RENO, Nev. — Leaders of the Nationwide Championship Air Races held in Reno since 1964 plan visits later this 12 months to 6 Western cities which have submitted bids to host the annual competitors starting in 2025 in California, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado or Wyoming.
Organizers of the occasion introduced early this 12 months that the races held final month could be the final in Reno due to a wide range of components, together with rising insurance coverage prices and encroachment of housing round Reno-Stead Airport the place the races have been held for greater than a half-century.
Three of the cities which have submitted proposals to turn out to be the competitors’s new dwelling are in states neighboring Nevada — Wendover, Utah, on the Nevada line alongside Interstate 80; Thermal, California, southeast of Palm Springs; and Buckeye, Arizona, on the western fringe of Phoenix.
The others are Roswell, New Mexico; Pueblo, Colorado; and Casper, Wyoming.
Fred Telling, CEO and chairman of the board for the Reno Air Racing Affiliation, mentioned elected officers and tourism executives from all six cities attended the races that had been lower brief on Sept. 17 when two planes collided in mid-air, killing each pilots.
Telling instructed the officers to return dwelling to find out whether or not their communities wished to rethink given the tragedy.
“Nobody backed out,” he instructed the Reno Gazette Journal final week.
Telling mentioned organizers didn’t wish to depart Reno however had been left no alternative when the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority voted to terminate their contract.
“Seeing the curiosity to host the Nationwide Championship Air Races at every of those distinctive venues offers me nice hope for the way forward for air racing,” he mentioned in a press release.
A range committee has been established to think about the necessities to host the occasion, together with availability of open land for the racecourses, appropriate runways, ramp and hangar area, administrative and safety amenities, in addition to proximity to accommodations, industrial airports and eating places, the affiliation mentioned.
“We solely wish to undergo this course of as soon as and due to that, we’re going to ensure our subsequent location is the perfect match for the way forward for the air races,” mentioned Terry Matter, board member and chairman of the choice committee.
A ultimate resolution is anticipated to be introduced early subsequent 12 months because the group prepares for a ultimate air present in Reno in 2024 earlier than transferring to the brand new location in 2025.
Over simply the previous 10 years, the occasion attracted greater than 1 million guests to the Reno space and generated greater than $750 million for the financial system, the affiliation mentioned.
Occasion organizers had been contemplating transferring to a brand new dwelling since insurance coverage prices beginning rising after the 2011 occasion when a airplane had a mechanical failure and crashed into the apron in entrance of the grandstand, killing the pilot and 10 spectators and severely injuring one other 70.
It was one of many deadliest air present disasters in U.S. historical past.
