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1941 Ryan PT-22 Army Trainer at Blackhawk Farms Raceway
It had been awhile since my last visit to Blackhawk, so I was really looking forward to watching some vintage racing.
My father was a USAC, SCCA, Midwest Council club racer.
He campaigned an Elva Mk.7, a Lotus Formula Jr, and a 1963 - 289 Cobra, CSX2051, which regularly competes in European Endurance racing. (Blackhawk Farms Raceway hyperlink) is situated in the rolling hills just west of downtown Beloit.
While the setting lends itself to racing of all sorts, it seems especially well suited to vintage cars. I wound up arriving at Blackhawk halfway through an hour long endurance race, trapping me at the outer perimeter of the track.
No sooner than I had walked up to the chainlink fence trackside, a blue fuselaged, yellow winged, WWII Army warbird appeared overhead. The sound of its radial engine's exhaust was the perfect compliment to the car's racing below.
The visual of the vintage aircraft and the vintage racecars looked like a poster from the 40's!
Fortunately for me, a few minutes later, the plane landed in the grass airstrip near to where I was standing.
Once the pilot had parked and shut the engine down, I headed over to introduce myself.
During the course of our conversation, I was impressed by Ron's encylopedic knowledge of his Ryan PT-22. He is the Ryan's owner, restorer and pilot. Ron's impressive resume also includes other vintage aircraft, vintage motorcycles, and vintage automobiles.
As follow-up we're planning on interviewing Ron in the next few weeks.
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