FAA hits the brakes on Flashlight Drags



By Eric Poole, Calkins Media

Published: Friday, February 13, 2009 12:12 AM EST
FRANKLIN TWP. — The annual Flashlight Drags have become a victim of their own popularity.

The drag-racing events, a fixture at Zelienople Municipal Airport in Franklin Township since 2002, will not take place this year.

In an undated letter to airport administrators, PennDOT’s Bureau of Aviation said it would no longer approve nonaeronautical events at airports.

In the letter, Brian Gearhart, director of the Bureau of Aviation, said the decision not to permit auto racing at airports was made by the Federal Aviation Administration because requests to close airports for nonaeronautical events have become so common that it risks interfering with the runways’ primary functions.

The letter specifically mentions car-racing events such as the Flashlight Drags, which are sponsored by Altered Gas, a promotions group based in Bradford Woods, Allegheny County.

The FAA ruling cuts off a funding stream for the airport, which received payments from Altered Gas to use the airfield.

Neither Gearhart nor representatives of Altered Gas returned phone calls Thursday seeking comment. But the Flashlight Drags Web site reported that racing events are scheduled at Steel Valley Dragway in Steubenville, Ohio, and National Trail Raceway in Columbus, Ohio.

Tom Surgalski, chairman of the Zelienople Municipal Authority, said he was disappointed in the decision because the drag races drew thousands of people to the airport. The municipal authority oversees operations at the airport, which is owned by the borough, even though the field is in Franklin Township.

Surgalski said Zelienople Municipal Airport has no plans to fight the decision. In fact, he said he understood the FAA’s reservation about the expansion of car racing at airports.

“Ultimately, what we are is an airport,” he said. “And that’s what we need to be.”

THE GOOD

• Tom Surgalski, chairman of the Zelienople Municipal Authority, said officials from Altered Gas, the Flashlight Drags sponsor, have been good to work with and were cooperative during initial complaints by people living near the airport over noise on race days and from pilots who had lost flying opportunities on perfect summer days.
• The races drew thousands of people into the Zelienople area, which Surgalski said was good for businesses along the borough’s main street.
• Another supporter of the races was police departments, Surgalski said, because — in keeping with the Flashlight Drags’ motto, “Street Racing Without the Jail Time” — the events kept people from drag racing on the streets.

THE BAD

• Surgalski admitted that the very thing that has made the Flashlight Drags so attractive to airports — their popularity — might have done them in. Requests to stage such events in Pennsylvania increased from 10 to 38 in just the past year, the FAA says, and the races detract from the airports’ primary purpose.

THE OTHERS

• Other airports in this region affected by the decision: Clarion, Clarion County; Ebensburg, Cambria County; and Waynesburg, Greene County.
• The Washington Observer-Reporter newspaper reported last week that the Greene County Commissioners might fight the decision by severing ties between the Waynesburg airport and the FAA.
• Such a move would cut off Waynesburg’s airport from federal funding for projects such as runway expansions and repairs and safety enhancements.