It’s air racing time in Roswell, New Mexico, this weekend (September 16–20), with a full slate of race classes and the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds headlining the airshow action.
The big confirmation is the Unlimited and Sport classes are finally making their Roswell debuts, both having sat out the inaugural year at the new venue. But there are several interesting details in the 2026 NCAR roster.
Perhaps most noteworthy is the announcement the fastest Jets will run on the new “Mach” course (which we presaged in May 2025). This D-shaped track is 11.3 miles per lap and is vetted for 600 mph. So, in a “build it and they will come” moment, two MiG-17 jets are entered for this September. This marks the first time afterburning jets will compete since the incredible jet demonstration race decades ago at Reno (trust us, it was a flamethrowing spectacle). With any luck the cat should definitely be among the pigeons when these fast jets hit the big course.
All told, 16 Jets are entered, making them the most populous class at Roswell 2026. This is a good indication—along with outright speed—that Jet is likely to be the headline class in air racing. Of course, the big-iron piston Unlimiteds will always attract, and the Sport class is highly relevant to the pilots in the crowd, but for spectacle and relevance to younger fans, Jets could have the edge.
In Unlimited, the sorry news is Dreadnought is still hors de combat after snuffing its mighty 4360 Pratt & Whitney at Reno 2023. Dennis Sanders allowed that coming up with the coin to rebuild the giant radial requires turning over more than the normal number of sofa cushions, so it could be a while before this veteran favorite returns. Better news is, barring mechanical derangement, Stevo Hinton will be giving lessons in how it’s done in the Number 3 Bardahl Special P-51 at Roswell, with Miss America adding color. A total of 15 Unlimited pilots have entered, including warbird ace Bernie Vasquez. Ten of these are mounted in P-51s, with Sea Furys, Yaks, and a lone P-63 filling out the field.
As for the hugely popular Sport class, the first two mentions are those not showing. Conspicuously noticeable by his absence is Andrew Findlay and his Super Lancair Legacy. He’s skipping Roswell in favor of concentrating on the Sport-only race in Las Cruces, New Mexico, just a month after Roswell. Sadder because it’s permanent: After winning the Sport Gold crown a record seven times, Jeff LaVelle has retired from air racing and is only occasionally sport flying Race 39 in the Pacific Northwest these days.
This does open the top of the 14-strong Sport class at Roswell, with Pete Balmer stepping up in a heavily revamped Race 44, according to the jungle telegraph. This is the old Lynn Farnsworth Super Legacy, which was already respectably fast but absent for a while, so we’re eager to see what the Balmer equipe has wrought.
Someone else to watch very closely is Tom McNerney in his beautifully built Super Lancair Legacy. We’re delighted a new partnership has allowed Tom to bring Too Much back to the pylons; his endless behind-the-scenes help, not to mention the incredible potential of his clean Legacy, demands his presence. If Tom opens up Too Much, eyebrows will be raised.
And while we haven’t gotten the inside word on what it could portend, Jim Rust is something of a surprise Sport entry, in an RV-8 no less. His old go-fast Glasair is now under the heavy throttle hand of Kevin Eldridge, who’s fitted a big-inch, naturally aspirated AC Aero engine, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. Kevin is never shy and we expect him to wring the neck of any engine he brings to a pylon race, which is doubly interesting given the water-cooled AC Aero mill.
No one has more fun than the F1 gang, who are returning to Roswell 12 strong. That’s enough for two heats of the diminutive racers, and they include front-runners Justin Phillipson, Eric Dienst, and Josh Watson, so there will be plenty of dueling among these pure-race thoroughbreds. Technical development is rarely dramatic in F1, as the class has something like 75 years of development since they were called Midgets in Cleveland, Ohio, but pilot development is a very real thing and sophomore racers such as Andy Mack ought to be moving up.
Also 12 strong are the Biplane racers. Interestingly, Justin Phillipson will spend his downtime from F1 tending the stick in no less than Miss Giana, one of the hottest biplanes extant. Of course, Miss Giana’s owner Jeff Lo will also be there flying Miss Dianne, along with regulars Andrew McVicker and Tommy Suell. The ever-fast Phantom is mechanically ready to go but not entered, as owner Andrew Buehler has been busy with the swamp and alligators of life outside of racing. “Maybe next year,” he said, adding, “The class has been super, RARA has been super … Wish I could say yes, but I can’t.”
Something of a surprise is a single heat of six T-6 racers. We have no word on why this usually populous class is so thin, but it only takes six of these noisy, close-running rumblers to put on a tight show.
STOL Drags has 10 entries, including perennial favorite Hal Stockman, but it seems the screaming 9,000-rpm Yamaha wail of Steve Henry’s wild Yee Haw will not be heard this year, nor is Toby Ashley entered, for example. Not to worry, STOL Drags puts on a great show more dependent on pilot skill than aircraft performance.
So, the National Championship Air Races is set to deliver on its promise of six classes of pylon action and the always popular side-by-side action of the STOL Drags right in front of the grandstands. Overall entries are a bit down from where they might have been without the recent disruptions in air racing, but given the still new, distant venue, Roswell 2026 looks like a good start on something new. Plus, in any case, Roswell is the one place anyone can catch all classes of air racing at a single event. See you there.
