Farewell to National Championship Air Racing in Reno

Based at Reno-Stead Airport for nearly 60 years, NationalChampionship Air Racing highlights some of the fastest racing on earth in several classes. T-6 Texans at over 200 mph, the Sport class at over 300 mph, the Formula 1 class, Jets, and the Earth-shattering Unlimited class.

The Unlimited class generally features stock or modified WWII fighters, with P-51 Mustangs, F-8F Bearcats and Hawker Sea Furies racing most often. In close formation, these speed demons often exceed 500 mph. It is an incredible experience to see and hear. And you cannot experience it anywhere else in the world. It is truly unique to the United States.

The National Championship Air Races is the last event of its kind, carrying on the tradition of the Cleveland Air Races of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. In 1964, Bill Stead organized an air race near Reno, Nevada, and the Reno National Championship Air Races were born. In recent history, the event has attracted more than 1 million spectators and generated more than $750 million for the region’s economy.

However, the Reno Air Races are now looking for a new home. After 2023, the National Championship Air Races will be moving. They’re still determining where, but the organizers want the event to continue. The unique beauty of the Reno location will be hard to match, with its breathtaking desert mountains, skies exploding with color, and the roar of Merlin engines echoing throughout the valley.

In 2017, I had the opportunity of a lifetime to fly Mooney Aircraft’s M20V Acclaim Ultra to Reno. I have to tell you all, landing at Reno-Stead was such an honor, one that will stay in my memory forever. During my stay in Reno at 2017’s National Championship Air Races, I took some time to snap photos of the aircraft and scenery.

| 01 | At any time during the Air Races, you may find multiple aircraft on the tarmac. Here we see the cumulus clouds looming behind the mountains while high cirrus whip above. The Sea Furies and Mustangs on the time-honored tarmac at Reno Stead let the viewer know they’re in for extreme excitement. That’s not hyperbole.

| 02 | Rare Bear was a wreck; found, salvaged and restored by Lyle Shelton in 1969. Highly modified with a Wright R-3350 engine, new propeller and cowling, and canopy, this Grumman F8F Bearcat, originally called Able Cat at its first Reno Unlimited Class event, went on to win multiple class races at Reno and other locations throughout the years. Rare Bear holds the 3 km World Speed Record of 528.33 mph (850.26 km/h) set on August 21, 1989. It didn’t race in 2017 when this photo was taken, but just being close to it was magical.

| 03 | Argonaut was built from a former Royal Canadian Navy Hawker Sea Fury fighter and has appeared regularly at the Reno Air Races since the 1990s, placing first in Unlimited Silver in 1997 and 2005.

| 04 | A T-6 Texan watches as a racer flies by in a practice run. The views at Reno are stunning throughout each and every day. The cloud build-ups, the sunsets and the rare and beautiful racing aircraft will make the hair on the back of your neck stand.

| 05 | Sea Furies jockey for position amid the picturesque landscape.

| 06 | T-6 Texan pilots and technicians aren’t overly serious. Texans have a little more bark than bite, but they’re majestic, beautiful and smooth to watch whether racing or just sitting on the ramp.

| 07 | Gotcha! is a North American AT-6F first certified airworthy in 1957. The T-6 Class features racing between stock aircraft, including the original T-6 “Texan,” the Canadian-built “Harvard,” and the US Navy “SNJ” version aircraft. The fastest T-6 aircraft generally post speeds of 220 to 230 mph on the 5.06-mile course at Reno. Because the aircraft are all of the same type, the T-6 Class provides some of the most exciting racing at Reno, with an emphasis on strategy and pilot skill rather than raw horsepower.

| 08 | Voodoo in a crowd-pleasing high-g turn. This highly modified North American P-51 Mustang was the 2013, 2014 and 2016 Unlimited Class champion of the Reno Air Races. The pilot for these wins was Steven Hinton, Jr. The P-51D-25-NA (original s/n 44-73415) was built in 1944 by North American Aviation at Inglewood, California, for the United States Army. The aircraft was then transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force as a Mustang IV with serial number 9289 in February 1951.

| 09 | My fire-breathing beast for a week. The Mooney M20V N240CV (the 240 referencing the max speed of 240 knots) Acclaim Ultra was one of the finest single-engine, high-performance aircraft I have flown. It’s smooth, very fast, and handles like a Porsche. The G1000 NXi avionics package, with Mooney’s unique data-entry keypad with physical keys, was a pleasure to use, especially on long flights. Making the approach and landing at Reno-Stead in the Mooney was a thrill of a lifetime.

| 10 | The Duchess of Dakota is a C-47 Skytrain operated by the Dakota Territory Air Museum at Minto, North Dakota. One of the C-47 pilots in WWII was Murray Lawler, who was born near Temvik, North Dakota, in 1921. On September 17, 1944, Lawler’s C-47 delivered troops of the 82nd Airborne Division to a jump site near Groesbeek, Holland; and the next day towed Waco gliders filled with supplies to the same area. Lawler’s original C-47, Duchess of Dakota, was destroyed after the war, but in 2004 a C-47, the one we see here, was bought and restored by Bob Odegaard of Kindred, North Dakota. In honor of Murray, this plane was painted like the original Duchess of Dakota and is now on display at the Dakota Territory Air Museum in Minot.

| 11 | One evening, prior to the races in 2017, I was walking around the flight line at Reno-Stead before heading to the hotel. There was a little party going on in one of the hangars, so my colleague and I poked our heads in to see what was going on. The folks inside invited us in. To our amazement, two of the most storied Reno racers were inside to avoid the anticipated weather that evening. We’ve already learned about Voodoo.

Strega is a highly modified P-51 Mustang, owned by Reno’s legend Bill “Tiger” Destefani. The name of the airplane means witch in Italian. The aircraft’s original operator was the Royal Australian Air Force (A68-679) from 1945 until 1948, the same year it was approved for disposal. Until 1981, the aircraft was on display at the Warbirds Aviation Museum in Mildura, Victoria, Australia. In 1980 Dave Zeuschel purchased and shipped it to the United States and rebuilt it as a racer. In 1983 the current owner Bill Destefani acquired the aircraft as N71FT Strega.

In 2017’s Unlimited Class Gold Final event, Strega, flown by James Consalvi, edged longtime rival Steve Hinton Jr. in Voodoo, for the overall win.

| 12 | A scene like no other in the world. Where can you see a lineup including a Spitfire, a Corsair, a Mustang, a B-25, and a Grumman TBM Avenger? Probably nowhere other than Reno. Nothing more needs to be said.

| 13 | 232 September Fury is a highly modified Hawker Sea Fury. It was bought along with another partial airframe by the Sanders Family in November 1969. Frank Sanders restored the aircraft to airworthiness and raced in the California 1000 at Mojave in 1971. The aircraft would later be bought by Mike Brown and rebuilt with a Wright R-3350 engine.

| 14 | The B-25 Mitchell is such a historic and graceful aircraft. This one is part of the Texas Flying Legends fleet, called Betty’s Dream. It’s painted in honor of Captain Charles E. ‘Pop’ Rice, Jr. of the 345th BG Bats Outa Hell, assigned to Betty’s Dream in June 1945. It flew at Reno quite a bit in 2017, and I am hoping to see it more this year.

This is just a little taste of the National Championship Air Races at Reno-Stead in Nevada. I don’t know where the races will be held next, but I am certainly glad that I got to experience a part of it for several years.

Let me know about your Reno experiences over the years, and send some high-quality photos, too. I’d love to see them, especially since we won’t see Reno’s cinematic landscapes hosting the air races again.