If you had read a about an upcoming air race early this year, you probably wouldn't have considered it news... unless, of course, this air race happened to be somewhere other than Reno, Nevada. When word began to circulate about a proposed event, to be held in Tunica, Mississippi, of all places, and to be held not only this year but in a scant five month time period from the first announcement, many loyal followers of the sport were in such disbelief they scarcely took the proposed event seriously.

First, to have a successful air race, several things need to be in place. Covering just a few of those several, you need a lightly populated area with the ample open spaces that might be associated with a lack of people... but wait... you also need hotel rooms, LOTS of hotel rooms. But sparsely populated areas and bunches of hotel rooms don't usually go together do they? Not usually, unless there is something there to attract a lot of people to stay in those hotel rooms.

So far, in the modern era of air racing, what has worked and worked quite well for the sport has been Reno, Nevada, and its combination of "wide open spaces" and gambling casinos. Throw in a former United States Air Force base sitting on the edge of an almost perfect bowl shaped natural arena, with two main runways long enough to handle the biggest of the racers and you have the perfect combination. Over the years, other venues have been tried with varying degrees of success but it always seems to have come down to the formula for success being, there has to be something else in the area other than the air race to attract an audience and again, so far, what has worked, has been gambling!

I'll have to admit, we've been following the progress of the Tunica Air Races with a rather wary eye ourselves. Why, how could this be? How in the world could anyone pull off a race, pull it off in a scant five months and pull it off in Mississippi of all places?

With the recent announcement by the Tunica Air Race Association (TARA) that veteran T-6 racer and pace plane pilot Steve Dilda would be operating as the air boss of the event, our wary eye opened up quite a bit further... The time was here, we needed to dig deeper and find out just what to heck was going on back there in what to most of us "left coasters" seemed to be just about in "the middle of nowhere!

A little background music if you please... Tunica, MS, it turns out is not only not in the middle of the proverbial nowhere, it has, in fact, the third largest concentration of gambling casinos in the United States. So we have our hotel rooms and our casinos, and Tunica Mississippi also just happens to have an ample amount of open space adjacent to it's seven thousand foot, single runway airport...

Logistically, we have an air race!

We left out one other key element necessary for a successful air race. A very dedicated person with a dream who is willing to devote most of their time, day in and day out, to ensure that everything comes together to make the event happen. Someone who can "beat the bushes" and work with the community leaders and businesses to get the support that an event such as this needs to succeed.

In the case of the Tunica Air Races, this person turns out to be Jeff Landers. Those of you who have bought the DVD sold by the Reno Air Racing Association may recognize Jeff's name, he produced the DVD for Reno. It seems that Jeff has also been bitten very hard by the dreaded Buggus Airracicus to the point that he's willing to lay out the time and energy to bring another event to the sport.

With the prerequisite introduction out of the way, let's get on to the interview process... The best way for us to find out what's going on in Tunica this year is to talk with the two most visible members of the Tunica Air Races: Event promoter Jeff Landers and Air Boss Steve Dilda...

For more information visit tunicaairraces.com

The interview:

AAFO: Putting on the first new multi-class air race in decades would have to be a pretty major undertaking, what was it that struck you about air racing that inspired you to take this huge task on?

Jeff: I am an aviation fan and have been, like most, since I was a kid. I was fascinated with Reno and thought, "why isn't this done anywhere else in the US?" So I wanted to develop a future site for air racing in the US, primarily in the South, where a new fan base can be nurtured. We've come along way in a short period of time and we've got a lot of momentum. Our team is reflective of our goal of building a race from the ground up. We'll take a lot from the past, add some new twists and have a great time.

AAFO: As I'm sure you know, there have been several, less than completely successful, attempts to start a series, or at least a second annual race; to create a "season" of racing. The stature of these events have some of the more avid race fans casting a very wary eye at the upcoming event at Tunica. What would you say to these potential visitors to the event?

Steve: Jeff, I'm going to leave the bulk of that for you, but I will say that my mission is to make this the safest and most fun race possible. With Tunica being so centrally located, I'm counting on bringing in a lot more racers from the east coast in future years. And, yes, we are planning on a Tunica Pylon Racing Seminar. My measuring stick will be how many racers show up in 2006.

Jeff: I'm out to produce a great race, failures of the past? I'm moving way to fast to worry about those. We're all working hard to make this event work and make this a safe, exciting race. We've more experience than many have in areas other than air racing and air shows. We've raised nearly as many sponsor dollars in eight weeks that other venues raise in a year and we've not stopped one bit. We will produce an incredible event, it won't be perfect but it will be a great event. And a number of our sponsors have already committed to multi year contracts.

We are focused on safety and security. I've brought in the best people for this task. We will have a great race and I hope to advance air racing throughout the US.

AAFO: This is a huge undertaking, one of the main reasons that Reno is successful is that they have a very large cadre of volunteers, including the National Air Racing Group (NAG). Many of the tasks needing to be done at the races at Reno are completed by these highly experienced people. What plans does Tunica have in this area? Are there plans on contacting and working with NAG in any way?

Jeff: I will be in contact with them... We have a number of major volunteer organizations that are submitting proposals to us.

AAFO: As I'm sure you know, fielding even the most basic effort can be a huge financial burden for a race team. Some of the Unlimited teams are barely squeaking by at Reno with making it to the one race "season". A substantial purse and, perhaps, some appearance money, might well go a long way to ensure that a good field can be counted on for the event. I'm sure everyone reading this, including pilots and race crews will be interested in the answer to this question, how are you doing for purse funds?

Jeff: The purse is in the hands of the race class presidents and it's their responsibility to get this information to the pilots for their decisions. The race fans need to know that we are racing here. I do not and will not have a purse that is "pie in the sky". We have a sizable purse which is financially responsible and one that will grow over the next few years. We may increase the purse [this year] as our sponsor dollars grow.

editor's note: We have seen the figures and there is a solid purse fund established. The handling of the funds will be done within the separate racing division associations.

AAFO: Along the same line as the last question, have you many confirmed entries at this point?

Steve: This past Monday, Art Vance, Unlimited Class President, came to Tunica with a list of 16 Unlimited racers interested in coming to Tunica and the Formula 1 Class is planning on a full field. As for the T-6, I have 12 on my list and we're still talking to the Sport Class and Bi-Planes. But, the bottom line is always dollars!

Jeff: I have spoken to many of the unlimiteds and they are ready to go. We are working details. We have some added perks for the teams, we are working on room packages for the teams, cars and any team that wishes to sell swag may do so without any percentage attached. All we ask is that the pilots give us their time in talking with sponsors in their chalets as well as autograph sessions... It's a great trade and our interest in growing the sport for the general public.

AAFO: If this is successful, is it planned on as an annual event?

Jeff: We are planning 2006 as we speak...This will be the next great race. Everyone's behind us and we're out to change racing forever!

AAFO: What material will you be using for pylons? Reason asked, apparently Red Bull Air Racing used inflatable pylons with some measure of success at Reno and elsewhere last year. It would seem a much safer way to go than the traditional design as well as an additional place for highly visible advertising on the inflatable pylons themselves. Are there any plans to use this sort of material or will you use the conventional "can on a stick" as at Reno?

Steve: No, we're having permanent structures built. We're looking at several different materials right now, but I can say that they will be highly visible for the racers with plenty of opportunities for advertising. We should have more specifics for you in the coming weeks.

Jeff: We have put the pylon to the test of several industrial design Universities in the US to compete in the pylon design. We may not have those designs by the race in 2005 but we really want to do something different.

AAFO: Sponsorship, always important, always hard to come by; Reno makes a substantial amount of their annual budget by the gate alone, rather than a large amount of income from sponsorship, I guess what I'm asking... we, the fans, we're all pulling for you to make this event a success, but this is a question everyone wants to know the answer to.... how well funded is the Tunica event this year?

Jeff: We have an incredible sponsor base that is working weekly.. Our location near Memphis gives us a tremendous amount of corporate support as well as the cities of Nashville, Jackson, Little Rock, St. Louis, Atlanta... as well as many national sponsors. Let's not forget that Tunica is the 3rd largest concentration of casinos in the US.

AAFO: Reno is essentially a 10 day event, with qualifying beginning on Monday, running through Wednesday. Racing beginning on Thursday with heat races Thursday, Friday and Saturday... Sunday being the final event. How is Tunica planning on approaching this question?

Steve Right now we're looking at Practice on Wednesday, Practice and Qualification on Thursday, and the races on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Jeff: Steve's right on...

AAFO: Somewhat along the same lines, Reno requires all race pilots to have attended their Pylon Racing School known affectionately as "Rookie School". Will you "borrow" their qualifications? Meaning, will you require that pilots be approved by the RARA school in order to race at Tunica?

Steve: Wayne, as this is the first year at Tunica, we are requiring all racers to have previously raced in the closed-pylon racing environment. I'm going to leave the specific qualifications up to the Class Presidents, but with the safety of racers in mine, I'm sure they feel the same way.

Jeff: Steve's the man...

For more information visit tunicaairraces.com

**********************************************

With everyone's busy schedule in mind, we concluded our interview with Steve and Jeff, with the promise from both that we will have more sessions to keep the information flow coming. With a scant two months and change left before the event, the scramble by the fans to make their plans to get to Tunica should now become as energetic as the efforts have been to make this dream a reality. June is going to be a very busy month for followers of this sport! 2005 will become a year that goes down in the history books... It looks like we have another event!

Interview by: Wayne Sagar,
editor, AAFO.COM

For more information visit tunicaairraces.com