The Reno Air Races move to Roswell and the first pylons over the New Mexico desert
The National Championship Air Races have relocated from Reno to Roswell, New Mexico, and the new desert venue may be the best thing to happen to the sport in decades.
After more than fifty years at Reno Stead Airport in Nevada, the National Championship Air Races have moved to Roswell, New Mexico — and the new venue is already winning over even the most loyal Reno veterans. The Roswell Air Center, a former Air Force base with 13,000-foot runways and wide-open desert airspace, offers the room and freedom that the sport had been losing as Reno’s urban sprawl closed in. First-year attendance is tracking above projections, and organizers are already planning expanded race classes for the following season.
Why Did the Air Races Leave Reno?
The Reno National Championship Air Races operated at Reno Stead Airport from 1964 through the 2023 season. Over the decades, residential development encroached on the field. Noise complaints increased, and the land beneath the racecourse became more valuable for housing than for aviation. After the 2023 season, organizers announced the move to Roswell.
What Makes Roswell the Right Fit for Air Racing?
The Roswell Air Center occupies the former Walker Air Force Base, a Cold War-era installation with infrastructure that seems purpose-built for high-speed racing. The runways stretch 13,000 feet. The surrounding terrain is flat, open scrubland with no residential areas for miles in every direction.
The race course is laid out north of the field over flat desert. Spectators can see approaching aircraft for miles — a sharp contrast to Reno, where mountains framed and constrained sightlines. The pit areas are significantly larger than what was available at Stead, giving race teams room to work that they never had before.
At roughly 3,700 feet elevation, the thinner air means ground speeds are even higher than at Reno. Winds are more predictable, though afternoon density altitude has posed cooling challenges for some engine programs.
What’s It Like on the Ground?
The fly-in camping area at Roswell is massive. An estimated 300 general aviation aircraft parked on transient ramp and overflow grass areas during the first race week, ranging from Cirrus SR-22s to a 1946 Taylorcraft to homebuilts flown in from as far as Oregon.
The atmosphere on the ground carries a distinct startup energy. The crowd of roughly 15,000 is smaller than peak Reno attendance, but the enthusiasm is intense. Local restaurants are running race-themed specials, hotels display welcome banners, and the Roswell airport authority has invested in infrastructure upgrades. The community has committed to making this work.
One veteran crew chief named Marcus, who has attended the races since 1987, put it plainly: “I cried when they said we were leaving Reno. Then I got here and I realized this is what Reno felt like in the seventies before everything closed in.”
The Unlimited Class: Engineering at the Edge
The Unlimited class remains the headline event. Modified warbirds — P-51 Mustangs, Hawker Sea Furies, Grumman F8F Bearcats — race wingtip to wingtip at over 400 mph, cutting as close to the pylons as pilots dare because every extra foot of turning radius costs speed.
The legendary racer Strega, a heavily modified P-51 Mustang, is competing with its Rolls-Royce Merlin engine bored out to produce over 3,000 horsepower from a piston powerplant. These aircraft fly at roughly 50 feet above the desert floor, pulling vapor off their wingtips through the turns.
A bronze heat saw an F8F Bearcat dueling with a Mustang through turns five and six so closely that, from certain spectator angles, the two aircraft appeared to merge into one shape with four wings.
Beyond the Unlimiteds: Sport, Biplane, and Jet Classes
The Sport class offers a more accessible entry point into competitive air racing. Pilots compete in fast homebuilts and modified production aircraft rather than million-dollar warbirds. Sarah Chen, a 26-year-old pilot racing a modified Glasair III, qualified fourth in her first year of competition — a standout example of new talent entering the sport.
The Biplane and Formula One classes race smaller aircraft that pull up to 6 Gs around the pylons at over 200 knots. They look miniature parked beside the Unlimiteds, but the racing is no less aggressive.
The Jet class features modified L-39 Albatros and other Czech-built jet trainers racing at over 500 mph. The sound signature is entirely different from the piston classes — a sustained roar rather than the rhythmic growl of a radial or Merlin engine. A retired airline captain with 32 years of Reno attendance called it the best race course he had ever watched from.
What’s Next for the Roswell Air Races?
Television and broadcast coverage has benefited from the move. The desert light produces superior footage, and drone camera angles that were impossible at Reno due to terrain are now standard. The race director confirmed that expanded classes are already planned for the following year.
The sport is not shrinking — it is resetting. Roswell gives air racing the space, the infrastructure, and the community support to grow in ways that were no longer possible at Reno.
Key Takeaways
- The National Championship Air Races have permanently relocated from Reno Stead Airport to the Roswell Air Center in New Mexico after the 2023 season
- Roswell’s former Air Force base offers 13,000-foot runways, unlimited airspace, and no residential encroachment — solving every problem that forced the move from Reno
- First-year attendance exceeded projections, with strong community support and improved broadcast production
- All major race classes are competing, including Unlimited, Sport, Biplane, Formula One, and Jet, with expanded classes planned for next year
- New pilots like Sarah Chen represent a wave of younger competitors entering the sport, proving air racing’s future is being built at Roswell
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