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TRACKS: Martinsville Speedway Attracts High-Flying Race

28 October 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

MARTINSVILLE, VA. -- With stopwatches and binoculars in hand, Jim Sullivan and Tom Crouse looked like typical race fans at Martinsville Speedway Friday morning.

They had their eyes on a race of sorts, but it was far from the normal NASCAR fare at the .526-mile oval.

Sullivan and Crouse are judges for the National Intercollegiate Flying Associations Southeast Region competition, a three-day event staged out of Danville Regional Airport in Danville.

And the pair werent on hand to watch remote-controlled planes either. These were the real deal: mostly Cessna 172 and Piper Tomahawk A 38s, single-engine aircraft being flown by aviation students from colleges throughout the Southeastern United States.

On Friday, the second day of the competition, Sullivan and Crouse were perched atop the suites in the first and second turns at Martinsville Speedway, keeping an eye out for participants flying toward the track from the Southeast. The speedway was the first of four checkpoints on the loop that began and ended in Danville.

"All of these competitors are in a two or four-year aviation curriculum. They are going to be commercial pilots or go into airport management," said Crouse, who like Sullivan is a pilot and avid aviation buff. "This is like an all-star competition. The best pilots from our schools are flying."

Five colleges Virginia Tech, the United States Naval Academy, Guilford Technical Community College, Caldwell Community College and host Averett College are involved in the regional competition, which ends today. Other competition in the regional event included precision landing, flight simulator test, aircraft identification and written tests.

Fridays stage was a test of navigation for the young pilots. After viewing a map of the course, each pilot had to determine how long it would take to fly the route and how much fuel they would use to make the trip. Then, without the help of onboard instruments, each pilot had to cover the distance and arrive back in Danville as close as possible to the time they had predicted.

"This is a learning thing. Were trying to teach them how important it is to be accurate," said Sullivan, who owns a building supply company near Lenoir, N.C. "It teaches them the practical part.

"They have to calculate the timing and use dead reckoning. If the win blows you off course, too bad. Youre supposed to factor that in."

The pilots were not told in advance where the checkpoints were along the route, but had to use their maps to locate them. "They had to figure that out," said Crouse, an assistant dean at Caldwell Community College in Hudson, N.C.

And the pilots couldnt skip the checkpoints to make up time. Thats why Crouse and Sullivan were stationed high above Martinsville Speedway, to make sure each plane passed above them.

Martinsville Speedway was used partly because of its visibility from the air and partly because Speedway President Clay Campbell is an avid aviator himself.

"Were here because Clay is an aviation enthusiast himself and he was kind enough to let us use the place," said Sullivan.

The next racing action at Martinsville Speedway is the Virginia 500 NASCAR Winston Cup Series race on Sunday, April 8. Tickets are $40-$70 and are available by calling toll free at (877) 722-3849.

Text Provided By Steve Sheppard

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.