‘Big dreams in little Wendover’: Could this town be the new home of the National Championship Air Races?
WENDOVER, Utah (ABC4) – If you find yourself in the small desert town of Wendover, you’ll see the casinos that straddle the Nevada state line. There’s a burger joint, a few gas stations, hiking trails, and Wendover High School – home of the Wildcats.
Look a little closer and you’ll find the Historic Wendover Airfield, a former Army airfield that trained heavy bomber pilots during World War II. The crew of the Enola Gay trained here before their atomic mission to Hiroshima in 1945. Dozens of buildings here are in line to be restored as a living history museum. Some buildings, like the officers’ club and control tower already host displays including a replica of the “Little Boy” atomic bomb.
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Eight decades later, the airfield could make history again as the future home of the National Championship Air Races, also known as the Reno Air Races.
“You would see grandstands, seats for thousands or maybe tens of thousands of visitors per day,” said Landon Wilkey, a curator at the Historic Wendover Airfield.
Indeed, the dusty airfield, and the community of Wendover as a whole, would likely see huge crowds if the air races permanently moved here from Reno, Nevada, where they have been hosted for decades. Hundreds of high-performance planes and their hot-shot pilots fly miles-long courses close to the ground, wowing spectators as they compete for the top title in the sport. Static displays of aircraft offer impressive sights for aviation fans of all ages.
After years of flying in Reno, rising insurance costs and sprawl around the airport are forcing organizers to find a new home with lots of room for risky races. Wendover, one of six potential sites competing to land the competition, has a surplus of space. But it lacks hotel rooms and other accommodations for tens of thousands of visitors.
“That is problematic,” said Jared Hamner, the Tooele County Chamber and Tourism, who is working to sell Wendover to the race committee. “But we have a lot of raw property where [the spectators] can camp or have their camp trailers.”
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Camping is an option if Wendover is chosen as the host city. Local officials are also considering a operating shuttle service to ferry race fans from hotels in Salt Lake City. For economic development officials, races are fun, but dollars are meaningful.
Based on the success of the air races in Reno, Hamner believes the event could bring $100 million to the local economy each year. That money could be reinvested into the community in the form of infrastructure improvements and beautification projects.
For the staff at the Historic Wendover Airfield, money is important but hosting the nation’s biggest air race and preserving history are noble pursuits as well. Sitting in a hangar with vintage fighter planes and a look of wonder in his eye, Wilkey offered his final thoughts.
“To think of bringing the aviation community, specifically that demographic, it could help this place grow,” he said. There’s just so much here that would go beautifully with that.
The race committee is expected to make a final decision by the spring. Air races at the new location will begin in late 2025.
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