The Reno Air Racing Association has narrowed down its list to three cities for the future home of the National Championship Air Races.
On February 29, RARA announced the following cities:
* Pueblo, Colorado
* Roswell, New Mexico
* Casper, Wyoming
On Facebook, RARA said –
“Firstly, we want to say thank you to everyone who took the time to put together incredibly thoughtful and detailed submissions to our host our event. After visiting six sites and learning about their histories, communities and seeing their enthusiasm for aviation, we knew air racing still had a bright future ahead. There were many, many factors to consider and today we feel confident our three finalists have the right mix of things to propel air racing forward…”
Race organizers will now visit the three finalist cities and make a decision at a later, still undetermined date.
OCTOBER 19, 2023:
The Reno Air Racing Association has announced six city finalists for the future home of the National Championship Air Races.
RARA is looking for a new venue for the event after announcing its departure from Reno following the final race in September.
“Seeing the interest to host the National Championship Air Races at each of these unique venues gives me great hope for the future of air racing,” said Fred Telling, CEO and chairman of the board for the Reno Air Racing Association. “We’re looking for our next home, somewhere we can celebrate many more anniversaries, so we’ve assembled an expert committee that is putting an extreme amount of care and diligence into choosing our next location.”
The bidders that responded to the request for proposals include:
* Casper, Wyoming
* Buckeye, Arizona
* Pueblo, Colorado
* Roswell, New Mexico
* Thermal, California
* Wendover, Utah
The National Championship Air Races is a unique event that has called northern Nevada home since its founding in 1964, nearly 60 years ago. In the past 10 years alone, the event has attracted more than one million visitors to the region, generated more than $750 million for the economy and contributed significant aviation related education and outreach to schools and non-profits all around the area.
The committee researching the bid submissions is made up of RARA personnel from all areas, including operations, safety, security, business development and more. The race classes are also represented in the group and will continue to be an integral part of the selection process. At this point, the selection committee is vetting the different proposals and will conduct site visits later this year. There are numerous factors to consider, but a few of the critical requirements for the event include considerable open land available for the racecourses, suitable runways, ramp and hangar space, administrative and security facilities, as well as proximity to hotels, commercial airports and restaurants.
“We only want to go through this process once and because of that, we’re going to make sure our next location is the best fit for the future of the air races,” said Terry Matter, board member and chairman of the selection committee. “Each of the bidders’ proposals were thoroughly prepared and completely addressed the RARA RFP requirements. We are so grateful for their initial attendance at the bidders’ conferences and at NCAR in September, and for the time and effort each one of them put into their proposal preparation. It is very exciting to know that our new home will be in one of these great cities. Soon our Site Selection Committee will visit these locations to further evaluate their ability to be the future host of the National Championship Air Races.”
A final decision is expected to be announced early next year as the organization prepares for a final air show in Reno in 2024 before moving to the new location in 2025.
(National Championship Air Races)
