STEAD, Nev. — Bob Hoover is an aviation legend who was once friends with Orville Wright, Charles Lindbergh and Chuck Yeager and spent 16 months in a German prison camp after his plane was shot down during World War II.
The 91-year-old also witnessed the tragic crash that killed a pilot and 10 spectators two years ago during the Reno National Championship Races, and he described it as one of the worst things he has seen outside of his war years.
He thought at the time that the crash would spell the end of the event.
“I did not believe for one minute that we would be here now,” Hoover said on the eve of the five-day event that features flight demonstrations, stunts and high-speed races in which specially modified planes fly at more than 500 mph wing tip to wing tip barely 100 feet above the tarmac.
But organizers kept the event going, and they are embracing this year’s 50th running of the races as they try to put the tragedy behind. Hoover, listed by the Smithsonian Institution as one of the 10 greatest contributors to aviation history, is among those being honored Saturday night at the event.
Hoover said he’s overjoyed that the racing community rallied to support the continuation of the Reno races that began in 1964 and are now host to the only competition of its kind with multiple aircraft classes, including the fastest jets and fighters.
It’s part of an effort to ensure the future of an event that looked like a long shot before race officials satisfied the Federal Aviation Administration with added safety precautions last year, and persuaded state tourism officials to pony up sponsorship money to cover a doubling of insurance costs.
“It was important to get last year’s event under our belts, part of a healing process,” said Mike Houghton, president and CEO of the Reno Air Racing Association.
Houghton expects as many as 75,000 people to visit the 2013 competition through Sunday, for a weeklong, overall attendance of 200,000, compared to about 190,000 last year.
During World War II, Hoover’s Mark V Spitfire was shot down off the coast of Southern France. He was imprisoned in a German camp before stealing a plane and flying to freedom under fire from allied troops who mistook him for the enemy.
Hoover at first thought Reno was too remote for this event. No longer.
“And now,” he said, “we’ve got them coming from all over the world.”
