The man behind the Red Bull Air Races

‘We typically fly smack dab in the middle of an iconic downtown area like San Francisco, Budapest, Barcelona or Tokyo’

A plane zips past the Statue of Liberty, carefully maneuvering around one of the most iconic statues in the world in what surely must be a death-defying stunt. But for Jim DiMatteo, the International Race Director for the Red Bull Air Races, this is just one of many competitions that he and Red Bull have designed to thrill crowds and audiences worldwide.

Overseeing these events is no small task. “Prior to the race there’s a huge amount of coordination, approvals and waivers that have to be done for aviation and the airspace. We’ll spend months or even a year preparing for all the flights,” said DiMatteo. The races need this kind of preparation because “we typically fly smack dab in the middle of an iconic downtown area like San Francisco, Budapest, Barcelona or Tokyo.” In addition to these cities, he has organized races in places like Abu Dhabi, London, Rio de Janerio and many other places in-between.

For DiMatteo, it took over thirty years and thousands of hours in the cockpit of a fighter jet to be able to safely organize and coordinate events like these. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1986 and joined the Navy soon after, beginning a military career that stands alone from his peers. After accumulating over 5,000 hours of flight time in multiple aircrafts, DiMatteo joined the TOPGUN Adversary squadron and amassed more time as a member of the team than anyone in history before eventually becoming the Commanding Officer of the unit. Additionally, during his time in the Navy, he was awarded numerous accolades, including US Navy Fighter Pilot of the Year and US Navy Adversary Pilot of the Year.

A Red Bull Plane flies at one of the many events put on around the world by DiMatteo

After retiring, he became the first Race Director in America for Red Bull after the Austrian based company failed to gain enough credibility and approval to organize the races in America by themselves. They brought on DiMatteo and as director, he has overseen more than 75 different races without a single occurrence of injury or fatality.  During the events, DiMatteo runs the actual aviation activities and serves as a so-called air boss, telling pilots when they are cleared to begin their run and issuing penalties for mistakes or disqualifying any racers who break rules.

“A race director is responsible for the safe exhibition and fair competition of flying. Because it is a sport, we want to make sure that at the end of the day, the person picking up the trophy is the pilot who competitively did the best.”

A plane flies through the course at a previous Red Bull Air Race

One of the obvious perks of the job is that it has allowed DiMatteo to travel all over the world and organize races in beautiful locations and places that normally never would have been considered for events such as these.

“My favorite place, in terms of beauty, was in Croatia because it was just a spectacular place,” he said.

But his most memorable race was in Ascot, England. “We raced on the Royal Ascot, the Queen’s track, and we were the first thing in over 400 years to race there other than a horse.”

The opportunity to put on aviation competitions in iconic venues is one of the main reasons DiMatteo continues to run the Red Bull Air Races. He sees it is as the closest he can get to combining the skill of piloting a high-performance aircraft with the competition normally associated with sports.

“I flew air shows, which was great, but you’re not competing against anybody. It’s a performance, not a sporting competition,” he said.

Now, DiMatteo sees the Red Bull Air Races as the “only competitive aviation on a global level that combines my two passions of athletics and sport with aviation.”

Jim kneels in front of one of many fighter jets he piloted during his time in the Navy

With an upcoming event in San Diego over Easter Weekend and another race planned to take place inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, DiMatteo is excited for the future of Red Bull Air Races and more opportunities to use iconic venues in new and interesting ways as he continues to combine his love of sport and competition with his deep knowledge of aviation and piloting.

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University of Oregon