NASCAR flying

sargeanb

sargeanb

New Member
Hello all,

In DAB right now there is a fine assortment of aircraft across the airport from us, associated with the Pepsi 400 this weekend. I'm always tempted to go over and chat with some of the pilots. I was wondering if you all knew if these are mostly private, chartered, etc. I'm assuming one would have to have contacts with these guys to get an "in" on any job openings there, but I think that would be pretty interesting flying, and QoL in general.

-Brock Sargeant
MEII
 
I believe some of the pilots are actually the drivers/car owners. I know Jack Roush (owns Mark Martin and a few others) flies himself. I believe Mark Martin even does some flying.
 
Rousch has a citation and 2 727's. Mark Martin owns and flies a CJ2. Most of the owners have a small fleet to haul team members around. Of course several drivers have their own. Most of them are citations or lears. Jeff Gordon owned a Falcon 2000 until is divorce, so not sure if he still has it or not. I am sure those jobs are knowing someone to get in or be at right place at right time.
 
I think Joe Gibbs has a Saab 340 to fly his team around. There was an article in Professional Pilot about the Nascar Air Force several months ago.
 
Lots of teams/drivers have their own planes. The hot spots that come to mind are JQF (Concord, NC near Charlotte) and INT (Winston-Salem, NC) where I've seeen lots of these planes at their home bases. Lots of King Airs, Lears, Larger turboprops like the SAAB 340 and 2000, and many others.
 
n57flyguy said:
Which also brings back memories of the Hendriks Family members Jet that crashed, killing all abord.
Click to expand...
I would hardly call a king air 200 a "jet"

By the way, there is a group out there called the Race Team Pilots Association.

I'll let you all google it :D
 
Most of the pilots are pretty laid back. I used to work over at Yelvington and Lynch they were never rude, aways polite. Much better than some of the race fans that come in with their pilots. JQF (Concord) is where most of the planes are based. Jack Roush (SP?) has three 727's in CLT. One is just a parts plane and the other two fly. Seems like they do lots of MX on those 72's to keep 'em flying.
 
sargeanb said:
Hello all,

In DAB right now there is a fine assortment of aircraft across the airport from us, associated with the Pepsi 400 this weekend. I'm always tempted to go over and chat with some of the pilots. I was wondering if you all knew if these are mostly private, chartered, etc. I'm assuming one would have to have contacts with these guys to get an "in" on any job openings there, but I think that would be pretty interesting flying, and QoL in general.

-Brock Sargeant
MEII
Click to expand...

I don't know for sure, but I'd think during race season, QOL would be pretty bad. They also do a ton of travelling during the off-season for practice, etc. They have advertised flying positions on some websites in the past. If you're a Nascar fan, I think it'd be a very good job...if you don't like Nascar, I'd stay away.

As far as knowing somebody, the only way you're going to meet them is to introduce yourself to them. I don't know too many pilots who don't like showing off their a/c, so just go start talking to them, ask to see their a/c, ask them how their job is, how they got there, etc. You know the routine...if this is something you want.

Good luck.

TX
 
Concord (KJQF) is the haven....If on Sunday evenings you go to flightaware and put in that airport you can see will the arrivals some the teams or race car drivers coming back.
 
Mr_Creepy said:
By the way, there is a group out there called the Race Team Pilots Association.

I'll let you all google it :D
Click to expand...
Ummm....how about Race Team Aviation Association?

www.rtaa.org

18.gif
 
Tim said:
Concord (KJQF) is the haven....If on Sunday evenings you go to flightaware and put in that airport you can see will the arrivals some the teams or race car drivers coming back.
Click to expand...
Yeah. Rousch racing is there. Hendrix. I sometimes do training there. Hendrix has probably at least 3 or 4 planes. Couple of 1900s. I believe there is a Gulfstream that is his also.

They just lengthened the runway and I heard it was so Rousch could get his 727s in and out of there.
 
Statesville (KSVH) has some teams as well. I got stuck there for weather for a couple of days last year when ferrying an airplane back from Texas and met up with a real cool old CFI, Doodle Brown, who knew EVERYONE at the airport. He hooked me up with the RCR guys and I got to check out their EMB-120. DEI is located on the other side of the field, across the runway, along with Lowes Corp. I think Michael Waltrip, Joe Nemecheck and a few others are based there.

Andy Petree Racing KA-200 [FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva]http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0787040/L/[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
RCR EMB-120 (the one I got to check out) [FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva]http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0787039/L/[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
NASCAR's Falcon 2000 [FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva]http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0808211/L/[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
DEI EMB-120 [FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva]http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0798564/L/[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
Penske Lear 60 [FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva]http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0888213/L/[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
Hendrick Saab 2000 [FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva]http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0798562/L/[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
Joe Gibbs' G-I [FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva]http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0833066/L/[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
(all taken by yours truly)

My buddy Adam Wright has an awesome photo of a Roush 727 departing DAB following last year's Busch race.
 
Nice pics! Yep, their all here now. No kidding about that G-I...it is loud! I was preflighting at the S end of the ramp and tried to say something to my student as that thing was taking off, and just gave up. I wouldn't mind flying it though:)
 
Quite a few teams own Brasillias (EMB-120), I know cause most of them do their training here at the FlightSafety Atlanta sim center. You can buy one for less than a used King Air, plus it's faster and carries more people.
 
The hardest part about NASCAR flying is that their holds all have nonstandard turns.

hyuk hyuk hyuk, I'll let you figure that one out.
 
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