[Mat_Helm]

Two images from yahoo site just before impact. Interesting in the first picture taken as he was inverted and rolling it appears that the left stabilizer trim tab is missing. In the final picture vertical before impact the rear tail wheel is out and with little exhaust he pulled the power back.

He was conscious after the turn because he called out a mayday knowing he had trouble. The Mustang pulled into the vertical and barrel rolled toward the stands. So he pulled back power but the engine was operating. A high speed stall or loss of elevator command could explain loss of pitch control. The pictures show that the ailerons were set for a left roll.

[Yosemitest]

A friend of mine (2002: Tommy Rose of Hickory, Miss., sport class racer crashed into sagebrush during a race) died in a very similar crash.
He crossed the wake turbulence of a leading aircraft in a turn and the horizontal stabilizer was crumpled from the wingtip vortices of the wake.

Heres a link to this excerpt:

Friday — Mourning ... But the upbeat mood at Stead was shattered Friday afternoon when Tommy Rose, flying a Questair Venture, was killed during a Sport-class heat. Rose's airplane apparently encountered turbulence on the front stretch. The aircraft was seen to porpoise several times and then the Venture lost a portion of the tail. It crashed near the home pylon. In the tradition of racing, the remainder of the races was run, but a moment of silence in Rose's memory was observed on Saturday before the first Sport-class race.

[taildragger]

To all that were their from FR, thank G_d you are safe. RIP Jim and all those that perished. Prayers for those that are injured. The Leeward family is a well known name in the aviation circles and an old friend I lost touch with I think lives on the the "Ranch" in FLA. FWIW, I was at Reno once in the early 90's the last year Tsunami raced, yes it is dangerous, but probably the most thrilling motor-sport event on the planet. I am not sure how the sport recovers from this. I never understood the box seat thing at Reno, I was in the stands and thought that was great. The one thing about those seats is you are real close to the aircraft when the are taxiing out if my memory is correct.

The photo of the missing trim tab, this is not the 1st time a racer has been lost at Reno do to the trim tab possibly fluttering and liberating from the elevator. I believe something similar is what caused the crash of Miss Ashley II in 1997.

[Moose4]

Good catch on the missing trim tab. Would that cause enough control force that he couldn’t overcome it, at those speeds?

}:-)4

[tanknetter]

In the final picture vertical before impact the rear tail wheel is out and with little exhaust he pulled the power back.

In that ("dive") picture, why isn't the pilots head/helmet visible? Galloping Ghost was not a standard P-51D, had been modified in many ways, including a revised and much smaller canopy. In that second picture it looks like the pilot simply isn't inside the aircraft.

[dynoman]

That wisp of vapor could be from the boil off cooling systems on the plane.

There’s an outline on boil off cooling systems on page 10 here;

http://www.enginehistory.org/Convention/2005/Presentations/LawPete/Cooling.pdf

A plane like Galloping Ghost might have had as much water on board as fuel.

[dynoman]

Plus the engine doesn’t dump exhaust under the plane...

Just little details...