teamonemoment 2025 began with deeper involvement with VP Racing Fuels as they continue to develop their new unleaded avgas UL100E. Andy attended NWOC (National Warbird Operators Conference) as he has for the last several years. But new for this year, he was able to give a presentation on the new fuel.
The presentation was received well and he was able to discuss opportunities for future testing.
This year NWOC is returning to Virginia Beach, so both Andy and Young Thomas will be attending. It’s an event open to pilots, mechanics, enthusiasts, and vendors so we hope to see you there.
Next on the agenda, we once again ran the AirVenture Cup race leading up to EAA’s Airventure in Oshkosh. This was our 2nd year running UL100E during the race. This year we got to fly the 460 mile course with VP’s own Karen Madden came away with 1st place in the Unlimited category with an average speed of 296.33mph.
Flying into AirVenture itself, Andy and the other Sport Class racers got to fly formation with the boys riding in the PB4Y Privateer.
Throughout AirVenture Race #30 was on public display with the other racers and the team got to hang out in the Lift Aviation booth. Andy got to give several presentations on VP’s unleaded fuel along with Dan and Mark. Together they presented on our experiences running the Legacy on unleaded avgas — sharing data, lessons learned, and the potential this fuel has for everyday pilots. Andy and Alex also got to talk with Digital Dave during their week.
Sport Class as a whole made substantial progress in 2025. Building off the success of participating in our first full air racing event last year (that is no pre-scripted finishes, no speed limits, etc), Sport Class announced a simple, but important set of rule changes, which removed the 1,000 cubic inch engine limit, laid the foundation for future heavier weight categories (ie warbirds), and allowed the use of electric and turboprop powerplants.
In a practical sense, this may not add many new racers. But from a philosophical sense, this gets to the core of Sport Class, to further encourage and foster new developments within general aviation. And in a world where many motorsport series are trending towards more controlled spec-series structures, Sport Class remains one of the rare places where innovation is still encouraged and rewarded.
Another major milestone came when Sport Class attended PRS in Roswell for the first time. It was also arranged that pilots participating at PRS would similarly be certified to race at Las Cruces later in the year. This was an important logistical step requiring coordination between SARC (Sport Air Race Council), RARA, and the FAA. When it came time to test the new courses in Roswell, Sport Class showed up in force, bringing 17 pilots.
Ultimately that testing led to a difficult but necessary decision to withdraw from the inaugural Roswell Air Races. While flying the new race course, Andy found that from several points on the track, a power-off return to the runway wasn’t reliably possible without crossing across the path of other races. Similar to the impossible turn, the runways were just too far away with no realistic alternative landing options. Given Andy’s history of engine failures, taking that risk simply wasn’t acceptable. In addition, Sport Class ultimately stood down from racing in Roswell. It was a tough decision, but unquestionably the right one.
Returning back to the East Coast Andy competed in the 2nd annual Heritage STOL event at the Military Aviation Museum (Archived livestream). The original date was rained out, but when the event finally happened, it was a great time. Although to be truly competitive some engine and suspension modifications are in order (a project for another year?). Nonetheless it was a great day of flying, and a real showcase of piloting skill.
And then came SkyFiesta Las Cruces, a major highlight for the team and for the community. With over 10,000 people attending from all across the country, the event was a huge success and has been over four years in the making. We even got to meet some race fans that made the trek all the way from Reno. With an abbreviated show and schedule, we had a couple of practice opportunities, a heat race on Friday, and the final Gold Race on Saturday. And in both races Andy kept the lead wire to wire, coming home with a top speed of 312mph (Lap 1 of Friday’s gold heat).
Dates have already been released for PRTC (May 26-30) and SkyFiesta (October 15-17). Here’s to more racing, more innovation, more horsepower, more data, and more One Moment in 2026.
