thanks for the lead. I was aboard the USS RANGER JUST AFTER THE RACE. this is why the ranger had the nickname of "TOP GUN". I was discharged in may 1965.Since my discharge I have been looking for the article. hopefully the article will shed some light on this famous drag race. as the story goes The ranger had beat the kitty hawk in all carrier qualifications. As the story goes because the kitty hawk was a smaller carrier the kitty hawk caption radioed the ranger and wanted to drag race the ranger. Since the flag(admiral) was on the ranger He gave the ok. both ships came side by side went dead in the water and the race was on. initally the kitty hawk took the lead. But the MIGHTY RANGER caught up and won the race. hooray. paqul grutsis
Paul,
See my post of 7/29/13 re: Catapult Extensions. In it I make reference to the Hawk/Ranger drag race and also the Air Dept/Air Wing competition which was NOT a carqual but a full flight plan of approx 12 evolutions and a full days ops that concluded well into the night, probably a noon to midnight scenario. We smoked the Ranger like a good cigar. It was not a pretty sight if you were a Ranger sailor or Air Wing guy. If you heard the story differently from a Ranger sailor, he was probably smoking something other than a cigar.
Didnt know about Hot Rods coverage, but i watched the whole thing from the bow of the ship, FLY 1,(flight deck)it looked to me as though the hawk won,,but who knows,, I did think it was just a little different than what we normally did...
