STEAD, Nev. - "Fly low, fly fast, turn left" is a slogan long associated with the Reno Air Races where each year airplanes have raced wingtip to wingtip against each other around pylons for 51 years.

Without former CEO Mike Houghton but with a dedicated board, seasoned volunteers and talented contractors, the Reno Air Races stepped into its second half-century in mid-September.

Last year the Reno Air Race Association held its Jubilee celebrating 50 years of air racing and after the crash of Jimmy Leeward's "Galloping Ghost" P-51 Unlimited race plane into the grandstand crowd during its 48th year, many thought it might be its last. Facing continuing debt, lawsuits and stricter regulations from the Federal Aviation Administration, the Reno Air Race Association board of directors scrambled to make its 51st year shine.

The 2014 races were blessed with warm, mostly clear weather, good participation from various race classes plus several changes in presentation including two Jumbo-tron screens broadcasting LiveAirShowTV directly from the announcers.

After winning the International Formula One Silver Race in 2013 as a rookie pilot, Idaho's Matt Conklin, a Boise emergency physician, brought his IF1 Cassutt racer "Miss Demeanor" back for a second year but invited his friend, Chet Harris from Anchorage, Alaska, to fly it.

Harris, a finish carpenter by trade, attended the Pylon Racing Seminar (PRS) also known as "Rookie School" in mid-June. Bettering himself daily during race week, Harris won his Silver Race on Friday securing a start for "Miss Demeanor" in the IF1 Gold race on Sunday morning, Sept. 14. In the process, Harris was voted "Rookie of the Year."

Darcy, Harris's wife, said he'd be grinning about this experience for a long time. "He'll have a permagrin," she said, playing on words referencing a year-around frozen subsurface ground layer in Northern Alaska and Canada.

IF1 pilots start each race from the runway spaced in rows of two or three abreast. Conklin had qualified as "Miss Demeanor's" backup pilot and ended up sitting in the cockpit for Sunday's Gold Race.

Because "Miss Demeanor" had been "bumped up" after Harris won his Silver Race, Conklin started in the last row, passed the eighth place race plane and finished seventh.

Another longtime Boise IF1 race pilot, Brian Reberry, a Virgin America Airlines pilot, was between race planes this year but hopes to be back with another ride possibly next year.

Meanwhile, seven-time Unlimited Champion Bill "Tiger" Destefani was back flying his own "Strega" Race 7 Unlimited P-51, in which five-time Unlimited Champion Steven Hinton had won four championships flying in recent years.

Last year Steven Hinton won his fifth Unlimited Championship flying rival "Voodoo" Race 5, also an Unlimited P-51.

Destefani had to start from the back of the pack on Saturday's race since he was penalized for qualifying so slow earlier in the week using his transport engine. Then after his race engine was installed on Wednesday he cut a pylon on Thursday and had to start from the rear in Friday's Silver Heat where he finished first. That allowed him to fly in Saturday's Gold race once again starting from the rear.

He passed the entire field flying high and dove in the straightaway to the finish line to take the race by a spinner's length, which only an official photo could discern. He was subsequently disqualified for flying too high (this was a new FAA rule resulting from the fatal crash two years before).

Hinton had flown his usual precise, disciplined and low race line saving his engine for Sunday's championship Gold race.

Destefani declared a "Mayday" after crossing the finish line and landed safely. While race officials deemed him able to race again on Sunday, apparently "Strega's" engine was finished and it stayed buttoned up all Sunday morning. It was easy to see that "Strega" would not race as all serious race airplanes' engine panels are removed for ongoing maintenance until just before being towed out to the ramp for engine start.

Hinton went on to win his sixth Unlimited Gold Championship Sunday without any serious threats.