Fly Low, Fly Fast: Inside the Reno Air Races

The high-risk sport of unlimited air racing--in which racers fly wingtip-to-wingtip around towers at high speeds--is extolled with a focus on the 1997 and 1998 Reno Air Races, which are held annually in September and draw as many as 150,000 spectators. A former navy pilot and current Delta Airlines captain, Gandt (Bogeys and Bandits) shares his knowledge of the planes, but his detailed descriptions of the former warbirds will appeal mainly to hardware junkies. And his comprehensive account of the sport's history and evolution, which could clarify much for the reader, doesn't appear until the second part of the book. But Gandt does succeed in portraying the bravura of the flyers, who are traditionally male (the first woman entered in 1990), and their rivalries in colorful depictions of the Brethren, the sport's elite pilots, ranging from former astronauts and ex-military pilots to Bill ""Tiger"" Destefani, an ex-farmer who has won the race six times. In trying to understand why unlimited air racing hasn't caught on like stock-car racing (""Wasn't stock-car racing a redneck thing... ?"" he has flyers wondering. ""By comparison, air racing attracted a rarefied class of mostly college-educated, affluent aviation enthusiasts""), Gandt examines the differences between the two sports, but one similarity emerges: ""the prospect of mayhem."" Fans want to see action and possible destruction. Many accidents are mentioned, including a fatal 1949 crash in which a plane hit a home, killing a mother and child, an occurrence that halted air racing for 15 years. Gandt's souped-up, jargonized writing is for fans of air racing and warships and lovers of extreme sports, not for the average sports reader. (Nov.)