July 23, 2022

Air Race Classic team 39 Missouri “MO Madness” thanks everyone who contributed to their race. Pilots Jeanné Willerth, from Lee’s Summit, MO and Madeline Hooks, from Bolivar, MO appreciated all the support given their team.

The 2,500 mile all women air race started in Lakeland, FL and crisscrossed the eastern half of the United States ending in Terre Haute, IN.

500 miles into the 2500-mile race, the team had maintenance issues. They had to leave the race at Muscle Shoals, GA and fly to Tennessee to get an electrical problem fixed. They were allowed to fly back to Georgia to re-enter the race.

In the words of Willerth:

“Got permission from the race officials to fly back to Georgia and re-enter the race. We were a day behind everyone. The last day we needed to fly from Lawrence, KS to Mt Vernon, IL, to Tullahoma, TN to Terre Haute, IN and there were thunderstorms across Kansas and Missouri.

We put on our “Wonder Women” shirts and started flying! Rules required we stay VFR (visual) and we made several route deviations but made it to the finish line with 53 minutes to spare!

We didn’t win but we finished the race! All 44 planes that started the race in FL finished in Indiana. With handicapping we came in 36th. (Assumed we would be last!)”