Free Republic

LOCAL HERO: Jim Bridenstine, TASM director, Navy pilot and a 1993 graduate of Jenks High School, is one of the individuals getting in at the ground floor of the Rocket Racing League. He has flown F-18s and E-2s for the Navy and has fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. At a Press Conference Tuesday at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium, Executive Director Jim Bridenstine announced the first-ever QuikTrip Air and Rocket Racing Show, and a new partnership with the Rocket Racing League - which will highlight the day’s events. The QuikTrip Air and Rocket Show will be held...

Rocket mavens, mark your calendars: The date of the first Rocket Racing League race has been set. On Aug. 1-2, the league will stage a high-flying version of NASCAR with rockets at the EAA AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, Wis., in its first-ever exhibition race. Two racers will fly planes powered by rocket engines on a 2-lap circuit around an airborne raceway. Pilots in the races will view the sky racecourse on 3-D helmet displays, while the roughly 700,000 people expected to attend will watch the action on multiple 50-foot (15-meter) projection screens. "We're using 21st century technology to create...

MOJAVE - A fledgling rocket plane racing league has announced the addition of three more teams, bringing its total to six. The Rocket Racing League, which will fly aircraft built in Mojave, announced the additions of Rocket Star Racing, Team Extreme Rocket Racing and Canada-based Beyond Gravity Rocket Racing. They join existing teams Bridenstine Rocket Racing, Santa Fe Racing and Thunderhawk Rocket Racing. "Our goal has been to bring diverse international teams to the league with highly skilled world-class pilots and flight crews coming from both civilian and military backgrounds," said Granger Whitelaw, company co-founder and chief executive officer. Rocket...

Two thousand years ago, chariot racing was the greatest spectator sport in the Roman world. It drew huge crowds and inspired violent emotions. Today’s soccer riots are small potatoes compared to the chariot racing riots of ancient Byzantium. Technologically, however, the sport did nothing to increase the military or economic power of the empire. By contrast, various forms of motor racing have improved at least a few important aspects of today’s automobiles. The better handling cars that are now on the market owe a lot to the efforts of decades of racecar designers. Things like fuel injection systems and overhead...

  Artist's concept of racer. Rocket Racing League    X-Prize man launches rocket race  Peter Diamandis, the man behind the $10m X-Prize for suborbital space travel, has brought forward his new initiative: the Rocket Racing League. The RRL will see Grand Prix-style races between rocket planes, flown by top pilots through a "3D trackway" just 5,000ft (1,500m) above the ground. The first "X-Racers" will be built for the series, but it is hoped new teams will soon enter with novel designs. Events will be staged across the US, culminating in a final in New Mexico.     The Rocket...