The Sun Sets on Reno

The National Championship Air Races runs its last lap.

Some 15 years ago, I attended the National Championship Air Races in Reno, Nevada. I had never seen anything like it—and I never will again. The air races held at Reno last September were the final act of a spectacular tradition that began 60 years ago. There’s talk of moving the races to another venue, which is something we can all look forward to.

But I’ll always remember Reno’s distinctive atmosphere. A desert airport flanked by mountains was transformed into something of a county fair, with vendors peddling all manner of hats, T-shirts, and pins. In the pit areas, the smell of fuel and warm motor oil mingled with the aroma of catered food. People liked to eat in the pits because that’s where much of Reno’s social activity took place. (For a full report on Reno 2023, see our cover story by Preston Lerner.)

I couldn’t attend last September’s event, but what I remember most from my prior visit to Reno is the intensity of closed-course pylon racing. You’re flying at low level as fast as you can in a temperamental machine that can easily get away from you. Not everyone can do this kind of flying (not everyone should). But when you see a perfectly executed race, it’s a sight to behold.

The National Air and Space Museum was represented at last year’s Reno races by Jeremy Kinney, who is our associate director of research, collections, and curatorial affairs. Kinney is also a racing buff—one who can talk some serious shop about motorsports. In his experience, the most memorable thing about Reno is the sound of maxxed-out combustion engines, especially when it’s a Merlin V-12 powering a World War II-era fighter competing in the Unlimited class. “It starts with the airplanes coming down the chute,” says Kinney. “And the roar as they rush past on the final lap—that’s the sound of air racing.”

The sound of a juiced-up Merlin at full bore is so profoundly exhilarating that Kinney was moved to share it. “I called my dad,” he says “and held up my phone and said, ‘You’ve got to hear this.’ ”

What is the legacy of Reno? “The Reno air races are aeronautical Americana,” says Kinney. “What Reno provided was a venue—a gathering for people who have a passion for developing the airplane as a vehicle for competition. And why do you want to do that? Because you can.”

If the Reno Air Racing Association does indeed set up shop somewhere else, we’ll report on it in the pages of this magazine. Until then, I invite you to visit the Nation of Speed gallery at our National Mall Building. The joy of racing “because you can” is expressed across most forms of transportation, and in Nation of Speed, you can see not only the Sharp DR 90 Nemesis (the most successful airplane in the history of air racing), but also Richard Petty’s NASCAR No. 43 Pontiac and Glenn Curtiss’ V-8 motorcycle, on which the aeronautical inventor set a speed record of 136 mph in January 1907. These triumphs of the combustion engine tell me that speed is in our nation’s DNA—and always will be.

Christopher U. Browne is the John and Adrienne Mars Director of the National Air and Space Museum.

This article is from the Winter 2024 issue of Air & Space Quarterly, the National Air and Space Museum's signature magazine that explores topics in aviation and space, from the earliest moments of flight to today. Explore the full issue.

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