A Texas pilot will try this week to set one new record and tie another when the U.S. National Hot Air Balloon Championship is held in Battle Creek for the first time.
A win this week would give Joe Heartsill of San Angelo, Texas, his third consecutive win, something never done since the Balloon Federation of America held its first championship in 1963 in Kalamazoo. A win also would give Heartsill six championships and tie him for the most ever, a record set by former Michigan pilot Bruce Comstock in 1987.
"This year is kind of exciting," Heartsill said Friday from his home before making the trip north. "We have got a goal and seven would be luckier than six but I have to take it one at a time.
"This year is kind of exciting because I have a chance to make it three in a row and in three different cities,” he added.
Heartsill, 59, who has his own business making real estate investments, won last year in Columbia, S.C., two years ago in Waco, Texas, 1999 in Rantoul, Ill., 1997 in Columbia, Mo., and 1992 in Middletown, Ohio.
“The cool part is being at different locations,” he said.
Heartsill will be one of 54 pilots competing for the 2009 BFA championship, which will be held Wednesday through Sunday at Kellogg Community College. After media and sponsor flights on Wednesday, competition begins Thursday morning, and is scheduled each morning and evening concluding Sunday morning. Fifteen fiesta or fun flyers also will be in the skies.
The nationals have never been flown in Battle Creek and only once in Michigan. Organizer Derrick Jones said he hopes to announce this week that the BFA National Championship will be held in Battle Creek in 2010 and 2011.
It’s the second hot air balloon event held this year following the Field of Flight Air Show and Balloon Festival over the July 4 weekend. The two events are not connected. The National Championship will replace the Holiday Balloon Fest, held each December for the past 10 years.
For Heartsill and many other pilots, Battle Creek will be familiar terrain. He has flown at the mid-summer event several times, winning as an individual and with two others taking the Team U.S. Nationals in 1997.
“It’s almost like playing on home turf,” Heartsill said “We are looking forward to Battle Creek. We want to get in a couple of practice flights. It should be fun. And I am going to do what I always have done, try to be steady and not make any mistakes. Try to be steady on every flight. You try to win the war and not the battle.”
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Winning won’t be easy, Heartsill said. The field includes former national and world champions like Steve Jones, Owen Keown, Al Nels, Johnny Petrehn and his brother Paul Petrehn and Nick Donner.
Heartsill guessed his toughest competition will come from the Petrehn brothers and Nick Donner and his brother, Chase.
“I am always watching for those guys but there are a lot of good competitors out there with a shot. This is for an opportunity to earn a slot at the next world championship and there are a number of competitors who would like that opportunity.”
Two-time winner Paul Petrehn of Howell said many in the field have a good chance to win, including his brother and Heartsill.
Petrehn said many in the competitive ballooning community are watching Heartsill because he has a chance for three in a row and six overall championships.
“It’s becoming a conversation piece,” Petrehn said. “He is putting himself in the hall of fame. It’s not an easy thing to do but Joe is one who could do it. I know he has it in the back of his mind.”
Paul Petrehn, a two-time national champion who won the 2009 Field of Flight and has flown in Battle Creek many times, said several of the pilots have a comfort level because they have competed here so many times.
“It allows me to sleep in my own bed Tuesday night and come over Wednesday,” he said. “Having the familiarity with the summer event and having flown in the winter (at the Holiday Balloon Fest) it gives peace of mind to the pilots and crews.”
The only Battle Creek pilot competing is a rookie, James Mitchell, 21, an aviation student at Western Michigan University.
“It’s my first time and I am going into it looking for learning perspectives,” Mitchell said. “The best pilots in the country will be here and it will be great to be able to fly with them.”
Mitchell said he is realistic about his chances after three years and 150 hours of flight time.
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“It’s always nice to go in with an attitude,” he said. “But these individuals are extremely well experienced. I crewed at the nationals last year and I know what they can do and I have flown against some of them at other events and for me to finish in the top half of the field, I would feel good about myself.”
As pilots like Heartsill, Petrehn and Mitchell prepare for flying, organizers said their preparations are about complete.
“We are good,” Derrick Jones said. “We are glad the time has come after four months of total chaos but we are ready to go and the sponsors and the community are ready.”
The BFA and Jones and the Holiday Balloon Fest board announced in May plans to bring the nationals to Battle Creek.
All agreed it was a short time to prepare but Jones said Friday the Holiday Balloon Fest board and committees, with 10 years of experience organizing an event in Battle Creek and with help from the BFA, were able to prepare in time.
“The staff is ready and by Monday there will be a few pilots in town and the officials will be here and we will get the odds and ends finished and be ready on Wednesday,” Jones said.
He said the organization has put together the event with a $225,000 budget of cash and in-kind contributions including prize money for competitors of $15,700 plus $1,000 for fiesta pilots. About 200 volunteers will be working on the event.
All admission is free and Jones said while there will be balloons in the sky both mornings and evenings beginning Wednesday, vendors, activities for children and some entertainment will be only Friday and Saturday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Kellogg Community College.
Parking and admission are free although organizers are asking people to bring a non-perishable food item for the Food Bank of South Central Michigan.
“We had a very short window but things are coming together even better than we hoped,” said Andy Baird, president of the Balloon Federation of America.
“We are very fortunate to have local knowledge, experience and talent and that made all the difference and it is all coming together.”
Baird said bringing the nationals back to the Midwest after the past eight years in South Carolina and Texas is a positive move.
“We are fortunate that the Midwest brings us pretty good weather this time of the year.”
Trace Christenson can be reached at 966-0685 or tchrist@battlecr.gannett.com.
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