Precious Metal fire damage

It appears that the modified P-51 with the counter rotating props had a fire after a gas stop in Florida on his way to Reno. He was about to taxi and someone on the ground flagged him down and told him to kill the engine and vacate.

It seemed to come from underneath and from the reports and photos it had enough fire damage that it may never fly again… I have my doubts on that part but then again I can't see much with just photos that to me don't look all that bad. Sorry, I don't have a link. It is also on their Facebook page. Here is the statement.

"Precious Metal Air Racing Fan Page
Dear Race Fans,

It's with a heavy heart I am forced to announce the end of Precious Metal's air racing career. She sustained heavy damage in a ground fire at a fuel stop this afternoon.

The aircraft was running fine and I was taxying out of the chocks after fueling up, a gentleman came running and signaled me to shut down. I had no idea I was on fire until he alerted me as it was under the airplane. By the time I came to a stop the flames were reaching the cockpit on the left side and I abandoned ship. There was no time to attempt fighting the fire as we feared an imminent explosion with 190 gallons of fuel onboard.

The fire department showed up after about 12 minutes and took 20 minutes to put the flames out with foam. But the damage was done. The aircraft is intact, but sustained heavy damage.

Thank you for all the support over the years, you are the best fans."

Thom Richard

 

Why 10 years or less?

 

That DQ should never have been allowed to stand and if the general public in the stands got wind of the details I can see why their support would dwindle. At the very least it should have driven a change in the judging procedures. But I don't know, it's pretty corrupt when there is video evidence from the cockpit mounted camera showing that it was a clean race and that lone judges opinion overrode it…

With all the money and time and sacrifice these guys put into racing prep all year long, that kind of crap cannot be allowed or it'll end sooner than we think.