In Praise of Persistence

The Reno Air Racing Association (RARA)—the fine folks whose efforts have brought 59-years of superb national championship air-racing to the Reno-Tahoe area—made public the names of the ten young people to be awarded the association’s 2023 Flight Training Scholarships (FTS).

The announcement was made in advance of 2023’s Pylon Racing Seminar, the certification event for the final National Championship Air Races to be held at Nevada’s Reno Stead Airport (RTS).

Hailing from Reno and its outlying areas, the ten scholarship recipients will be awarded up to $10,000 apiece, applicable to the attainment of their Private Pilot Certificates. A non-profit organization, RARA seeks—by dint of education and scholarships—to support local youth and further their individual and collective interest and involvement in STEM-disciplines and the aerospace industry.

Reno Air Racing Association CEO Fred Telling stated: “Racing for the Future is more than just a saying—it’s a mindset our association has in order to facilitate the future of aviation in our local youth. Through these scholarships, we can continue to foster a love for aviation while helping to STEM the pilot shortage. We’re thankful for the Ray Foundation and the gifts from various donors for helping us make this scholarship program possible for a second year.”

To be considered for RARA scholarships, candidates must be between the ages of 16 and 20, maintain a high school GPA of 3.0 or higher, and be a resident of Reno or its surrounding areas.

The winners of the Reno Air Racing Association’s 2023 Flight Training Scholarships are: Gianna Beck, Miles Grieve, Madelyn Jaggers, Kyle Larsen, Talissa Lee, Jarrett McDonald, Danner Rowlett, Kyra Talusik, Audrey Topp, and Gavin VanCott.

Reno Air Racing Association scholarship coordinator Greg Gibson set forth: “Getting to know our award winners throughout this year’s application process has been an absolute joy. They are smart, motivated, and inspiring. We know the future of STEM and aerospace is better because they will be part of the next generation of pilots.”

Notwithstanding the discontinuation of the National Championship Air Races at RTS, RARA intends to carry-on its scholarship program without interruption. In addition to seeking out a new venue for future air-racing, the association is currently securing funding for 2024’s round of FTS scholarships.

Since the spectacle’s 1964 inception, the Reno Air Races, appositely billed the World’s Fastest Motorsport, have thrilled spectators with head-to-head competition among seven aircraft classes ranging from hot-rodded STOL airplanes to highly modified WWII fighters—primarily P-51 Mustangs, F-8F Bearcats, and Hawker Sea Furies—capable of straight-line speeds in excess of five-hundred-miles-per-hour.

The yearly event is among aviation’s high sacraments and occasions displays of engineering brilliance, masterful airmanship, and raw courage emblematic of man’s intellect and spirit.

On 09 March 2023, the Reno Air Racing Association’s Board of Directors announced with leaden hearts that after nearly sixty-years of exhilarating air-racing in northern Nevada, 2023’s event was to be the last National Championship Air Races held at the Reno-Stead Airport.

In a feat of sociopolitical legerdemain artfully veiled as an inevitability born of the region’s 21st Century growth, the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority decreed it would no longer permit the National Championship Air Races to be held at RTS—thereby sounding the beloved event’s death knell. Perhaps.

Undaunted by the airport authority’s obduracy, the Reno Air Racing Association’s Board of Directors—after the indefatigable fashion peculiar of the truly and inveterately impassioned—got immediately about the business of seeking out a new venue for the races, declaring: “We are currently exploring several other possible locations to host the event in the future.”

Racing in Reno consists of two-and-a-half days of qualifying followed by four-and-a-half days of multi-aircraft heat racing divided into seven-classes: STOL Drag; T-6; Sport; Biplane; Formula-1; Jet; and the main-event Unlimited Class. The competition culminates in the Unlimited Class Gold Race—an incomparable syncretism of speed and sound that imprints upon the eyes, ears, and soul like an Iron Maiden/Judas Priest double bill at the Hollywood Bowl with pyrotechnics by the U.S. Army’s 15th Field Artillery Regiment.

Parties interested in attending the Reno Air Races’ 2023 swansong are encouraged to purchase their tickets without delay. The perennially-popular races draw immense crowds, and turnout for the final Reno event is apt to be record-setting.

FMI: www.airrace.org