Calabasas man sets air race world record

By Michael Picarella Acorn Staff Writer

Danger—even facing death face-to-face—is exciting for Calabasas resident Skip Holm.

Holm, 59, has experienced about 40 close calls while racing planes. He’s a member of the Dago Red air racing team. Earlier this month, he was the gold race winner at the 2003 National Championship Air Races in Reno, Nev., reaching a top speed of 487.938 mph.

During a lap run at the event, which he calls the "Indianapolis 500 of plane races," Holm (in the Dago Red North American P-51 D plane) also broke a world record by reaching 507 mph.

"It was a good week," Holm said. He received the Thompson trophy for his achievements, which has only been given to about eight pilots. It hasn’t been awarded since 1948, Holm said.

What’s it like to fly over 500 mph in a propeller-driven airplane? "It’s like driving your car down the road at 50 miles an hour, and then getting in a race car and going down that same road at 150. The difference is remarkable between 50 and 150, and likewise when you get an airplane wrapped up over 500. It’s really moving along." Holm added, "That’s true airspeed across the ground."

There’s quite a contrast in airspeed when doing you’re doing 500 mph at 50 feet above the ground (about the height that race airplanes fly) and doing 500 mph at airline altitudes, Holm said.

"Airline guys always tell you that you’re going 560 miles per hour," Holm said. "But the airplane is actually only going about 200 and something. The air gets so thin at 40,000 feet—the molecules spread out the higher you get—and because the air gets thinner, the airplane essentially moves across the ground faster. The airlines can double their speed just by flying high."

Holm has been racing since 1981. Air races generally include about 30 planes per race, with 10 planes in three separate heats. The heats are determined based on qualifying speeds.

Holm describes plane races as a 12-minute quarter mile, the equivalent to car drag racing. The planes, however, follow an oval course instead of the straight track of a drag strip.

"It’s the fastest motor sport in the world," Holm said. "And the sound of the plane’s engines is just remarkable."

Holm said he likes it that airplane racing has unlimited competition.

In auto racing, limits are placed on what you can do to a car to make it go faster, Holm said. At air races, the aircrews are unlimited regarding modifications. Aircrews will do everything. Adding blowers and superchargers, and mixing nitrous and magnesium to the fuel, he said, are just some of the methods to maximize performance. The drawback, he said, is that planes are more likely to blow up under such circumstances.

Holm has, he said, experienced many blowups. "I’ve blown up airplanes more than I’ve won," Holm said.

Holm described one near-death-experience that made the newspaper. His family thought he was gone, Holm said.

"One time, I lost a rod or something and it came through the airplane, and when that happens, all the oil and everything else comes in the cockpit," Holm said. "There was about six inches of oil in the cockpit and the oil is hot. I couldn’t see ahead, and so I was looking behind the airplane and turning it and as it got close to the ground, I threw the wheels out and the airplane hit the runway and bounced back in the air, then came down and hit the runway again—I couldn’t see and didn’t know where I was going and I went right between a couple of airplanes, went off the runway and finally stopped on a little hill."

Holm has a wife and two children.

"They worry while I’m (flying), but they don’t worry between flights," Holm said. The guy who writes his insurance policy—he worries, Holm joked.

Holm learned to fly in the U.S. Air Force. He served from 1969 to 1991. He worked for Lockheed aerospace for 14 years and took part in the Stealth fighter program as a pilot of the Stealth bomber.

For his current day job, Holm works as an engineer for the Colorado-based Bear Aerospace. He works via computer from his home most of the time. Right now he’s building a plane that will be used for a nonprofit air camp program, similar to space camp, but for airplanes. The program isn’t off the ground quite yet, Holm said.

Holm looks forward to his next air race. It will be in Las Vegas in November.

For more information about Holm and the Dago Red air racing team, log onto the Internet and go to www.dagored-airracing.com.