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July 21, 2007
Blue Thunder Air Racing
Press Release
 Blue
Thunder was scheduled to set another world speed record during
the EAA Golden West fly-in, two weeks ago. The Blue Crew, with
their chubby little pilot, planned to make three attempts at
setting the record with one attempt to be made each day of the
show. Had all gone well, the fastest speed of the three days
would have been used to claim the record.
Unfortunately, during our first attempt on
Friday, June 29th, the engine oil started foaming and the
oil pressure was dropping to a dangerously low level. In
addition to that problem, something happened to the fuel
delivery that caused the EGT in cylinder # 2 to go over 2000
degrees, which burned the valves and piston. We were able to
replace the valves on Saturday but a piston could not be located
anywhere in time to repair the engine and make a record attempt
on Sunday. Blue Thunder did join the Reno Race Plane display on
Saturday and Sunday, and we were able to greet many of the Blue
Thunder fans.
 With many thanks to Dan Merscher for letting
us store “Blue” in his Marysville Airport hangar for the next
two weeks, while the Blue Crew made enough repairs so that
“Blue” could be flown home to the Blue Bunker at the Stead
Airport. With “Blue” safely back in the hangar, the crew is
doing extensive forensic examination of the engine and systems
to find out what went wrong, fix the problems, and prepare for
the races.
See you in September for the seventh annual
Thunder Storm.
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