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 The Air Force took to the skies in February with NASCAR driver Elliot Sadler and members of the Wood Brothers Racing team to give the racers a taste of the Air Mobility Command and Air Combat Command version of a 320 mph aerial pit stop. A KC-10 Extender from the 9th Air Refueling Squadron at Travis AFB, California, with the racing team aboard and a Nellis-based F-16 Fighting Falcon flying with Sadler, refueled over Nevada’s high desert. Sadler called the flight “a ride I’ll never forget.”
For this and last year’s NASCAR Winston Cup racing seasons, the Air Force has been an associate sponsor of the No. 21 Ford Taurus driven by Sadler of Wood Brothers Racing. The car displays the Air Force logo. Sadler said he has always had great respect for the Air Force, but the aerial pit stop gave him a greater appreciation of the mission. “It’s amazing that these planes can fly so fast and so close together even as they are refueling,” he said. “From my view in the back seat of the F-16, it’s unbelievable and incredible. And these guys need to have guts for the missions they are called to perform.”
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