In 1920, publisher
Ralph Pulitzer sponsored the Pulitzer Trophy Race and the
Pulitzer Speed Trophy for military airplanes at
Roosevelt Field,
Long Island,
New York, in an effort to publicize aviation and his newspaper. The races eventually moved to
Cleveland, in 1929, where they were known as the Cleveland National Air Races. They drew the best flyers of the time, including
James Doolittle,
Wiley Post,
Tex Rankin,
Frank Hawks,
Jimmy Wedell,
Roscoe Turner, and others from the pioneer age of aviation. These air races helped to inspire
Donald Blakeslee as a young boy. Other races included in the U.S. National Air Races were the Mitchell Trophy Race, the Town & Country Club Race for civilians, the Kansas City Rotary Club Trophy "for all three military services," and the
Glenn Curtiss Trophy Race for "biplanes with engines having less than ." During
World War II the races were on hiatus. After being on hiatus during the U.S. participation in
World War II, the post-war races featured newer surplus military planes that greatly outclassed the planes from the pre-war era. In 1949
Bill Odom lost control of his
P-51 "Beguine" and crashed into a Cleveland-area home, killing himself and two people. The races went on hiatus again. The annual event resumed in 1964 as the
Reno National Championship Air Races, taking place in mid-September. The
Cleveland National Air Show also began in 1964. National Air Races were run by U.S. Air Race, Inc. from 1995–2007. The company was founded by famed World Race Gold Medalist Marion P. Jayne and after her death from cancer in 1996, was run by her daughter Patricia Jayne (Pat) Keefer, 1994 World Race Gold Medalist. Under Keefer's leadership, the events tabulated a perfect safety record with nearly 600,000 miles raced, over 3,200 safe landings at 81 different airports in 43 states and two countries in 25 events. With the help of hundreds of volunteers and over 250 different sponsors she awarded 26 Learn-to-Fly scholarships and reached an estimated 20 million people with a positive message about General Aviation. ==Locations, dates, Pulitzer Trophy winners and speeds==