47th Annual Women's Air Race Classic Registration Opens January 2

By Carmelo Turdo

The 47th Annual Air Race Classic will be held from June 18-21, 2024, with registration opening next week on January 2 and running through March 31. The race begins at Southern Illinois Airport in Carbondale and concludes at Northern Colorado Regional Airport in Loveland, near Fort Collins. In between these airports, along the approximately 2,400-mile route, there are eight additional airports that the racers must fly over, or at which they may land, to refuel or stay the night. Since the race can only be flown in VFR daytime conditions, the crews must continuously adjust their route based on the weather and other factors to complete the course within the four days available. The route is shown below: 

(Air Race Classic graphic)

Individual pilot qualification minimums are specified by the Air Race Classic organization, notably that Private Pilot or higher rating is required to compete, with at least 100 hours PIC and one of the two crew must have at least 500 PIC hours or an Instrument Rating by the start of the race. Student pilots may also accompany the crew if they have a minimum of five flight hours.

There are three entry classes for the Air Race Classic:

Competition: non college or university-affiliated teams flying most factory-produced, general aviation aircraft

Intercollegiate: teams entered by a colleges or universities, with the pilot being an undergraduate student 

Non-Competition: teams or aircraft that do not meet the requirements of the above classes, including sport pilots, experimental and turbo-equipped aircraft

Each team will receive a handicap based on their own aircraft's performance as measured on a pre-race flight to establish the maximum speed figure with which to compute the final ranking. 

Expenses are borne by the team or their sponsors, which include registration, event costs, fuel, maintenance and lodging. The Air Race Classic website provides detailed information on all the aspects of the race, including an estimated cost scale.

The Aero Experience encourages women aviators who qualify for the race to form teams, obtain sponsorships, and participate in the Air Race Classic this year in support of women in aviation. We plan to be at Carbondale for the start of the race, and we look forward to hearing from the winning teams afterward. 

In 2018, The Aero Experience met three intercollegiate teams during their pre-race stop at Creve Coeur Airport on their trip to Texas for the start their Air Race Classic:

Racer 52 Purdue Pilots Incorporated: Nicoletta Fala, Cathy Troyer

Racer 41 Purdue University: Alyssa Harvey, Tiffany Imhoff

Racer 50 Lewis University Flyers: Megan Shaffer, Jane Zieba

   

During our coverage of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2023, sponsored by Piston Aviation, The Aero Experience met Olivia Kidd from the 2023 Air Race Classic Team 64, the War Eagle Team White, from Auburn University. She and teammate Sophie Young flew their 2020 Cessna 172SP through the course in 19 hours, 22 minutes and 50.652 seconds. Auburn sponsored several other War Eagle Teams, each with very similar scores. She could not have been more pleasant as she represented Air Race Classic in one of the massive exhibit hangars at AirVenture.

The current Air Race Classic continues the tradition of women's air racing begun in 1929 with the Women's Air Derby and the post- World War II All Women's Transcontinental Air Race, known as the Powder Puff Derby. Those air races demonstrated the skill of the women pilots of their eras, and the Air Race Classic remains one of the great annual events that attracts women aviators from across the country to celebrate their achievements.

Check the Air Race Classic website for details on the course and register your team before the sixty team entries are filled!