The Weight of Persistence
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).
However, after the fashion of the truly and inveterately impassioned, the Reno Air Racing Association’s Board of Directors expressed confidence the event will soldier on, 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 board’s request did not go unacknowledged.
On 22 March the Reno Air Racing Association issued the following statement:
“While we had anticipated the final National Championship Air Races in Reno would be one of our best, we never imagined it would be so popular that the demand would overload our servers within a half-hour of tickets going on sale! We are so humbled and appreciative of the enthusiasm from our air race family and are pleased to report that the ticketing came back online within a relatively short time. We will stay on top of the situation and provide further updates as necessary, but we feel the situation is resolved as of now. Given the apparent demand, we highly encourage our fans to stay up-to-date by following us on Facebook, Reno Air Racing Association, monitoring our newsletters and e-blasts, and purchasing tickets early to join us this September.”
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 440-knots (506-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.
The National Championship Air Races’ swansong will see the return of upwards of 150 fleet, 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.
ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.16.24)
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