A news article says Reno is the ‘only [event] of its kind in the United States’. In the 1970s there was also the National Championship Air Races held at Mojave, and I went to one air race at Fox Field in Lancaster. In the Golden Age of Aviation there were any number of air races. Granted in the early days air racing was about innovation, and after WWII it was pretty much a spectator sport where people watched unattainable machines go round and round like NASCAR. But what happened to them all? People still go to fly-ins and air shows. Why not racing? Reno officials say the air races generate tens of millions of dollars in revenue.
Pylon races are held all over, but Reno is unique in it’s long history of unlimited class racing. Unlimiteds ran at Phoenix a few years back too, but Reno has been doing it almost every year for a long time. It is so expensive that an extensive schedule can’t really be supported. It is basically Reno plus maybe one or two other races a year for each crew.
Formula-1 class is much less expensive, and there are lots of races in various places. Still not cheap though.
What makes pylon racing special is that it is in 3D. The airplanes still need to slow down for the turns, but they can do this by pulling upward, storing the energy as altitude, then dive out of the turns and convert that altitude back into speed.
Red Bull has been sponsoring a series of annual races all around the world for several years, including US sites. I just went to their site and found this announcement, dated in August of last year, saying they would be taking a one-year break to make improvements. It actually sounds like they may be having problems finding locations. Reading sideways it suggests that they need to raise more money to “strengthen partnerships” with host cities, i.e, pay them enough to be worth the trouble and risk.