2007 RACE REPORTS

Wednesday, June 13, 2007 - TODAY’S THE DAY!!!

There’s a weather system across Florida from Tampa to Ft. Pierce, but we decided to go to the airport, get
organized, pack the airplane and check the weather to see if there were any changes. Luckily we were able to take
off at 11:17 am with Kristen flying the first leg from Opa Locka to Ocala. We had a nice lunch at Tailwinds
Restaurant which is full of airplane models hanging from the ceiling and aviation memorabilia. We met Roman, a
German student pilot on his 2nd ever cross country toward earning his private pilot license who insisted on taking
some pictures with ?experienced female pilots.

Tamra flew our second leg from Ocala to Destin, Fl. Weather to our northwest was tricky and we needed to
deviate slightly, but thanks to Dick Osborne’s Garmin 496 we were able to skirt through a middle opening and
parallel the two systems on a near direct course to Destin. We arrived and visited with Wendy and Bernie
Snyder, Tamra’s University of Arizona college friends. We had a delicious dinner at the Boat House Seafood
Restaurant and enjoyed Wendy and Bernie’s overnight hospitality.

Thursday, June 14, 2007 Destin (DTS)  Monroe, LA. (MLU)

Kristen flew this leg - Beautiful flight, great view of the Mississippi River (we even took a picture of how it
looked on the GPS and how it looked out the window to compare the two.) We were greeted in Monroe, Louisiana by
Pauline and Richard Paulus, friends of Kristen and enjoyed some old fashioned barbeque at Corky’s Restaurant for
lunch. After lunch and a second and third look at the weather radar, we decided that there were too many storms
across the center of the United States and accepted Pauline and Richard’s invitation to stay overnight and
enjoy some local Italian fare.

We got a call from Pat Ohlsson and Judy Tokar, other racers from Spruce Creek, Florida that they too were being
delayed by weather and decided to stay the night in Paris, TX.

Friday, June 15th 2007 Monroe  to  Oklahoma (Wiley Post Airport PWA)

Tamra’s leg - Got up early to the smell of cooking bacon wow, what southern hospitality and how to feel like
royalty!!!... Weather was somewhat overcast and the storms were definitely going to be a challenge as we made our way
to Wiley Post. We made the decision to go and were off the ground by 8:40am. Our flight path would normally take us
on a direct route toward the Wiley Post airport in Oklahoma City, but the weather as it was required us to
deviate due north toward Memphis, TN and then west toward a hole between storms over the Arkansas/Oklahoma border.
We were fortunate to have had friendly and accommodating air traffic controllers along our deviated path. This leg
proved to be a great instrument usage and cockpit teamwork exercise in preparation for the days of racing ahead.

Once near Fort Smith and in more clear skies; we enjoyed the Magazine Mountain Range below and flew over the Robert
Kerr Reservoir as a welcome break for our continuation into Oklahoma City. Forty miles from the Wiley Post
airport we found ourselves in the clouds and dependant on our instruments to guide us to land. Twenty minutes later
and 12 miles out, we had the airport in sight and landed as part of the first few race aircraft that had made it.

The first people we saw were old race friends of Tamra, Judy Toker and Pat Ohlsson. They landed in front of us and
are the other Florida flyers from the Spruce Creek area that had stayed the night before in Paris, Texas as a
result of the challenging weather.

Because we were among the few to have arrived we were able to place our #46 on the tail, have the plane washed,
waxed, inspected and have a few minor maintenance issues solved and all before 5pm. We were now officially Classic
46.

Saturday, June 16, 2007 - More Race Preparations

After a welcome night’s rest, we leisurely had breakfast and made it to the airport for the Credentials check in
around 11am. Twelve more racers had made it since last night and before the day was over 45 of the 49 expected
race aircraft had arrived.

The evening event was held at the find at your own risk Omni Plex Science Museum where many historic aircraft and
aviation memorabilia is housed. However, one aircraft in particular is very special to the Ninety- Nines and the
Air Race Classic. The 1929 Beech Travel-Air flown by Louise Thaden carried her to the finish line as the first winner
of the all female Powder Puff Air Derby of 1929. Bill Von Thaden, the son of Louise Von Thaden and his daughter
Terry were present and gave a moving and insightful talk about Louise and the journey of her aircraft after the race.

A visit to Oklahoma City would not be complete without a stop at Pioneer Pies where the okra is fried, the prime
rib is the best you’ll ever have and the pies are famously delicious. Yes,  more eating. We may be tired at times, but
never hungry.

Sunday, June 17, 2007 Oklahoma City

We had some time this morning to visit the Oklahoma City Memorial for the 1995 Federal Building Bombing. It is a
well thought out and serene architectural monument that is quite beautiful and moving. There is a shallow reflecting
pool of water running between two formal entrances to the Memorial and a field of 168 empty chairs symbolizing each
man, woman and child who were lost at the time. The peaceful surroundings of the memorial evoke reflection and
hope.

The afternoon was spent at an informative briefing for first time racers and the evening followed with a very
enthusiastic send off banquet. We were fortunate to learn more about the beginnings of the Air Race Classic and the
women involved through the memory of Terry Von Thaden, the granddaughter of Louise Von Thaden, the winner of the very
first Air Derby in 1929 and a founding member of the 99s.

The City of Oklahoma Mayor gave a proclamation to the Air Race and the Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma City
presented us with the certificate naming the week of June 19-22, Air Race Classic week. Each race team was
formally introduced and photographed and the whole evening was spectacular!

Monday, June 18, 2007 Oklahoma

City Briefings started at 8am this morning covering the race route, potential weather and or local area hazards and considerations

and a multitude of procedures were reviewed.

We had a late lunch with Marie and Susan Carastro, a mother/daughter team from Alabama and Anne Marie Radel
from Los Angeles; all of whom Tamra had met in previous races.

The rest of the day was spent repacking and sending some things home to make us lighter, faster and at the top of
our game for tomorrow’s race start. Our final preparations tonight will also include reviewing our route charts and
studying the weather for the best winds and takeoff times.

Tomorrow is the big day when all airplanes will start their engines and head off to the great blue only 30
seconds apart from one another.

Tuesday, June 19th 2007 - Race Start!

The morning started with a mandatory breakfast and route briefing at  6am. You could feel the excitement and angst of each of the 45 of the
original 50 race teams that had cleared inspections, braved the weather and made it to the Oklahoma Start.

After picking up the necessary documentation for entry into Canada, taking care of morning hunger needs and all questions had been
answered; we made a deliberate dash to the airport to pre-flight our airplane that we had not seen since Friday.

All 45 race airplanes had been lined up according to team number and  since we, Classic 46, were in the latter numbers; N37TJ was waiting
for us in the second grouping of aircraft next to last for takeoff. This was somewhat welcome because it gave us a chance to relax a bit
and thoroughly go over all checklists before the flag was raised for our engine start.

Thanks to the Garmin 496 that was loaned to us we were able to verify the winds along our route and decided to fly high. Our adrenaline was
up as we stayed low and fast for the first time pass when our tail would be clocked by the timers on the ground for our official leg start.

(MCK) McCook, Nebraska - First Stop ( 313.1 NM 360.3 SM)

We had steady tailwinds and good VFR weather for this first leg of the race. It was a busy arrival since all racers were descending upon the
same airport around the same time and some teams had come closer to others than preferred. Our pass was directly in front of another
aircraft as we raced across the timing line. Whew! (2 hours, 13 seconds)

We were welcomed by local on lookers and press and smiles as most of us journeyed toward the refreshments and restrooms. Thank you McCook!

Some teams decided to stay over due to uncertain weather conditions or strategy. We pressed on to the next airport in Iowa.

(DNS) Dennison, Iowa -  Second Leg - (258.6 NM 297.6 SM)

We needed to stay low for Clear VFR, but the winds were not friendly  there. Fortunately, a hole appeared through the clouds and we decided to
climb on top where we enjoyed clear skies and better winds. Although we had sacrificed some speed by climbing and continuing to Dennison; we
made good time for this leg. (1 hour 45 minutes 13 seconds)

Dennison is a small friendly airport with a self serve gas line that was the busiest it had ever been. There were about 10 airplanes lined
up for fuel and no one was sure how long the supply would last.

Tamra found a soda called Hillbilly, so we took a picture of the whole experience.

(JEF) Jefferson City , Missouri - Third Leg -(251.5 NM 289.4 SM)

Again happy to have made the choice to continue, we caught up to Judy  and Pat Classic 7 on the radio and they offered to secure a room for
us upon their check in to the already near booked Holiday Inn Express.

Flying into Jefferson was a delight, there are rolling hills, a river and the Capitol building surrounding this small regional airport. We
made great time for this leg considering the prevailing headwinds at all levels and breezed through the timing line.

One hour 44 minutes and 55 seconds for this leg and looking forward to rest. Unfortunately upon touchdown for landing we experienced a brake
seizure on the left main that forced us to veer off the runway.

The FBO and all personnel were extremely helpful, but the airplane suffered some damage that could not be repaired in time for us to
continue the race, causing us to withdraw.

We were fortunate to find a pilot flying to South Florida and were able to get a ride home to Miami and leave the airplane in Jefferson City
for repairs. We are very disappointed in the turn of events. We were doing so well and are glad to be safe and looking forward to 2008.

We have since heard that the weather was challenging getting into New Brunswick causing some aircraft to miss the arrival deadline.

Final results have been posted on www.AirRaceClassic.org and 11 airplanes were considered incomplete due to weather or mechanical issues.