The LaGrange-Callaway Airport will be serving as an intermediate stop in the Air Race Classic (ARC), an all-women, transcontinental airplane race that originates from the legendary 1929 Women’s Air Derby.

The 43rd Annual Air Race Classic will depart from Jackson, Tennessee on Tuesday, June 18 at 8 a.m. and land in Welland, Ontario, by Friday, June 21 at 5 p.m. The international event will host 60-70 planes and will cover 2,538 miles across 10 states and one Canadian province. The planes will be making intermediate stops at the LaGrange-Callaway Airport on Tuesday, with the first plane scheduled to land at approximately 10 a.m. and the last plane at approximately 2 p.m., weather permitting. Spectators are invited and welcome to attend. There will be limited seating, but the public will have the opportunity to watch the planes interact on the runway.

The LaGrange-Callaway Airport, located at 200 Airport Parkway in LaGrange, will host the pilots during their en route stops and will provide the sale of gas at their Fixed-Based Operator as well as complimentary food items for each of the pilots. For those unable to attend the event at the airport, the ARC website, Airraceclassic.org, will have access to a live map with the course and real-time tracking of the racers’ locations.

This year, the ARC is celebrating the 90th anniversary of the historic first all-women’s airplane race. The ARC consists of female pilots of all ages and from all walks of life, competing in teams of two or three. 

The participants, ranging in age from college students to veteran pilots in their 80s, are given four days to make flybys at each en route stop and then land at the terminus.