Pilots Revealed for 2022 STIHL National Championship Air Races
RENO, Nev. (July 29, 2022) – The field is set for this year’s STIHL National Championship Air Races with 152 planes and 156 pilots racing for glory Sept. 14-18 just north of downtown Reno, Nev.
Hours of preparation, certification and practice brings one of the largest fields of racers to the outdoor event. This year boasts an exciting and competitive Unlimited field with Czech Mate returning from a five-year hiatus to square off against three time reigning champion Dreadnought and fan-favorite Miss America for a chance to raise the Unlimited Gold Trophy. BARDAHL Special, a P51 that finished second overall at the very first Reno Air Races in 1964, while winning the Unlimited finale, will also be returning to Stead for the first time since 1967.
In the Biplane class, fans will get to root for Maj. Michael Brewer, a U.S. Air Force Thunderbird who flew on the demonstration team from 2018–2022 as both Thunderbird No. 3 and Thunderbird No. 4. While performing at the Air Races in 2019 and 2021, Maj. Brewer had the opportunity to experience the unique and exhilarating atmosphere and this year is making his race debut in No. 44, Big Cat.
2022 will also mark the second year of competition for the event’s newest racing class, STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) Drag, with 21 competitors looking to take home the championship in the sport that has become a social media phenomenon.
Fans will see demonstrations by the U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor, U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet, U.S. Air Force Heritage Flight, U.S. Navy Legacy Flight, Jim Peitz Aerosports and the GB-1 Gamebird. On the ground fans will get to experience the National Aviation Heritage Invitational, Military Static Display, GRADD-NVBAA STEM Education Discovery Zone, the racing pits where fans can get up close and personal with the pilots, planes and crew, and much more.
Unlimited
| 0 | Span Can | Mark Moodie |
| 3 | BARDAHL Special | Steven Coutches |
| 4 | Sweet & Lovely | Jeff LaVelle |
| 6 | Shanty Irish | John J. Dowd, Jr. |
| 8 | Dreadnought | Joel Swager |
| 11 | Miss America | Brent Hisey |
| 26 | Rushin’ Thunder | Scotty Crandlemire |
| 27 | Race 27 | John Maloney |
| 31 | Speedball Alice | Dan Vance |
| 44 | Blondie | Brant Seghetti |
| 49 | Lady B | Michael Pfleger |
| 55 | Man O’ War | Ken Gottschall |
| 62 | BUNNY | Tom Nightingale |
| 63 | Pretty Polly | Patrick Nightingale |
| 81 | Wee Willy II | Rob Patterson |
| 86 | Czech Mate | Sherman G. Smoot |
| 114 | Argonaut | Dennis Sanders |
| 924 | 924 | Mark Watt |
| PACE | PaceMaker | Steve Hinton |
| Alt pilots not already flying | ||
| John Muszala Jr. |
Jet
| 6 | Sluggo | Matt Conklin |
| 7 | Red Thunder | Alexandre Eckmann |
| 8 | Race 8 | David Sterling |
| 11 | IVAN | Jerry “Jive” Kerby |
| 23 | Vertigo | Joe “Face Punch” Swindel |
| 24 | Just Lucky | Peter A. Zaccagnino |
| 29 | Ballista | Aaron Hogue |
| 35 | Honeywell | Michael W. McCauley |
| 54 | Robin 1 | Jeff Turney |
| 55 | Spirit of Freedom | Nathan Harnagel |
| 61 | Miss Independence | Charlie Camilleri |
| 73 | Subito | Cyrill Wipfli |
| 77 | Viper | Peter Stravides |
| 84 | Tumbling Goose | Scott Gusakov |
| 129 | Race 129 | Mark Davis |
| 139 | DarkStar | Dianna Stanger |
| 777 | Red Thunder II | Alexandre Eckmann |
| PACE 555 | Phoenix | Michael Steiger |
| PACE | Jet Pace | Jay Obernolte |
| Alt pilots not already flying | ||
| Tammy Camilleri | ||
| Rick Vandam | ||
| Craig Wilcockson | ||
| Mark Johnson |
Biplane
| 3 | Smokin’ Hot | Sam Swift |
| 4 | Ruby | Jeffrey Rose |
| 6 | Miss Diane | Dave Holmgren |
| 13 | Miss Gianna | Jeffrey Lo |
| 17 | Yellow Fever | Eric Zine |
| 18 | RB Special | John A. D’Alessandris |
| 23 | Red Squirrel | Andrew McVicker |
| 25 | Shake N’ Bake | Tommy Suell |
| 29 | Toto | Dennis K. Brown |
| 44 | Big Cat | Michael Brewer |
| 66 | Second Hand | Scott Thomson |
| 80 | The Other Woman | David Roelofs |
| 84 | Panther | Alan D. Hoover |
| 247 | Slow Roll | Scott McDonald |
| 314 | Flip Flop | Scott Prewitt |
| 711 | Two Armed Bandit | Tom Marden |
| 11X | Red Lady | Robert Schmidle |
| 7X | Racer X | Patrick McGarry |
Formula 1
| 9 | Outlaw | Scott Holmes |
| 11 | Endeavor | Steve Senegal |
| 17 | Annie | Pushkraj “Push” Wagh |
| 21 | Black Jack | Joshua Watson |
| 26 | Fast and Easy | Paul E. Newman |
| 27 | Once More | Kent S. Jackson |
| 31 | Fraed Naught | Steve Temple |
| 34 | Limitless | Justin Meaders |
| 39 | Monkey Ninja | JP O’Dell |
| 45 | QuadNickel | Jake Speidel |
| 48 | Atomic Pumpkin | Blaire Hamilton |
| 52 | Feisty | Trent Woodworth |
| 72 | The ACME Special | Matt Moore |
| 74 | Phat Ass Cass | Shaun Milke |
| 79 | No Strings Attached | Justin Phillipson |
| 81 | Sleeper | Carl Robinson |
| 85 | Deja Vu | Eric Dienst |
| 99 | What Airplane Honey? | Timothy Cone |
Sport
| 2 | Modo Mio | Vince Walker |
| 3 | Mojo | Sean E. VanHatten |
| 4 | Race 4 | Tom McNerney |
| 6 | Ramp Rat’s Ride | Joseph Coraggio |
| 9 | Cruz Missile | Mike Rinker |
| 10 | Practice | Timothy Slater |
| 15 | Lucky Girl | Vicky Benzig |
| 22 | Greenstreak | Richard Vandam |
| 24 | Grimlins Castle | Jim Rust |
| 28 | Coming In Hot | Peter A. Zaccagnino |
| 30 | One Moment | Andrew Findlay |
| 34 | White Lightning | John Flanagan |
| 36 | Sport 36 | Paul Downing |
| 39 | Race 39 | Jeff LaVelle |
| 40 | Race 40 | Mark Johnson |
| 49 | Rocket Six | Bob Mills |
| 51 | Clas Thunder One | Mathias Haid |
| 54 | Navy 8 | Steve Senegal |
| 56 | Bad Dingo | George Catalano |
| 60 | Miss’d Tuesday | Delton (Dee) Child |
| 66 | Just Pass’n Thru | Ernie O. Sutter |
| 67 | Swiss Thunder II | Peter Balmer |
| 68 | BowersPony | Elliot Seguin |
| 76 | Race 76 | Jason Rovey |
| 80 | Miss Ruby S | Skylor Piper |
| 90 | Breathless | Conrad Huffstutler |
| 92 | Summer Hawk | David Robinson |
| 96 | Sarah Smile | William Christopher McMillian |
| 101 | General Lee | Lee Ulrich |
| 130 | Zebulon | Olivier Langeard |
| 150 | BearDog | Johnnie Painter |
| 181 | GA1 | Karl Grove |
| 270 | WHISKY TANGO | Dan West |
| 314 | Phantom Rocket | Scott Prewitt |
| 744 | Millennial Falcon | Tommy Ishii |
| 777 | Guardian Angel | Matt Ramsey |
| PACE #17 | Calamity Jane | Christopher Schaich |
| PAGE #69 | Pace 69 | Malte Bruegmann |
| Alt pilots not already flying | ||
| Ralf Aue |
STOL
| 3 | Lawn Mower III | Harold Stockman |
| 7 | Yellow Thunder | Bruce Graham |
| 11 | Grasshopper | David Kerley |
| 15 | The Happy Dog | Brent Womack |
| 17 | FlyTruckeeTahoe | Kevin Sloane |
| 21 | Red Rocket | Kevin Palmer |
| 22 | Race 22 | Ty Ferkin |
| 22 | The Beast | Jeff Whiteley |
| 27 | Spirit of Louis | Harry Beaupre |
| 43 | Doc | Collin Caneva |
| 44 | Yee Haw 6 | Steve Henry |
| 45 | Bumblebee | Andrew Patry |
| 48 | Devil Girl | Eddie Sanches |
| 53 | Race 53 | Joseph “Joe” Dory |
| 63 | God Bless John Wayne | Tony Sanches |
| 66 | Big Tuna | Jon Hakala |
| 73 | Psycho Billy | Tim Schelhorn |
| 80 | ECHO | William “Bo” Ellis |
| 84 | Herf, Heff, El Toro | Aaron Greear |
| 85 | LuncaC | Cathy Page |
| 221 | Scooter | Brian Steck |
T-6
| 2 | Bare Essentials | Chris LaFave |
| 4 | Emily | Craig Meyer |
| 5 | Big Red | Gordo Sanders |
| 6 | Six-Cat | Nick S. Macy |
| 13 | War Cat | Brian Reberry |
| 14 | Barons Revenge | Chris Rushing |
| 21 | Play Hard | Ben York III |
| 25 | Vicarious | Jason Karlin |
| 43 | Midnight Miss III | Joel Stinnett |
| 49 | Miss Ellaneous | Bill Muszala |
| 50 | Abracadabra | Vitaly Pecherskyy |
| 66 | Gunslinger | Vic McMann |
| 69 | Eros | Lee Oman |
| 73 | Miss Humboldt Hunny | Loren Marburg |
| 88 | Radial Velocity | John S. Lohmar |
| 89 | Baby Boomer | Gene McNeely |
| 90 | Undecided | Greg McNeely |
| PACE | PACE 1 | Rob Sandberg |
| Alt pilots not already flying | ||
| Michael Pfleger | ||
| Rick Siegfried |
**Italicized and bolded entries are 2021 Gold Champions. Plane and pilot may be different this year or 2021 champion may not be in the field.
Qualifying begins Monday, Sept. 12 and racing begins Wednesday, Sept. 14. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling 1-800-514-3849 ahead of the event. For more information, visit AirRace.org.
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About the National Championship Air Races
The National Championship Air Races are held every September just north of Reno by the Reno Air Racing Association, a 501(c)(3). The event has become an institution for Northern Nevada and aviation enthusiasts from around the world with seven racing classes, a large display of static aircraft and several military and civilian flight demonstrations. Independent economic impact studies show that the event generates