Texan hopes to wing his way back to top in Red Bull Air Races
Of all the competitive pursuits of the American sports culture, the Red Bull Air Race World Championship might require the most derring-do from its participants.
Defying gravity in zigzagging through air-filled pylons that dot tracks in the high-speed and low-altitude sport while fighting unimaginable G-forces isn’t just for everybody.
Kirby Chambliss, a native Texan, and 13 other racers on the Red Bull series will be on hand Saturday and Sunday to confront the specially designed aerial track inside Texas Motor Speedway, trying to complete it in the fastest time and incurring as few penalties as possible.
Qualifying begins at 3:20 p.m. Saturday, starting with the Challenger Class, followed by Chambliss and his peers in the Master Class.
On race day, Sunday, the Master Class begins with the round of 14 at 1 p.m., followed by the round of eight and final four.
So we went out in an aerobatic plane, turned it upside down, and I was ‘Like, wow, this is the coolest thing ever.’ And it kind of changed my professional life.
Red Bull air racer Kirby Chambliss
“I was 21 years old,” Chambliss said, “and I was flying business jets for La Quinta Motor Inns and a chief pilot told me all his guys get aerobatic training because if it ever winds up upside down with a CEO on board we want you to be able to turn it right side up without killing anyone.
“I said, ‘Well that makes sense to me.’ So we went out in an aerobatic plane, turned it upside down, and I was ‘Like, wow, this is the coolest thing ever.’ And it kind of changed my professional life. I was about one thing: aerobatics.”
The Corpus Christi-born Chambliss, who with Michael Goulian is one of two Americans in the international field, has become over the last 30 years one of the great aerobatic pilots of his era, having won five U.S. National Championships in the unlimited level and 13 World Championship medals. In 2000, he was the Freestyle World Champion.
In the Red Bull series, he has won two season titles.
He is, he said, “all about winning,” though this year has been a challenge. Chambliss sits 11th overall entering the seventh of the eight-race season. British racer Paul Bonhomme, Aussie Matt Hall and Hannes Arch of Austria sit atop the standings.
“It’s been kind of a crummy year for us, to be honest,” said Chambliss, coming off a third-place finish in Spielberg, Austria, earlier this month. “Our airplane is flat-out maybe a No. 7.
“I’m in Texas, I want to win. I’m just going to go out and do the best I can to fly the pants off this thing and hopefully come out on top here.”
Chambliss is expecting a modified plane for Texas in hopes of increasing his speed. He didn’t know at the time of this interview whether engineers had succeeded.
“Sometimes they’re right, sometimes they’re wrong.”
I’m in Texas, I want to win. I’m just going to go out and do the best I can to fly the pants off this thing and hopefully come out on top here.
Kirby Chambliss
11th in the standings, needing a winEven at 55, Chambliss believes he still has the make-up to compete at the highest levels in a sport that would seem better suited to a younger man’s reflexes. Then again, Bonhomme is in his early 50s, Hall and Arch are mid-to-late 40s.
Most crucial, Chambliss said, is a body capable of dealing with the G-forces. It’s important to be in good physical condition, but the best exercise for these guys is being in the plane and pulling g’s. A week out of the plane will cause a change in his body being able to absorb the G’s, Chambliss said.
That’s why he’s never out of a plane that long. He now wants to reacquaint himself with winning effort.
“I’m about winning,” Chambliss said. “I’m not happy unless I’m winning. For right now, I feel I’m just as good as the guys doing it.”
Red Bull Air Race
World Championship
at Texas Motor Speedway
Saturday qualifying
▪ Challenger Class, 3:20 p.m.
▪ Master Class, 4 p.m.
Sunday races
▪ Round of 14, 1 p.m.
▪ Round of 8, 3 p.m., followed by the final 4
This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 11:46 AM with the headline "Texan hopes to wing his way back to top in Red Bull Air Races."