After reading the unfortunate news about Reno closing after this year, my wife and I have decided to go in September. She's never been; the last time I was there was around 45 years ago when my folks took me. Questions... We're thinking about just Saturday and Sunday at the races. Is that a reasonable amount of time there? We are planning on pit passes of course and likely the chairman's hospitality tent. What all does the tent offer? A place to get out of the sun for most of the day or just food and drinks? Is it open bar? We would consider daily guest passes for the checkered flag club but we're not members and likely would not join for just 2 days at a sunsetting event. We'll likely go to Yosemite for a few days before Reno. Suggestions please...
One day is typically enough. The event is certainly a lot of fun and the sport class makes for some entertaining racing. Unfortunately, many of the big Unlimited names, which drew the crowds, no longer race.
We found 1 day was enough. Consider flying into Carson City instead of Reno. The FBO there is pretty nice and Enterprise will drop off a car there. The tie down fee is significantly less than at Reno. The other thing is consider the shuttle bus to the air races. We stayed at the Grand Sierra and the bus had a stop there. I think it was something like $15 round trip 4 years ago so it’s probably way more now. There were several departure and return times. So you can hoot it up in the tent and not have to worry about driving back.
Very sad news indeed. Reno is my favorite aviation event. For me, 1 day is not enough. Especially now that they have added STOL. I go all day Saturday and Sunday, and catch half of Friday if I can. I definitely recommend getting a pit pass for 1 of the days. I can spend half a day in the pits just looking at the innovation in the Sport and Formula 1 classes. Hopefully they find another venue, but honestly, the Unlimited class has been declining since 2017 when Strega and Voodoo were out there last.
