The only thing that drops are the wing pogos, Yhe drop on takeoff. When they land they have a guy in a fast car put them back in so the wing won't his the ground.
They used to use elcaminos for the pursuit vehicle, since it's a pilot who drives it, the probably use corvettes now....lol
Close, but they don't put those wheels back on the wing..... Once the plane is slow enough, they just let it drag the ground.
The chase cars were there to talk the pilot through the landings. It was pretty difficult to tell how far off the ground you were.
Those U2s at Robins were probably NASA. I don't think the USAF uses them anymore, but I'm not sure.