Reno 2015 Unlimited Gold Line Up by D Ramey Logan

Strega Tiger and Hoot the 2015 Unlimited Air Race Champions by D Ramey Logan

The Reno Air Races, officially known as the STIHL National Championship Air Races from 2016, is a multi-day event tailored to the aviation community that takes place each September at the

Reno Stead Airport Reno Stead Airport is a large public and military general aviation airport located in the North Valleys area, 10 nautical miles (19 km) northwest of the central business district of Reno, in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. A for ...

a few miles north of

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

Air racing Air racing is a type of motorsport that involves airplanes or other types of aircraft that compete over a fixed course, with the winner either returning the shortest time, the one to complete it with the most points, or to come closest to a prev ...

is billed as "the world's fastest motor sport" and Reno is one of the few remaining venues. The event includes races in six classes and demonstrations by airshow pilots.

History

Control Tower during the 2016 National Championship Air Races Pylon Racing Seminar

Begun in 1964, the Reno Air Races feature multi-lap, multi-aircraft races among extremely high performance

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

on closed

ovoid An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one or ...

courses which range between about (Biplanes and Formula One) and about (Jet, Unlimited) in length per lap. The chief organizer is the Reno Air Racing Association (RARA). The first Reno air races, in 1964 and 1965, were organized by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

veteran Bill Stead. They took place at Sky Ranch airfield, a dirt strip barely long, which was located in present-day Spanish Springs. After Stead Air Force Base (20 miles to the west, and named in honor of Bill's brother, Croston Stead) was closed in 1966, that field was turned over for public use, and the races have been held there since then. Aircraft in the Unlimited class, which consists almost entirely of modified and stock World War II fighters, routinely reach speeds in excess of 400 miles per hour. In 2003,

Skip Holm Skip James Holm (born February 22, 1944) is a retired pilot who lives in Calabasas, California, USA. Holm claims to hold the world record for combat flight hours: 1,172. He retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserve in 1992, with the rank of lieutena ...

piloted Terry Bland's modified

P-51D Mustang Over twenty variants of the North American P-51 Mustang fighter were produced from 1940, when it first flew, to after World War II, some of which were employed also in the Korean War and in several other conflicts. Allison-engined Mustangs NA ...

Dago Red ''Dago Red'' is a North American P-51 Mustang (44-74996), restored as a competitive air racer by Frank Taylor in 1981. Dago Red holds several world records, including the 15 km (517.323 mph) set in 1983. Frank Taylor piloted the plane ...

, and reached an all-time Unlimited class speed record of 507.105 mph in a six-lap race around the -mile course. The recently added Sport Class racers, mostly

homebuilt Homebuilt machines are machines built outside of specialised workshops or factories. This can include different things such as kit cars or homebuilt computers, but normally it pertains to homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or ...

aircraft, are reaching speeds in excess of 400 mph. In 2009, Curt Brown set a record of 543.568 mph in his jet-engine L-29 Viper. The Reno Air Races include two and a half days of qualifying, followed by four and a half days of multi-aircraft heat racing, culminating in the Unlimited Class Gold Race on Sunday afternoon. The event also features civil airshow acts and military flight demonstrations between races, plus vendor areas and a large civil and military static aircraft display. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

in 2020 caused the 57th annual race to be cancelled and deferred to 2021. In 2001 the remainder of the event was cancelled because of the grounding of US aviation following the attacks on 11 September.

Classes

*Unlimited *T-6 *Biplane *Formula One *Sport *Jet

Significant participants

People

Steve Hinton Jr 2014 Reno Air race champion photo D Ramey Logan

Lee Behel Wesley "Lee" Behel was an American aviator and air racing champion. He was the creator and, at the time of his death the president, of the "Sport Class" a group of racing airplanes designed for planes under 1000 cubic inches in size that participa ...

* Robert Lee "Hoot" Gibson *

Darryl Greenamyer Darryl George Greenamyer (August 13, 1936 – October 4, 2018) was an American aviator. He started his flying career in the US Air Force Reserve. After leaving the Air Force, he then began to work at Lockheed where he eventually became an SR-7 ...

Steve Hinton Steve Hinton is an American aviator who held a world speed record from 1979 to 1989 and won six Unlimited-class air races, including two national championships. He won four consecutive Unlimited races in one year, and remains the only pilot ever t ...

* Steven Hinton, Jr. *

Bob Hoover Robert Anderson Hoover (January 24, 1922 – October 25, 2016) was an American fighter pilot, test pilot, flight instructor, and record-setting air show aviator. Hoover flew Spitfires in the United States Army Air Forces during World W ...

Gary Hubler Gary Hubler (June 14, 1955 – September 14, 2007) was a crop duster and commercial transport pilot with over 17,000 flight hours from Caldwell, Idaho. He was most notable for being Champion of the Formula 1 class of the Reno Air Races The Re ...

* Rod Lewis *

Doug Matthews Doug is a male personal name (or, depending on which definition of "personal name" one uses, part of a personal name). It is sometimes a given name (or "first name"), but more often it is hypocorism (affectionate variation of a personal name) which ...

* Thom Richard * Bill "Tiger" Destefani *

Clay Lacy Hershel Clay Lacy (born August 14, 1932) is the founder and former chief executive officer of Clay Lacy Aviation, established in 1968 as the first executive jet charter company in the Western United States. His professional resume includes pilot ...

* Pete Zaccagnino * Pete "Tool" Stavrides

Aircraft

*Dreadnought * 232 September Fury *

* The Galloping Ghost *

Nemesis In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis, also called Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia ( grc, Ῥαμνουσία, Rhamnousía, the goddess of Rhamnous), was the goddess who personifies retribution, a central concept in the Greek world view. Etymology The n ...

* Nemesis NXT *

Precious Metal Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value. Chemically, the precious metals tend to be less reactive than most elements (see noble metal). They are usually ductile and have a high lustre. ...

Rare Bear ''Rare Bear'' is a highly modified Grumman F8F Bearcat that dominated the Reno Air Races for decades. History The Bearcat that became Rare Bear was a severely damaged wreck when discovered by Lyle Shelton in 1969. It had been abandoned next ...

Red Baron Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

Tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

Voodoo Voodoo may refer to: Religions * African or West African Vodun, practiced by Gbe-speaking ethnic groups * African diaspora religions, a list of related religions sometimes called Vodou/Voodoo ** Candomblé Jejé, also known as Brazilian Vodu ...

* Strega *Vampire

Fatalities

Before 2011

From 1964 through 2010, 19 aviators lost their lives due to crashes and collisions in the course of the competition and airshow. In 2007, three pilots died over the course of four days in separate incidents:

, Steve Dari, and Brad Morehouse. Racing was suspended for one day after the last of the three incidents.

2011 crash

On September 16, 2011, a heavily modified P-51D Mustang named " The Galloping Ghost," piloted by Jimmy Leeward, crashed near the stands during the Gold Heat of the race, killing Leeward and ten spectators, and injuring 69. Race organizers cancelled all remaining 2011 races after the accident.

2014

A custom built race plane named " Sweet Dreams" crashed on the course during qualifying for a Sport Class heat race on September 8, 2014, killing the pilot,

2022

In the third lap of the Jet Gold final race on September 18, 2022 an L-29 Super Delfin went down on the back section of the course killing the pilot Aaron Hogue.

References

External links

{{sister project links, wikt=no, q=no, b=no, s=no, v=no, species=no
Reno Air Racing AssociationReno Air Race results, 1964-presentInternational Formula One Air Racing1965 Sky Ranch Documentary
Air races Festivals in Nevada Sports in Reno, Nevada Articles containing video clips Recurring sporting events established in 1964