The 45th annual Air Race Classic, the oldest airplane race of its kind, will feature 115 female pilots in 50 general aviation airplanes.
The race begins at 8 a.m. June 21, 2022, when the 50 planes will launch full throttle, 30 seconds apart, down the runway at Lakeland Linder International Airport (KLAL) in Lakeland, Florida. From there, they will embark on a 2,548-mile course that ends June 24 in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Teams will face unfamiliar terrain and challenging weather as they put their piloting skills to the test, flying at maximum speed across 12 states, according to race officials. At each stop along the way, they will execute a high-speed low pass across a timing line, racing to reach Terre Haute by the arrival deadline at 5 p.m. on June 24.
The eight intermediate stops are Moultrie, Georgia; Muscle Shoals, Alabama; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Ada, Oklahoma; Lawrence, Kansas; Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Tullahoma, Tennessee; and a flyover in Washington, Indiana.
The race route changes each year and is approximately 2,400 statute miles in length with eight or nine timing points, organizers explained.
This year’s racers range from college students to a veteran competitor in her 90s. Some are flying the race for the first time, while others have dozens of races in their logbooks. Each race plane carries a team of two or three women: A pilot, copilot, and an optional teammate. Of the 50 teams in this year’s race, 18 are representing colleges or universities.
Racers come from a wide variety of backgrounds, including students, teachers, doctors, airline pilots, business owners, professionals, and air traffic controllers, according to organizers.
Racers must fly VFR during daylight hours only and are given four days to make fly-bys at each en route timing point and then land at the race terminus in Terre Haute.
How long it will take each team to finish the race depends on the weather, the pilot’s strategy and the speed of the airplane. The fastest planes may complete the course in two days, while the slowest airplane may take all four days. Because the Air Race Classic is a handicap race, teams race against their own best time, organizers noted. This allows slower planes to compete against faster airplanes on an equal basis, they said.
Official standings aren’t determined until after the last team crosses the finish line — the last plane arriving in Terre Haute may, in fact, be the winner, officials said.
The Air Race Classic traces its roots to the 1929 Women’s Air Derby, also known as the Powder Puff Derby, in which Amelia Earhart and 19 other female pilots raced from Santa Monica, California, to Cleveland, Ohio.
This year’s Air Race Classic celebrates the 93rd anniversary of that historic competition, which marked the beginning of women’s air racing in the United States.
Air Race Classic fans can follow the racers’ progress at AirRaceClassic.org.