Air Race Classic announces 2022 route

The race will launch June 21 from Lakeland, Florida, and conclude June 24 in Terre Haute, Indiana. Stops will include Moultrie, Georgia; Muscle Shoals, Alabama; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Ada, Oklahoma; Lawrence, Kansas; Mount Vernon, Illinois; and Tullahoma, Tennessee.

The route originally was selected for 2020, but the Air Race Classic organization canceled the race that year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the organization postponed returning to a multiday race format and instead hosted a one-day Air Race Derby, in which teams chose their own routes totaling more than 325 nautical miles. Eighty-five teams competed in the 2021 event. A team of Western Michigan University aviation students and recent alumnae took first place.

The multiday race takes place during daylight hours and VFR conditions. Teams of up to three people compete by handicapping their aircraft prior to the start of the race and then racing to beat their best time. This method enables faster and slower piston aircraft to compete on a level playing field.

Registration opens at noon Eastern time on January 3 and will close on March 31. Entries will be limited to 60 teams.

Race organizers will continue to monitor the status of any changes to federal, state, or local COVID-19-related restrictions that could affect the plans to hold the race.