THE WOMEN BEHIND THE MACHINE: N638DS

First, let me apologize to all of our supporters, sponsors, friends, family, and all those that lent the "Wings of Dreams Raceteam" their support. As I'm sure you are all aware, I started a "blog" at the beginning of the race, but being computer illiterate, hit something that sent it before I was finished. At that point, being totally emersed in the race and the work that layed before us, I never tried to correct it. There was NO TIME at this juncture. I was really excited about the video cam at the Russellville, Arkansas airport and was looking up the address but accidentally hit the wrong button on my computer and it was now in cyberspace. I thought it would be great fun for everyone to watch us come in to fuel, BUT you didn't miss anything. Russellville was one of the airports we ending up just flying the timing line and headed on to Sparta, TN.Next, and certainly MOST IMPORTANT, is thanking Captain Bob Oehl and Susan King from the Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum in Keystone Heights, Florida. They handled all the paper work on the Diamond DA-40, secured the aircraft for the race, and raised all the money from sponsors to make this epic trip a reality. Also, Capt. Bob for his time and effort to get Susan and I ready to fly this "Dream Machine" all over the U.S.As you have learned in previous "blogs" we were first to arrive at the Terminus in Atlantic, Iowa!!!! We were over 6 hours ahead of the #2 aircraft (which, ironically, came in dead last!!!!!!!) No names mentioned as they have now become good friends.Our mission for this race was to promote awareness for the WASPS throughout the U.S, which we did and did well. My understanding is that we made three major newspapers, but we have not had time to look up the articles so at this time cannot tell which they were.I received a call at 10:30 P.M. the night before the Banquet and was asked to be at the airport at 7:00 A.M. the next morning to re-fly the Diamond and make sure we had the correct handicap for the Judges. I considered this a quite exciting call as I didn't feel they would be re-flying the plane to check our handicap unless we were in the Top 10. When I arrived at the airport, there were 6 planes waiting to be reflown. Everyone there was telling me that all planes that were recalled were in the Top 10. The excitement was definitely mounting!!!! At the Banquet we had no idea what our position was. We found that we finished #18 out of 36 planes (72 pilots). Although we were dissappointed in our finish, we were thrilled to receive 3 gold medals for best time on 3 of the 9 legs. Not bad for a first-time racing team, an unknown aircraft, and certainly unknow panel.We subsequently found out that the reason for re-flying the Diamond was that the Air Race Classic committee wanted more information on how to come up with a handicap for the plane. There was another Diamond DA-40 in the race and they were also asked to re-fly.The race is over and thankfully it is now time for a much deserved rest. I never envisioned the stress and sleep deprivation we would encounter trying to bring the trophy home for the WASP exhibit in the Museum.After the race is over you learn what the pilots that placed in the Top 10 did. Certainly, it's all closed-lip before the race. The team that placed 8th had raced this race 33 times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We're a proud racing team. I am sure with the information now at hand, if the race was run this week, that trophy would be in Keystone Heights.Again, thanks to all for the incredible journey.