The 58th annual STIHL National Championship Air Races is two months away, but organizers say they're in need of more funding because of rising costs.
The Reno Air Racing Association says they've seen costs rising all over but this year they had a very large increase in their insurance policy cost - about $500,000 - and they're also seeing costs on infrastructure go up.
"Those two put together we're somewhere in the neighborhood of three-quarters of a million dollars of extra costs that have come up this year and we're trying to address it by bringing down costs where we can and also trying to raise as much as we can to help out,” says Reno Air Racing Association COO Tony Logoteta.
Organizers say they're excited for this year's event which will once again feature the F-22 Raptor - and they say they've had plenty of pilots apply to race this year.
The Air Races say they're taking donations online and they've qualified to be a finalist for ‘A Community Thrives’ fundraising program which starts on Monday.
They have to raise $6,000 from that by August 12th to be eligible to win the grant.
