The Nashville Balloon Classic
A Decade of Charitable Service
by Glen Moyer
Founded in 1971, the Foundation serves as a national, non-profit organization committed to integrate the hearing and balance impaired into the mainstream of society. The Foundation's commitment is fulfilled through public and professional education programs, scholarships to hearing-impaired high school seniors, and the sponsorship of applied research.
The Classic traces its beginning to a simple benefit picnic in 1981 that featured two hot air balloons giving tether rides. The event was so successful it was repeated the next year. In the months that followed, officials with the Foundation and two area balloonists, David Fields and Butch Stamps found that they shared a common dream. The Foundation wanted to expand its picnic into a balloon competition while Fields and Stamps, of Music City Balloon Promotions, having attended a variety of balloon events around the US, were anxious to bring such an event to the city of Nashville. The result was the 1985 Ear for Music Balloon Classic.
In 1986, expansion to 34 balloons and 30,000 spectators forced a move from the original site at Maryland Farms to Edwin Warner Park. 1987 saw the event continue to grow to 49 balloons and by the early 90's the event would routinely attract more than 60 balloons and some 60,000 spectators over the three day schedule. Through the years, the name of the major sponsor has changed, including Dr. Pepper and the Bellevue Center to this year's 1995 event, sponsored by Thoroughbred Jaguar.
Whatever name has appeared on the marquee, support for the EAR Foundation has never wavered. The 1995 Thoroughbred Jaguar Balloon Classic continued this support with a time-tested format of tethered balloon rides, a unique ring-the-pole competition and a country music concert. Sixty-three pilots registered to compete for the $15,000 overall prize money, two special $10,000 ring-the-pole prizes and a key grab for a $35,000 Jaguar. Flying in this event for the first time, I would be one of the sixty- three.
True to that first benefit picnic, pilots accepted into the Classic are required to bring a tether system that provides more than one tie-off point. Thus the event begins on Friday evening with tethered balloons offering rides to the public for $5 each. The funds from these rides go directly to fund EAR Foundation scholarships and research. Unfortunately this year found the sixty-three participating pilots and crew crowded under the briefing tent while rain showers splattered around them. Despite numerous weather holds, it was obvious the rains were not going to quit and the tethers were cancelled.
Those familiar with middle Tennessee weather and terrain were not surprised then to awaken on Saturday morning to a patchy but thick fog. Again Balloonmeister David Fields put the group on hold after hold. The pilot briefing that began at 6 a.m. ended finally at 8 a.m. with Fields conceding the fog had won the day-there would be no competition flight. However, Fields asked for volunteers to tether and offer rides to the public in an attempt to make up for the lost Friday evening event. More than a third of the attending pilots agreed to do so.
The remainder of Saturday was void of additional rain showers so the stage was set for the first competition flight on Saturday evening. Jim Ahern, flying Tony the Tiger, would lead a two-part hare and hounds flight. As Tony took to the sky it became apparent there was a new problem-virtually no wind. With hounds launching underneath him, Ahern found himself nearly becalmed over the launch field. Troublesome as this may have been for the pilots, it provided quite a show for the spectators.
Eventually Ahern found a slow drift away from the field and after a seemingly endless 25 minutes, dropped rapidly into an vacant field and placed the first target less than a mile down wind from the launch site. Climbing back to altitude, Ahern found another equally slow-moving flow in a reverse direction from his first track and again, after hanging seemingly motionless in the sky for almost half an hour, made a rapid descent into an equestrian training center where target number two was then displayed.
The light and variable winds played havoc with the hounds and a distant thunderstorm was beginning to mix the winds which figured into many pilots' decisions to bail out of the competition and land early. Less than a dozen pilots were able to score on both targets. Bill Wysong took the early lead in the competition followed by this reporter who found himself in a (I'll admit it!) surprising second place by just 500 points.
Sunday morning is always exciting at the Classic as it features a fly-in task with the chance to ring a pole for $10,000 dollars. The competition is unique to Nashville as it requires a successful two-part score to win the money. Like most pole races, there is a 200 foot scoring circle with a pole in the center. Each pilot is provided a 12-inch plastic ring (a sort of mini hoola-hoop) and a marker. Around the inner perimeter of the 200' scoring circle are several smaller circles. To win the $10,000 dollars you must ring the pole with your plastic hoop and place your marker in one of the smaller circles. (You can put the marker in the circle either before or after you ring the pole but both must be done on the same pass.)
This year, with Saturday morning's fog-out, there were two $10,000 dollar prizes to be awarded, plus the title sponsor, Thoroughbred Jaguar had erected a second pole (downwind of the first) on top of which were the keys to a new, $35,000 Jaguar. If that were not enough, there was an "X" target at the base of the first pole and pilots were supplied a second marker to be thrown at this target for distance. The task rules allowed multiple passes, except:
An attempt for the car required a fly-in distance of 3 miles while the other tasks required only a one-mile distance. Considering the odds of winning a key grab I opted for the one-mile distance from which I would make my two passes. My goal was to simply score on both tasks, figuring four scores for the weekend would assure a finish near the top.
Middle Tennessee's topography features rolling hills, covered with dense stands of pine and small open valleys. Even at a one-mile distance, pilots are required to fly up and over one of these ridges, only then can you see the target, line up on it and drop into the valley to score. Normally the winds at the target are extremely light and variable allowing balloons to simply hang in the air; at one moment moving toward the target, then away from it in the next. The skill required is not to give up too soon and wait out your best opportunity to score.
However, the 1995 Classic was not blessed with "usual" weather and on this Sunday morning you flew by the target and either scored or didn't. I did, on both passes, but not close enough to hold on to second place. Still, no one got the car or either of the cash prizes and I knew some had failed to score on one or both of the distance tasks. Thus, while waiting for the award brunch I was confident my first time at the Classic would be a successful one.
When the results were announced, I had slipped from second ($1,500) to seventh ($600), not bad I decided for my first competitive outing in 1995. As we said good-byes and did some hangar flying afterwards a huge thunderstorm hit the launch field, soaking it thoroughly. Thus I left the 1995 Thoroughbred Jaguar Balloon Classic with many fond memories, new friends-including my volunteer crew, some great flying experience and the knowledge that a single late arriving thunderstorm had cost me $900 dollars! Anyone out there teach rain dancing?
Results of 1995 Thoroughbred Jaguar Balloon Classic: $15,000 prize purse*
1. Peter Scherm $3,000 2. David Eastland $1,500 3. Ray Dionne $1,000 4. Ellis Calvert $ 750 5. Bill Wysong $ 700 6. Mark Johnson $ 650 7. Glen Moyer $ 600 8. Johnny Petrehn $ 575 9. Richard Jaworski $ 550 10. Chris Spalding $ 525*additional monies paid out to 25 places
