Sadly, the National Championship Air Races announced that 2023 will be the last year the event will be held at Reno-Stead Airport. Bill Stead, a pilot and hydroplane championship racer, revived the national championship in 1964 at Reno Sky Ranch after nearly all air racing ground to a halt at the end of the 1950s. It has been an amazing 60-year follow-up to the original races held in Cleveland, Ohio. 
Definitely the end of an era.

So, what does this have to do with me?  Well…I am three chapters away from finishing Racing the Dream, a novel that follows Hawk (White Haw Aviation Stories) coming back from fighting in the Congo Civil War to compete in Formula One racing, culminating at the very first Reno National Championship. 

Check out the final 2018 Gold Race video here or by clicking on the photo below.  Just so you know, Justin Meaders in #34, came back from a high-speed road racing bike accident that cost him the use of his legs when he was just 22 years old.

The Championship is searching for a new venue.  We all wish them the best of luck.