Balloonists Test Their Mettle in ‘Toughest Race’

Last year, he landed in a pig farm in Mexico. Two years ago, a storm grabbed hold of his balloon and dragged him about four miles through three salt flats in Utah, leaving him stranded for hours in shallow water.

But it doesn’t matter where balloon pilot Don Davis lands, only how far he gets from Palm Springs, the starting point of the annual Gordon Bennett Balloon Race.

The helium-balloon race will start about 7 tonight; hot-air balloons begin taking off at 7 a.m. today and Sunday.

A Coveted Trophy

The race--named after James Gordon Bennett, founder and publisher of the New York Herald, who initiated the race in Paris in 1906--is a tradition for balloonists like Davis, a Long Beach architect and the only California contestant, who return to the desert each year to challenge Mother Nature and fellow balloonists for the coveted trophy.

Joe Kittinger of Florida and Rocky Aoki of Japan will take their rivalry to new heights when the two go head to head in their helium balloons tonight, along with Davis and Karl Spenger of Switzerland. Kittinger, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel attempting his fifth Gordon Bennett win in “Rosie O’Grady,” is a fierce competitor.

“He’ll kill himself for a trophy,” Davis says, adding that though Kittinger is a friend and that he admires his competitiveness, “I’m not going to do that.”

Kittinger counters that he likes to win but won’t take unnecessary chances. “I’m a professional aviator,” he says. “I’ve been flying balloons since 1955. I’ve got a lot of experience.” And the records to prove it.

“The sky’s my office,” he likes to say, and while on the job he reportedly set the world record for the highest parachute jump (102,800 feet) and is said to be the first man to exceed the speed of sound--without an aircraft. In last year’s Gordon Bennett race, he and co-pilot Sherry Reed narrowly missed landing in the Gulf of California when they reached an uninhabited island in Mexico for the winning distance of 353.4 miles.

Just Missed Disaster

“We were extremely fortunate because we had run out of ballast (sand), the balloon was not moving at all and we ended up over this island,” he says. “Our next choice was to land in the water, which was 60 degrees--which is very cold--and we wouldn’t have lived very long at all. There were no people down there, no boats, nothing. Our chances of survival were very low.”

As for Aoki, his 1981 record in a Gordon Bennett flight--1,348 miles to North Dakota--still stands. The owner and founder of the Benihana restaurant chain and former Japanese Olympic wrestler also holds another record of sorts: Two years ago, his “Benihana” took off unmanned while being filled with helium, and its landing was good for third place. However, it was disqualified for racing without a pilot.

But because of the logistics of gas-balloon racing, anyone can win. Practicing for the race is impractical, because it costs $3,500 to fill a helium balloon. And besides, all a pilot can do is make the balloon go up or down. Dumping sand (and sometimes radios and provisions, when necessary) makes the balloon rise--above power lines, trees, dust storms. Releasing helium makes it sink--below thunderstorms, away from other aircraft, into a healthy air current.

‘Only True Test’

“The Gordon Bennett race is a very demanding race; it’s the toughest race in the world,” Kittinger says. “You’re going for distance and there’s a lot of desert out there in Palm Springs, a lot of very hostile terrain. It’s the only true test of balloon and man.”

For spectators, the Gordon Bennett Balloon Race is a colorful, neck-craning adventure as well--and to make a weekend of it, the race coincides with the International Food Festival and Expo (today and Sunday at Ruth Hardy Park, Tamarisk Avenue and Avenida Caballeros). About 80 booths will be stocked with international cuisine, crafts and exhibits; nearby there will be an air show with parachutists, sky divers, aeronautic displays and demonstrations.

Promoter Frank Marik says: “The balloon race itself is an international event, with entries from all over the world competing. The festival will complement this universal theme and will bring the cultures of the world together in the city of Palm Springs.”