The Bartlesville Municipal Airport will be one of eight stops during this summer’s 47th Air Race Classic on June 18-21 — a 2,628-mile competition for women pilots from across the U.S. and around the world.
The oldest race of its kind in the nation, the Air Race Classic traces its roots to the 1929 Women’s Air Derby, aka the Powder Puff Derby, in which Amelia Earhart and 19 other daring female pilots raced from Santa Monica, California, to Cleveland, Ohio. This year’s ARC celebrates the 95th anniversary of that historic competition, which marked the beginning of women’s air racing in the United States.
“We are really excited for Bartlesville to be chosen as one of the intermediate airports for this year’s cross-country Air Race Classic,” said Mike Richardson, airport director. “This will be a unique and exciting event for our community to be a part of.”
Women pilots from across the United States and around the world will take off June 18 from Southern Illinois Airport in Carbondale, Illinois, for a 2,628-statute mile competition across 11 states that ends June 21 at Northern Colorado Regional Airport in Loveland, Colorado.
Teams will begin departing Southern Illinois Airport at 8 a.m. June 18, taking off one after another approximately 60 seconds apart. From there, the field will spread out as faster planes move ahead or as racers use their own strategy for when to fly. Faster planes may complete the route in only two days; slower planes may not arrive at the Terminus in Loveland until moments before the arrival deadline at 5 p.m. on June 21.
Intermediate airports along the route are in La Porte, Indiana; Cadillac, Michigan; Newark, Ohio; Monee, Illinois; Owatonna, Minnesota; Moberly, Missouri; Bartlesville; and Dodge City, Kansas. Teams will execute high-speed flybys over a timing line at each of these intermediate airports where they may also land for fuel, a break, or an overnight stay.
Because each plane receives a unique handicap, teams are racing against their own best time, not against one another. Official standings aren’t determined until after the last team has crossed the finish line – the last arrival at the Terminus may, in fact, be the winner.
For more information, go to airraceclassic.org.