The prelim report is out already. There was obviously a witness or two and Howard radioed to another airplane that he was going to do a half cuban on takeoff and fly back down the runway in the opposite direction. The other pilot reported what he saw (from the ground) and it looks like Howard may have just been had a bad day, as one airshow pilot buddy of mine put it. Sounds like he went straight in based on the report.
Too bad, indeed.