Orange County Raceway 1969

After St Louis the heat was on for preparation for a demonstration race that same summer of 1969. It was to be held at the Orange County International Raceway. This drag strip was along the Santa Ana Freeway and guess what, it was in Orange County. I flew "Fam Dancy" out there from Long Beach in about 10 minutes. The approach was partially obstructed by the light standards but the strip was plenty long enough to clear them and land easily. It turned out to be an embarrassing affair for the airplane owners but more for me personally.

The FAA showed up in person to check all of the documents. We had all of these available, however the annual condition inspection was out of date by just a few days. As it turned out the FAA GADO office was directly next door to the radio shop owned by the airplane owners and the inspector was a (almost) personal friend of all of ours. He confided that he new the airplane was fresh from work and comprehensive inspection but that in no way could he assist with our operations at the demo site. He did issue a "ferry permit" so I could fly home.

I did not get to fly at the Orange County International Raceway exhibition race. The owners blamed me, possibly rightly so. There was no money on the demo but they considered the exposure as good for business, advertising.

Anyway, I was there & got to land on a drag strip.

 USE YOUR BROWSER BACK BUTTON