OK, I'll buy that.
The racers cruise around slowly if the race eninge in in the palne and they aren't racing, but slowaly is still around 230 knots. I'm not sure if Voodoo had the race engine in it or not for the flight to Reno. Most of the top guys don't, but that was Stevo's first year with Voodoo, so I didn't know for sure. Since most of the top racers change to the race engine when they get there, maybe it's a sock "get home" Merlin. But it sure seems to be turning a different speed from Wee Willy! There's a reason for that since when you are in formation with similar stock ariplanes, the rpm is very close because most guys fly with factory-recommended pwoer settings for good engine life.
I was wondering when I didn't see any buffet or anything that looked like mushing motion, but sure enough, there's a clear horn ...
I'd have asked Steve, but he's in Duxford and Stevo is working on Voodoo! ... or maybe in Duxford, too. He's probably doing demo flights with Steve at Duxford.
I'll ask when he gets back, but I'm pretty assured that you are correct at this point. At low speed the T-bird is loafing along at low rpm and low power.