Fred Telling, CEO and Board chairman of the group that produces the National Championship Air Races, said an important key is being turned for the Roswell event.
Speaking to the Roswell Rotary Club, Telling said the Brown Brothers Ranch, over which race pilots fly, “is allowing us to build an emergency runway on their ranch property.”
The lack of an emergency runway had resulted in two popular classes of air racers — the Sport Class and the Unlimited Class — failing to compete in the 2025 Air Races.
The Sport Class is composed of aircraft currently being manufactured, while the Unlimited Class is made up of World War II aircraft.
“Right now, we probably have 80 aircraft participating, but I believe we will have over 100 aircraft for races this year,” Telling said, adding, “I’m optimistic we’ll have at least 12 in the Unlimited Class.”
A big draw at this year’s Air Races on Sept. 16-20 will be the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds precision flying team.
The team will be visible on Sept. 17 and 18 when they do “full big holiday practice flights, and then on Sept. 19 and 20 when they repeat their show.”
Telling said that one of the days, the Thunderbird crews will be given a police escort “down Main Street from their hotel to the airfield.”
He said one of the bigger challenges for the Air Races is hotel space. In addition to Roswell hotels and motels to house the estimated 75,000-80,000 people expected at the races, RV sites will be available at the airport and in the community.
Telling said Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell will be showing movies for RV campers on several nights at its campus near the airport, as well as making its swimming pool and gymnasium available.
He complimented Artesia, 40 miles south of Roswell, “for organizing a band and other activities nearly every night. They had things going on in the street for the people who were staying down there. The town was very welcoming, and it was great.”
The National Championship Air Races are produced every September by the Reno Air Racing Association. The event was founded in Northern Nevada, where it became an institution and the pinnacle of air racing before moving to Roswell.
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