KY Wings of Glory Derby: The Big Race.

[Setarius]

Joe: Hello ladies and gentlemen and a men and women of our armed forces overseas listening to us on the Unarmed Farces Rodeo network. We are here live today from the Barkley Aerodrome outside of Paducah, KY. I am Joe Garage de Olay and with me today is none other than Howhard Nosmell.
Howhard: Hello Joe. We are in beautiful Western KY for this big race. Yesterday we saw two exciting heat races with a few twists in the turns to make things interesting. In the first race we had Franz Götz jump out to an early lead, just to lose it at the halfway point misjudging his reversal but, he came back to recapture the lead and win the race.
Joe: Correct there Howhard. And by contrast Howhard, in the 2nd race we had Spurgeon Ellington pretty much run away with it. He executed his reversal perfectly and increased his lead to the finish. What do you think we can expect pout of today's race?
Howhard: We can expect a really fast race today. We have the best, fastest pilots in this race and they won't hold back. The key to winning the race will once again be the reversal at the other end of the track, where we have Ben Gay to call the action. Let's go to Ben and see what he has to say. Ben.
Ben: Thank you Howhard. I am here near Princeton, KY where the pilots will have their planes screaming down here doing a reversal and heading home. Yesterday we saw it all at this end of the track. The good, bad, ugly, and even the spectacular. Let's talk about the spectacular, both Jimmy Doolittle in his B-25 and the Memphis Belle B-17 pulled off perfect Immelman reversals. The good both Skalski and Ellington pulled off good Immelman, the bad Franz Götz lost a spot as did Davoud with their turn around. The ugly, well both Thollon and Galer couldn't do anything with their planes and were saved from embarrassment by the fact they had a bomber behind them. So to summarize, make your turns or lose the race. Now back to Joe and Howhard.
Joe: Thank you Ben for your report. The betting on this race has been really good according to the Lost Wages, NV gaming houses. For more on that we go to our correspondent, Dimmy de Geek Slider. Dimmy.
Dimmy: Thank you Joe. We are here at a local gaming hall in Lost Wages, NV. After yesterdays action we currently have Spurgeon Ellington at 3-1, Franz Götz at 4-1, Stanislaw Skalski at 5-1, Chuichi Ichikawa also at 5-1, Lydia Litvjak is coming in at 10-1 , and both Adolph Galland and David Hill at 15-1. We are looking for a close race today. Back to you Joe.
Joe: Thank you Dimmy. We are approaching the start of today's race, but first a word from our sponsor.
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Joe: Welcome back folks we are heading to the start of the race. The planes are lined up nicely as they come to the start/finish line. The starter gives the signal and the race is underway.
Howhard: Götz and Ellington jump to the early lead with Skalski in third and Ichikawa, Litvjak,Galland, and Hill fighting for fourth. Llingtonmay have caught a slight tail wind because he has just nosed in font of Götz and Skalski. The other 4 have fallen back a good half length. At the 1/4 point it is Ellington by a nose over Götz with Skalski back a half length and Ichikawa, Litvjak, Hill, and Galland back a length. Ellington and Götz are still separated by a nose as they increase their lead over Skalski. The other four are fighting for fourth about 2 lengths back. As they approach the halfway point Ben will call the action.
Ben: Thank you Howhard. It looks like it is going to be a close one when they get here. Ellington is barely ahead by a nose over Götz and has a length over Skalski. As we come to the halfway point it is Ellington, Götz, Skalski all three getting ready for their turns. OH MY, I can't believe it!! Both Ellington and Götz blew past their turning point while Skalski in third hit his perfectly and came back first followed by Götz and Ellington. What a reversal of fortune we have here.Skalski coming in in third and going out in first. We discussed this in the preface show. Joe they are heading home and back to you.
Joe: Thank you Ben. And yes we discussed the turn in the preface. Let's see if Stanislaw can bring his Spitfgire home for the win. As they approach the 3/4 point Stanislaw Skalski has a slim lead over Franz Götz and about a 1/4 length on Ellington. They are coming down the stretch, Skalski up by a nose over Götz who is ahead of Ellington also by a nose.
Howhard: This is going to be the closest finish of the weekend.
Joe: We have all 3 of the leaders coming to the line almost side by side. And as they cross the line it is Götz by the tip of the nose cone over Ellington in second by a nose over Skalski. And coming across the line 4 lengths back in a tie for fourth are Litvjak, Hill, Galland, and Ichikawa.
Joe: What a race!!
Howhard: You could not have asked for a better ending to a great race and a great weekend.
Joe: Thank you for joining me Howhard.
Howhard: You are welcome.
Joe: For our staff and crew, Ben Gay at the turn around, Dimmy de Geek Slider in Lost Wages, and our producer Willie Dicherson. I am Joe Garage de Olay , saying so long from the Barkley Aerodromes, where we just saw Franz Götz barely beat out Spurgeon Ellington and Stanislaw Skalski for the win.

[Setarius]

I finally got some photos uploaded to my album. YAY.

[Tonx]

Another excellent piece of creativity start to finish: Though I am curious - did Jimmy 'The Greek' Snyder come from the Burt Reynolds movie 'Cannonball Run' ?

So it was Gotz ... Ellington and Skalski. I am trying to remember what order my last 'punt' was - I think I had Ellington ... Skalski and Gotz.

Well done anyway

[Setarius]

Actually Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder was a sportscaster for The NFL Today for 12 years. He worked along side Brent Musberger and Phyllis George. He was also a Las Vegas bookie.
And yes Jimmy "the Greek" was in Cannonball Run.

[Gotham Resident]

Jimmy made a comment that got him fired.

What a finish! So, for the final turn, as that something that just happened naturally?

[Setarius]

The turn.
Rules:
All pilots must finish their move with the nose of the plane at the 5ft mark or past it before the can do a reversal. It does not matter if it is the first card or second card played.

All planes used their "fast" maneuver arrows on the maneuver cards.

The FW190 and P-51 both fell short about 2 inches, which meant they had to go past to be able to turn around. The Spitfire was just far enough back that after laying the card down and making its move the nose was at the 5ft mark, so the Spitfire could turn back around and came away with the lead by approximately 3/4 of a length over the other two. And due to faster speeds by the FW190 and the P-51, they overcame the deficit and barely edged ahead for the win. If the race had been shorter or if the pilots had been "allowed" to use a slow maneuver before the turn, then the race may have been different.
I hope that helped clear things up.

By doing this it showed me that the P-51 and FW190 were about equal in straight line speed. While the bombers, and I figured they would be, were the slowest. The Ki-61 and the Yak-1 both use the same maneuver deck (E) and the Bf-109 (B) and the P-40 (H) are all so close in straight line speed to be even.