, has about 150 fighter/attack missions in Viet Nam, and many other accomplishments to his credit. We are fortunate to have John flying the difficult, hard-to-handle Rare Bear.

Another key person in our program is Wayne Sagar in Wilsonville, Ore. Wayne maintains our website www.rarebear.com in a very professional way. Information and communications are very important to the Rare Bear Team. Wayne does a great job!

My final thanks may come as s surprise to some of you. We sincerely thank Mike Houghton and his RARA office for their assistance and cooperation. Several directors of RARA went out of their way to help our team and others. Tom Gribbon, Bob Bonham, and chairman Joey Scolari and I am sure others that I am not aware of helped. Joey Scolari's grocery market chain provided the Rare Bear Crew with enough good "chow" for the entire race week. Thanks to Joey and his employees. Our gals fed a lot of race people.

The Air Races are an enterprise very dependant upon volunteers and their tremendous contribution to the Reno event that has such a significant impact on, and contribution to, the Northern Nevada regional economy.

The economic impact "boost" to this economy is, I believe, somewhere between 40 to 60 million dollars! The many volunteers deserve a lot of respect and appreciation for their very significant donation to Air Racing and the Reno area businesses and society.

I am sure I have not recognized some deserving groups, and individuals, but I will leave a follow-up to Sharon and John for now. Thanks for your interest.

Fly fast! Lyle Shelton