The field is set for the 41st Air Race Classic (ARC), the annual all- women cross-country airplane race. Fifty-four teams, consisting of 118 women pilots from across the country and around the world, will take off Tuesday, June 20, 2017, from Frederick, Maryland, for a 2,648 -mile sprint across the United States that ends Friday, June 23, 2017, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

This year, the ARC counts several aviation celebrities among the racers: U.S. national aerobatics champion Debby Rihn-Harvey and Ariel Tweto, star of the Discovery channel show "Flying Wild Alaska."

The oldest race of its kind in the nation, the Air Race Classic traces its roots to the 1929 Women's Air Derby, in which Amelia Earhart and 19 other daring female pilots raced from Santa Monica, CA, to Cleveland, OH. That contest, aka the Powder Puff Derby, marked the beginning of women's air racing in the United States. Today, the ARC is the epicenter of women's air racing, the ultimate test of piloting skill and aviation decision-making for female pilots of all ages and from all walks of life.

"The ARC Board of Directors and volunteers have been hard at work preparing for our 41st race," said Air Race Classic President Lara Gaerte. "We look forward to welcoming back veteran racers and meeting new competitors at this year's Start."

This year's course will take racers through 14 states, from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the far northern reaches of the Continental United States to the high desert of New Mexico. Teams will depart beginning at 8 a.m. June 20 from Frederick Municipal Airport, taking off one after another, 30 seconds apart. From there, the field will spread out as faster planes move to the head of the pack.

At each of the eight intermediate stops - Coshocton, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Decorah, Iowa; Bemidji, Minnesota; Spencer, Iowa; Abilene, Kansas; Ardmore, Oklahoma; and Plainview, Texas - teams will execute high-speed flybys over a timing line as they race against the clock. Faster planes may cover the course in only two days; slower teams may not arrive at the Terminus, Santa Fe Municipal Airport, until moments before the arrival deadline at 5 p.m. on June 23.