Reno's Racers
Tom Aberle's Phantom is not your father's Pitts. It goes 260 mph-plus. It was featured in Experimenter in 2009.
When it's time to go to work, Lohmar is like the rest of us: "I get a lot of my stuff from Wicks—hardware and tools, especially. T-6 parts come from specialty houses, of course."
When the Rules Don't Dictate 'Stock'
Nearly all the aircraft in the Biplane Class claim their lineage from Curtiss Pitts; the notable exception is
Phantom, a product of Tom Aberle's mind and airplane shop. Phantom, a rules-optimizing and meticulously prepared racer, is roughly 50 mph faster than the rest of the field; Aberle regularly laps everybody! In 2012, when a heat race snafu forced Aberle to start from the back of the pack in the standing start, he was in third place by the time the field was halfway through the first lap; he was leading by the end of Lap 2, and he fell short of lapping second place by only about 200 yards
Casey Erickson's Pitts is typical of the Biplane Class entries. 24 NO. 3/NOVEMBER 2012