By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Tens of thousands of area residents took in the Sound of Speed Airshow at Rosecrans Memorial Airport, featuring the Thunderbirds of the United States Air Force.
General admission tickets, which were free to the public, were snatched up so quickly, an extra one thousand were offered on Sunday, the final day of the show. Rosecrans Manager Abe Forney says 30,000 general admission tickets were released on Saturday with 31,000 released on Sunday.
Show preview events provided rare opportunities for members of the media to enjoy the thrill of the ride and understand, if just a little bit, what real speed
Eagle Radio Traffic Director, Nattalie King, got to ride in one of the planes performing in the show along with the Thunderbirds.
Eagle Radio General Manager Doug Schmitz got to experience 150 miles per hour; on the ground.
Schmitz got a ride in a Lamborghini, down the Rosecrans runway.
“The ride was incredible,” Schmitz tells St. Joseph Post. “We hit 150 (mph) going down the runway and I kept thinking he’s got to slow down; he’s got to slow down. The end of the runway is coming up. We neared the end of the runway, he turned to go back up runway A and if it wasn’t for the seat belt holding me in, I’m sure I would have went flying out the window on the turn. What a rush that ride was."
