1964–2023; Beloved Mother of Rare Bear, Dreadnaught, and Voodoo

Appositely Billed The World’s Fastest Motorsport, the Reno Air Races 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 demonstrative of the very best of man’s intellect and spirit. The racing is glorious—splendid to behold and exciting unto intoxication—and draws the very best aerospace engineers, airframe and powerplant fabricators and mechanics, and a cadre of steady-handed, steely-nerved pilots—masters, to the one, of flight’s scientific and sporting facets.

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 will be the last National Championship Air Races held at the Reno-Stead Airport (4SD).

In a letter addressed “To Our Loyal Fans and Passionate Community,” the race’s board of directors stated: “While we knew this day might come, we had hoped it wouldn’t come so soon.”

The Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority, citing the region’s significant growth, amongst other concerns, has sounded the beloved event’s death knell.

However, after the fashion of the truly and inveterately impassioned, the Reno Air Racing Association’s Board of Directors has expressed confidence the event will continue, setting forth: “We are currently exploring several other possible locations to host the event in the future, but it starts with making this year’s event the biggest and most successful it can be. In essence, the future of the National Championship Air Races starts now. And, we need your help.”

The help to which the insuperable board alluded is attendance. “As we take off for one last time in Reno, we are inviting the community and race fans from all over the world to join to send off the National Championship Air Races in style,” the board’s statement continued, adding: “Consider it a celebration of six-decades of thrills, history, pageantry, camaraderie, and family. Reno has been the event’s home for the last 59 years, and we could not leave without recognizing the community that has embraced our event and helped make it one of our region’s signature events. We look forward to seeing the many faces the Air Races have brought joy to over the years, as well as new ones who will get the chance to see the only racing event of its kind for the first time this year.”

Perspicaciously salting their solicitation with gratitude, the board asserted: “We are grateful for our time at the Reno-Stead Airport and our partnership with the Reno Tahoe Airport Authority. Our event has generated hundreds-of-millions of dollars for the local economy, while instilling a love for flying in the community and becoming a valued partner to many charities and non-profits. We have always been so thrilled to show off the beautiful Reno Tahoe area to the tens-of-thousands that flew in just for our event and we’re looking forward to doing that again this year. The support from both our community and visitors has been overwhelming, and the impact they helped us make in Reno is immeasurable.”

The final National Championship Air Races will span 13 through 17 September 2023, and will see the return of upwards of 150 frisk, agile aircraft and their determined pilots as well as several displays and experiences including the Global Robot and Drone Deployment (GRADD) Nevada Business Aviation Association (NVBAA) STEM Education Discovery Zone, heritage displays, military demonstrations, static displays, and numerous additional attractions certain to splendidly ornament the between-race intervals.

The 2023 event will mark the third year of STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) Drag competition—an eminently spectator-friendly event in which pilots of STOL aircraft race side-by-side along a designated straight track and land on or after a marked line. Upon touch-down, each aircraft must come to a complete stop—on runway heading, no less—with their respective tail-wheels full-down. Landing short results in disqualification. Thereafter, the racing pilots must complete a 180-degree turn, takeoff, and race back to the start/finish line, landing on or as-near-as-possible to such. The first pilot to come to a complete, tail-down stop is declared the winner.

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 a Led Zeppelin/Who double bill at Red Rocks with pyrotechnics by the U.S. Army’s 56th Artillery Command.

Notwithstanding the sad fact that 2023 is to be the last year the U.S. National Championship Air Races will be held at the Reno-Stead Airport, the Reno Air Racing Association remains committed to not only preserving and growing the thrilling and historic sport of air racing, but capturing the imaginations and hearts of the next generation of air racing fans.

FMI: https://airrace.org/news/to-our-loyal-fans-and-passionate-community/