Fans of head-to-head airplane races at screaming speeds are traveling to unfamiliar skies as a premiere national competition debuts in New Mexico for the first time in its 60-year history.

The five-day National Championship Air Races runs through Sunday at a commercial airfield and former Air Force base outside Roswell. It’s a remote oil production region that’s also famous for supposed sightings of unidentified flying objects — called unidentified anomalous phenomena by the government — and speculation about extraterrestrials.

Most of the competitions take place within 250 feet (76 meters) of the ground — but not below 50 feet (15 meters) — as pilots defy gravity to circle a course marked by vintage pylons topped with brightly adorned barrels.

Competitors will be piloting self-constructed Formula 1 prop racers, brightly painted aerobatic biplanes, and even jets capable of exceeding 500 miles per hour (804 kilometers per hour).

“It’s up to eight planes in the sky together at the same time racing against each other, not against a clock, and there’s just nowhere else in the world you can see it like this,” said Tony Logoteta, president of the Reno Air Racing Association that now runs the Roswell races.

The competition left Nevada behind as homes and businesses gradually hemmed in space for racing, amplifying safety concerns on the ground. The Reno Air Racing Association took a year off to launch the Roswell Air Races.

What’s new?

Organizers hope to attract new fans from neighboring Texas and log between 30,000 and 40,000 unique visitors this year. Tens of thousands of tickets were sold before opening day and Roswell’s hotel rooms were tapped out.

In its final decade in Reno, the event attracted more than 1 million visitors and generated more than $750 million for the economy, according to the association.

New Mexico is investing millions of dollars in Roswell Air Center improvements, including grandstands that will hold up to 9,500 when completed.

Cities in six states bid to host the races, which require open land, suitable runways, ramp and hangar space, security facilities, amenities for spectators and more.

Organizers say the Roswell Air Center gives the event room to grow and an uninterrupted view of the course and planes against an ordinarily clear desert sky.

Race finals were set for Sunday. Companion air shows were expected to feature military and vintage planes, and acrobatics displays.

Racing since 1964

The national championship’s only gap years have been due to the Sept. 11 attacks, the COVID-19 pandemic and the move to Roswell.

Races by World War II-era fighter aircraft are a perennial favorite among fans, but won’t take place this year after those participants withdrew for unspecified reasons.

Even so, the event’s new home is steeped in military aviation. The region has three Air Force bases, White Sands Missile Range and Army installations at Fort Bliss.

Ensuring safety

Two vintage planes fatally collided on the final day of the 2023 national championships at the Reno-Stead Airport.

That crash raised the tally of pilots or performers killed in the races to 24. The deadliest day was in 2011, when 10 spectators died in a crash on the edge of the grandstand — the one fatal crash involving spectators.

Organizers say the new location has some inherent safety advantages. The races, accredited by the Federal Aviation Administration, require pilots to attend mandatory training and testing. Spectators are seated along straightaways, farther from hazards of race course turns, Logoteta said.

The course also is far from any neighborhoods at a remote commercial aviation station that spans 80 square miles (207 square kilometers). It was the home of Walker Air Force Base before its closure in 1967.

Fire, rescue and law enforcement agencies are closely involved.

“Safety is always No. 1,” Logoteta said. “And at the same time, we also recognize that there is inherent risk in any motorsport to the participants.”

Crash investigation

Investigators last week released their conclusion into the 2023 crash, finding that two experienced pilots deviated from their expected flight paths and never saw each other before colliding.

While the list of crashes involving vintage planes used or designed for military purposes is long, aviation industry experts said in the days after the 2023 crash that they were dumbfounded that such experienced pilots ended up colliding.

The National Transportation Safety Board report said both pilots failed to fly the standard routes, with one pilot taking a wide turn and the other taking a tighter approach.