Air Races moves from Reno to Roswell, NM

[L-188]

I haven't been there in years but they'll have their work cut out for them. South of Albuquerque is a whole lot of nothing. I'm thinking about going as we have friends in Albuquerque, but they're a little skeptical about the drive down there. Other than the military and some no such agency contractors in different small industries, crime is a pretty rampant throughout the state. A nice influx of touristas' driving or flying in will be interesting. The state is broke so they won't be helping with infrastructure. It'll be on the backs of speculators to try and roll the dice on providing what's needed. Hope it works.

[ZRX61]

The lack of hotel rooms is going to be a real challenge, supposedly there are only about 1000 rooms out of 20-something hotels in the city. It's in the middle of nowhere and not easily accessible. People are going to have to camp, RV, or "rough it". 1000 rooms won't even cover the staff, race teams and air race support staff. It will be real interesting to see how they address this very limiting factor.

You're assuming people will actually show up...

[Warbird Kid]

I never had the chance to make it out to Reno for the races, so if I end up ever going it will be based solely off of Roswell's hospitality and without any memories or nostalgia of "the good ole days" of Reno to go off of.

That being said, I hope its a well attended event with plenty of infrastructure added.

[JohnB]

FLYING magazine sent me one of their news emails yesterday. In it was a article about the races going to Roswell.
It said cities made proposals...which presumably addressed hospitality issues...then the race organizer visited the towns of the three finalists.

So somewhere, someone knows about the lack of hotels.
Of course, even having motels doesn't address the town being 13 hours from anywhere....which makes the motel issue even more critical.

The organizers are betting their money, so we have to trust them that they know what they are doing.
It's their event that's in the balance.

[JohnH]

Yikes. I zoomed in on Roswell's " downtown " a few times trying to find any semblance of something good . Restaurants , bars, breweries , anything ? There's nothing.

What a big fat deserted nothing! It makes Reno look like Monaco or NYC in comparison . We had it so good. Most likely not going .

[mike furline]

Yikes. I zoomed in on Roswell's " downtown " a few times trying to find any semblance of something good . Restaurants , bars, breweries , anything ? There's nothing.

What a big fat deserted nothing! It makes Reno look like Monaco or NYC in comparison . We had it so good. Most likely not going .

I've been there a couple times, always had a good time, good food and good drinks.

I'm looking forward to you not going. You obviously have never been there so your remarks are ridiculous. One extra hotel room just opened up.

[JohnB]

I'm looking forward to you not going. You obviously have never been there so your remarks are ridiculous. One extra hotel room just opened up.

Mike
I didn't know you had a new job doing PR with the Roswell Chamber of Commerce!

[mike furline]

I'm looking forward to you not going. You obviously have never been there so your remarks are ridiculous. One extra hotel room just opened up.

Mike
I didn't know you had a new job doing PR with the Roswell Chamber of Commerce!

A lot of bichin & moanin for a race that hasn't taken place from a bunch of people whom have never been.

[JohnB]

I'll give you credit for driving a '69-71 300 (Can't tell without seeing the grille).
While not as special as the earlier letter series 300s, I liked the later cars...a bit sportier than the top of the line New Yorker, very much a "Bankers Hot Rod".

But it should have full wheel covers, after all it's a 300, not Newport.

[mike furline]

I'll give you credit for driving a '69-71 300 (Can't tell without seeing the grille).
While not as special as the earlier letter series 300s, I liked the later cars...a bit sportier than the top of the line New Yorker, very much a "Bankers Hot Rod".

But it should have full wheel covers, after all it's a 300, not Newport.

It should have a 440ci in it too, but a 505ci came with the Dog Dishes. 69 by the way.

[k5083]

I wish Roswell the best of luck with their new UFO (unlimited fast object) venture. It did not seem to me that there was an ideal candidate among the finalists. I feel like the vibe for non-participant attendees is going to be a bit of a Burning Man thing. Some type of pop-up accommodations should be considered.

August

[L-188]

Very cool car btw, If I do end up attending, I hope to see it. While I'm skeptical, I really do hope they pull it off. My only trip to
Roswell was back in the 90's with my sons. We were visiting my Dad and since he was in the car business (managing ABQ's Cadillac dealer) I had no idea how far Roswell was from ABQ, but it was quite a haul. We were using an Olds minivan with quite the pedigree. Goldie Hawn had used it during a film festival in Santa Fe. (We had missed her by about 20 minutes she actually dropped it off herself and took a picture with Dad) But I digress. Roswell back then was all UFO's all the time. the museums were fun and the gift shops were pretty cool. We drove out to the airport but it was pretty sleepy, a company called Renown Aviation was pretty busy, they were doing contract flying with Convair 580's for the Navy. We walked around hangar 18 where the UFO parts were housed, but a guy rode up on a bicycle and said it was restricted. Maybe the parts were still in there. In any event I'll see how this whole thing plays out. It won't take much of nudge to get me to go.

[wendovertom]

This will be a great opportunity for Roswell and they do have a great team excited about putting a good event together. ANYWHERE the races move to faces challenges (volunteer base, infrastructure, disgruntled fans - lol) so this will be interesting to see play out.

I did get a laugh from the "Air Racing Fan Group" Instagram account. They reposted the RARA announcement and promptly said, "If I see anyone mention Wendover in the comments I will turn commenting off on this post" ROFL - I guess we have some diehard supporters out there!

Truthfully, a full set of races was NEVER going to happen in Wendover - the cities (West Wendover NV and Wendover, UT) simply do not have the medical facilities or enough hotel rooms to support it. Now we MIGHT be getting a stop on the Sport and/or Formula class circuit!

Tom P.
http://www.wendoverairfield.org

[L-188]

Well, RoswellTom has a nice ring to it

[bdk]

An additional 5-1/2 hour drive for me from SoCal (8-1/2 going up to 14 hours). Might have to plan a family trip. Will depend on competing commitments and how the event shapes up. I used to go every year as crew on one of the Chino-based aircraft (there is always some oil to be mopped up), but that era has mostly moved on.