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Tuesday, July 8:All Out Speed Race and Safety Session Jim Waldron and Gary Rankin started the pilot briefing for the All Out Speed Race this morning at 8:00am. The course was from Caldwell to Counsel, Idaho which is a small airport about 68 nm north of Caldwell. I flew Safety Pilot for Herb Hancock this year (spotting in a clear canopy could not be easier!). We had a little hitch with the GPS (my fault, as the navigator!) and flew the wrong course for a few minutes. We quickly recovered, but I'm sure it cost us a few precious minutes. We were also carrying a little extra weight in fuel in the tiptanks that we didn't need. Well, actually, we syphoned 5 gallons for Dick McSpadden (who claims that 100LL tastes better than auto gas, but I'll take his word on that) since we couldn't get the fuel pump to work for sometime at Council. We hung around Councel for a little while after all the racers arrived so that the race coordinators could determine who the winners for each class were (so, what class is a Twin Navion in!?). We were also quite alarmed to receive message that we were being visited by someone from the FAA at Caldwell at that very moment. We never did confirm with certainty that the man in a button-down white shirt and clipboard was from the FAA and what we wanted, but he did not stay to long at Caldwell (can someone fax me my medical certificate!) The winners of the speed race by class are as follows (these four flew another handicapped race back to Caldwell but I don't know the final winner yet): John Osborne - 300hp Ryan Douthitt - 285 hp Dick McSpadden - 260hp Jim Waldren - 225hp After the speed race, Rollie Zavada held a safety seminar on mountain flying that was widely attended. It was a good introduction for several people new to mountain flying and a good recap for others. After the safety seminar, many of us were lined up waiting to spend money at the "Parts Mart", which is a new feature of the convention this year. Members were encouraged to bring parts to sale this year and quite a few people cleaned out their hangars.