Wikinews visits the 2009 Reno Air Races

September 23, 2009

The Reno Air Races are one of the few remaining air racing events, taking place each year in Nevada, USA. This year, the Reno Air Races had enough competitors in its classes to warrant an extra day of racing heats, which started on Wednesday. Fortunately, this did not diminish the crowds or the excitement for the weekend. The culmination of the week's events, proved to be an extremely busy Sunday with 12 races and 7 air show performances. These performances included the Red Eagles biplane acrobatics, Patty Wagstaff in her Extra 300S, a C-17 Globemaster III tactical demonstration, and the Blue Angels. For any serious attendee of the air races, the defining event of the week was the Unlimited Gold race at the end of Sunday.

The winner of this year's Unlimited Gold race was the returning champion from 2008, Strega. Strega was flown by Steven Hinton this year, and at 22 years old, he is the youngest to ever win the National Championship Air Races. His chief competitor for the Gold race was expected to be Will Whiteside flying Voodoo. Unfortunately, Voodoo had mechanical difficulties and was forced to pull out of the race midway through. The second place finisher for the Gold race was John Penney in Rare Bear, who called a mayday after the race finished, though he did land safely.