The breakout that Air Racing has been
seeking for nearly seven decades may finally be on its
way, along with a a true Circuit for the Air Racing
Professional.
The Clarion-Ledger
News, of Tunica, Mississipi, today released a story about
a new entrepreneur in town, one Jeff Landers, the
producer of the Reno Air Race 2004 DVD. Landers has
apparently caught the Air Racing bug big time, and has
gone straight home to Tunica, in order to promote a
Multi-Class Racing event in Tunica, which is home to rich
rural farm fields and an even richer Gambling and Tourism
industry.
The
Clarion-Ledger reports that Landers, of JL Images
Entertainment, is working at this time seeking sponsors,
funding and support for the event, which is tenetively
scheduled for Jun 3 through 5, 2005, at Tunica Airport,
which just expanded its runways to 7,000 feet ~ a length
that will accomodate all Classes of Air Racing.
Landers has
already recieved the backing of the The Tunica Convention
& Visitors Bureau, Tunica Chamber of Commerce and
Tunica Airport, and those three organizations have
committed to the mett by having formed the new Tunica Air
Race Association. Tunica is ideally located in the
nortwestern corner of the State of Mississippi, right on
the Mississippi River. Memphis, Tennesee, is just to the
north where the two western corners of the states meet.
Interstate 40 runs through Memphis, while Highway 61
travels Southwest from the Memphis area into Tunica.
(Editor's
note: This new group, "TARA," will not be the
first such organization so named that the South has
reportedly fought for, but it will be the first to invite
Yankees and not shoot them! Those of you who don't
understand the subtlety of this joke, let's just say that
it flew over your heads and was Gone With The Wind!]
Landers
is reportedly hoping for an initial turnout of 30,000 to
50,000 people, but might be shocked to find a heavier
turn-out due to the long desired "East Coast Air
Race" that people in the Midwest, East and South,
have been longing for. Dozens of Teams, pilots and
aircraft, exist that can race in Tunica, though they can
only afford the West Coast Trip on occassion.
The mandate for a
go-no go decision has been placed at six to eight weeks.
The Clarion-Ledger adds that Landers hopes to have
sponsors contribute one million dollars towards
supporting the combination Air Show and Air Races that
are planned.
Silver State News
Service spoke today with Ron Buccarelli, who has just
returned home with the Rolls Royce Griffon-powered, North
American P-51D/H Mustang hybrid racer, Precious Metal,
Race 38, and he is ecstatic about how Air Racing is
shaping up. According to Buccarelli, "Landers
produced the DVD of last year's races for RARA. He is
committed to a good working relationship with them. The
Tunica race is scheduled for June and he approached me
about the design of the race course. I told him that I
thought the optimum course was the eight-mile course,
such as what they have at Reno."
Buccarelli
indicated that Landers already has several things going
for him in Tunica, beyond the issue that the region's
Convention & Visitors Bureau wishes to expand the
entertainment venues offered in their area. Says
Buccarelli, "Steve and Mary Dilda live close by,
which means that they will likely show, and I'll take
Precious Metal there."
When
asked about the short time frame for establishing a
multi-class Air Racing event, Buccarelli indicated
"I'll be really shocked if he does it, but I'm
hoping for the best for him. He's (Landers) a really nice
guy," adding with that telephoned smile, "but
anyone who wants to start another air race is a nice guy
in my book!"
Racers located
near Tunica include the Dildas in AT-6, Unlimiteds
Buccarelli and Jimmy Leeward (Florida), Stewart Dawson
(Texas), Brent Hisey (Oklahoma), Ike Enns (Based in
Oklahoma), and Nelson Ezell (Texas), among others.
Buccarelli's
commentary about the suddenly bright future of The
World's Fastest Motorsport, extended to Aviation Nation
and the pending Las Vegas Air Races, which are sponsored
by Boyd Gaming and will be run and promoted by Bob
Avery's World of Wings (WoW).
Buccarelli
indicated "I'm really enthused about Aviation
Nation. I'm very impressed with Bob Avery and Jim Pera.
Jim Pera was just really a wonderful guy as liason
between Aviation Nation and the Unlimited Pilots. Bob
Avery was running the show and Jim was assigned to assist
the Unlimiteds in getting everything they needed, whether
that be fuel, oil, hydraulic fluid, water for the plane,
bottles of water for the crews, chairs, table, tickets to
the Thunderbirds Parties. I needed some exhaust stacks
welded and Jim made the arrangements. The Air Force
welded my exhaust stacks for me!"
Tunica,
Mississippi, with a population of 7,935, draws in so much
more in the way of tourism that it has recently been
named a Mississippi Main Street Community, for its recent
work in enhancing the community, tourism, the historic
district, and entertainment for the area. Tunica is known
as "The South's Casino Capital," and plays host
to the Bally's, Fitzgerald's, Gold Strike, Hollywood,
Grand Casino, Harrah's, Horeshoe, Sam's Town and Sheraton
Casinos and Hotels, along with other smaller Casino and
Entertainment interests in town.
Located three
miles from Lake Tunica and the Mississippi River, off
Highway 61, features Tunica Munincipal Airport, owned by the Town of Tunica, which
accomodates fly-in traffic, including any of the raceing
planes currently flying, and also provides airline
service via the new 7,000 foot runway. AWOS III was added
in 2003 and is now operational.
The production of
an Air Race would provide the first semblance of an
organized Air Racing Circuit made up of independent
events, since the 1960s and 70s, when Mojave, Reno, and
others, were operating significant, repeat, multi-class
Air Racing events on the West and East Coasts.
Obtaining the
funding will be a challenge but Landers has reason to be
optimistic. The Jack Binion World Poker Open held in
Tunica this month, has a record 1,451 Poker players
entered in the 2005 event, and a draw expected to
"top 10,000" people to watch others play cards!
Last year's attendance was placed at 6,100 people in
contrast.
As for the funding
and sponsors, and after the Prize Money was placed at
$1.5 million initially, the purse has grown to $2.2
million at this time of writing, with only four of nine
events played so far. With Landers hoping to bring in
30,000 to 50,000 people for Air Racing, a low, safe
estimate in the Opinion of Silver State News Editor Mark
S. "Bear" Daniels, the Casinos should fall
right in line with Tourism, the Community and the
Airport, in providing the necessary one million dollars
support for the event, which is currently under half of
what the current purse is for a poker game, which started
out 500,000 over what it takes to run a multi-class event
the size and prestige of the Reno Air Races.
Combined
with the fact that Motorsports are an extremely popular
tradition in the South, particularly when it comes to
NASCAR Auto and Truck Racing, the Triple Crown of
Motorsports could be achieved the moment Tunica as a
whole, throws their hat into the collective, National
ring.
Rooms, Lodging all
meet the criteria to support a Multi-class racing event,
due to the presence, location and size of the Major
Casinos mentioned above, with room rates going at this
time of writing from as low as $35.00 (Bally's) all the
way up to $72.00 at the Holiday Inn Express. The cost of
living in the South is low, thus your money gives you far
greater value in the Mississippi economy. Tunica is on
the Mississippi River, and has the new Tunica Queen, a
300 passenger paddle wheel steamer that travels up and
down along the local Mississipi shores during its
excursions.
Air Fares in
Tunica via Memphis are presently showing $203.00 from the
Newark, New Jersey area, along with $253.00 from the West
Coast and Los Angeles. These are current January rates.
The reader is advised to plan now for June, when it comes
to funding their trip to Mississippi.
Beyond Tunica,
sponsorship exists in Biloxi, Mississippi, and Gulfport,
along with nearby Shreveport, Louisiana, a state which
has a historical connection to Air Racing via Jimmy
Wedell and Harry Williams. The Wedell-Wiliams Museum in
Patterson, Louisiana,
is named in their honor.
Mississipi has
it's own home town boy in Air Racing, the late Tommy
Rose, of Meridian, Mississippi of the Sports Class, who
raced at Reno and owned the exquisite red, white, gold
and blue timmed, Thunder Rose, Race 3 and Race 69, flown
by Lou Meyer, the first Thunder Mustang racer to achieve
success at the Reno Air Races or elsewhere.
With
the major industry of Gambling now centering its sights
on Air Racing as the next evolutionary industry in
Motorsports, the future is now for Air Racing. Racers
like Jimmy Leeward, whose beautiful "Galloping
Ghost" (the former Miss Candace and Jeannie, both
Race 69) sits in a hangar awaiting sponsorship; well,
those sponsors are liable to start beating a path to his
door. Or Jimmy can beat a path to theirs, since two other
Gambling Cities have an extreme interest in Air Racing at
this time, and with the Sports Eastward progress with
just this one race, with more races possible and waiting
in the wings, this new Air Racing destination could
provide the needed foundation for a solid future.
Either way, with
Air Racing and Air Shows becoming an 18,000,000 million
spectator per year player in the World of Motorsports,
and the speeds exceeding NASCAR and Indy by 300 miles per
hour, this added race to Reno and the planned Racing at
Las Vegas, will likely create the second in Air Racing's
Triple Crown, and then with other potential race sites
waiting in the wings, like Sebring, Air Racing goes from
the current buyer's market (Reno) to a seller's market
(the Air Racing Classes), which causes the dynamics of
Power to switch in favor of the Teams and their pilots.
With that dynamic
switched, with Air Racers out there promoting Air Racing
and three events, as opposed to just one, the eyes of
Media and Press nationwide are likely to add focus to
this new Motorsport, which celebrates its Centennial in
August, 2009.
From there, the
future is Unlimited (pun intended ~ Ed.) as the money becomes available for new
racing designs, new racing events, and greater promotion
of Air Racing in the United States and the World at
Large, by the Air Racers themselves.
If Landers gets
his races going, they will become the second operational
Air Race site in the Nation, usurping Bob Avery's pending
event at Las Vegas, however, it's likely that Avery won't
mind as his World of Wings will benefit, as will RARA,
from a third Air Race and the development of an Air
Racing circuit. Air Racing itself obviously has the most
to gain, with Air Racers gaining the ability to race in
June, September and November, a nicely staggered schedule
so far containing no conflicts in schedule (Sebring would
be perfect as a Spring race ~ Ed.), and with other cities
now in the East seeing it's potential, like Tunica and
Sebring, what nearly a Century of Air Racing couldn't be
accomplished in the 20th Century, may be accomplished in
the first decade of the 21st.
Silver State News
Service will have further news on this announcement
shortly, in this, what could prove to be the banner year,
2005, in Air Racing.
Some Helpful
Links:
http://www.tunicacounty.com/
http://www.tunica-ms.com/
http://www.tunicamiss.org/
http://www.caesars.com/Sheraton/Tunica/
http://cityguides.local.yahoo.com/?location_city=Tunica&location_state=MS
http://hollywoodtunica.com/
http://www.tunicamiss.org/casinos.asp
http://www.caesars.com/GrandCasino/Tunica/
http://casinogambling.about.com/od/casinostunicami/
http://www.harrahs.com/our_casinos/tun/
http://www.tunicamiss.org/enews/september2002/tunica_september.html
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