About Gas Ballooning

Above: This photo shows the contrast between the traditional netted balloons and Dame Blanche, one of the earliest of the “quick fill” balloons that now predominate in America.

The 1983 event was again a part of the BFA National Championship Series. This race consisted of a Race to a Line and a Race to a Point. The lines were state boundaries and the points were towns on or very near these lines. Fourteen balloons took off on Sunday, 3 October, from Cutter Field and landed in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. The winner was John Shoecraft who landed in Texola, OK.

With four U.S. balloons in Zurich competing in the Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett, the world’s oldest air race, the 1984 race had only three entries. The BFA task for the balloons was a Judge Declared Goal. After a delay because officials were worried that the balloons might fly into White Sands Missile Range, the balloons took off on Monday, 8 October. The winner was the team of Jim Schiller and Randy Woods, with a landing near Borger, TX.

Weather became the chief feature of the 1985 race. The five balloons were to compete in the now familiar Race to a Line and Race to a Goal. Shortly after takeoff they all encountered snow which added to the complexity of the flight. There were some interesting landings including one on the side of Pecos Baldy northeast of Santa Fe. There were no injuries, but some pilots came back with great stories. The winner was the late Fred Hyde, with a landing near Elliott, KS.

Weather again played havoc with the 1986 race. By the time the race took place on Tuesday morning the entry list was down to five balloons who were to compete in a Multiple Judge Declared Goal and Distance event. The winners were Jaques Soukup and Mark Sullivan with a flight to Galisteo, NM.

The seventh and last of the early Balloon Fiesta Gas Balloon Races took place on 8 October, 1987. Again, the Gordon Bennett, scheduled at the same time in Austria, siphoned off many potential competitors. Only one balloon flew, and George Hahn was awarded 3rd place for that flight.

With the rising expense of flying gas balloons and no sponsor in sight, the Balloon Fiesta Board of Directors decided to discontinue the annual Gas Balloon Race. It would not be until the 1990s that gas ballooning returned to the Balloon Fiesta. In 1993, Albuquerque and Balloon Fiesta played host to the Gordon Bennett (it would do so again in 1999, 2005, and 2008), and in 1994 to the World Gas Balloon Championships. The success of these events inspired the creation of the Balloon Fiesta’s own gas balloon distance race — the America’s Challenge.

PHOTO: BILL WALTON FLYNT