Welcome to the Route 66 Air Racing Team website!  Route 66 competes in Formula One racing mainly at the National Championship Air Races in Reno, NV.  Our team grew out of a love of air racing after 10 years of attending the Reno Air Races as spectators.  Originally, it was just a few college friends who met at Reno for a weekend of debauchery.  Each year more and more friends and family came out, and now Reno is like our annual pilgrimage to Mecca. In 2008, a plane was purchased, a crew formed, and a rookie race year was flown forever changing our Reno experience.  The detailed story of our road to Reno can be found in the Blog page which also contains current updates. The History page contains background and race results of the plane. Reno and Formula One pages have brief descriptions of the air races and the details of Formula One racing.

 

Formula One racing is a specific class of aircraft at Reno. Everyone has to adhere to a “formula” of aircraft design such as flying the exact same engine, fixed landing gear, fixed pitched prop, and a minimum wing size.  This attempts to level the playing field by emphasizing piloting skills and engineering cunning to eek out as much performance but still abide by the rules.  Formula One Air Racing has been around since 1946, and more information on the governing organization can be found here: www.if1airracing.org.

 

The National Championship Air Races is a last of its kind.  Pylon air racing started in the 1920’s during the heyday of the Golden Age of Air Racing.  Dozens of events covered the country, and spectators turned out from every small town, city, and rural community.  It was a time when amateur aircraft engineers were on par with military technology, and both brought their latest designs to the race for everyone to see.  Winning a race was a matter of international pride as America competed heavily with other countries including Britain, France, and Italy.  Unfortunately, these races have slowly died over the decades. One by one they were closed due to accidents, encroaching cities, or financial failure.  The races in Reno are all that remain. In 2006, the land under the race course at Reno was sold to a housing developer.  When that developer builds the first house, the Reno Air Races, and air racing in America, will cease to exist.  If you have never been to Reno, I encourage you to get out soon.