At the '93 Vincennes/Lawerenceville NATS, I was out helping Al Reed change the speedometer cable in his car one night early in the week. I had never actually talked to Mr. Gieseke one to one. Well, I looked over in the "shadows" of the motel and there was the Bear out in front of his room!! I walked over and chatted with him for a while. Bad thing was I watched him hit the landing light on the runway while practicing, good thing is he flew it with no problems after the repairs!
A few years later ('96 NATS) my oldest, Aaron, was having bad ebngine run troubles. He was fairly young and his first NATS. Everyone jumped in to help, the list is too long to recount, but at one point Mr Gieseke came over and tells Aaron to go fly in HIS place on the corner circle to see if things were ok. He is a great guy.
Bill <><