They\u2019ve turned the tides of wars and flown over farm fields dusting crops. Now, drones are transforming into something brand new: sporting equipment.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s State Fair is hosting the first-ever U.S. National Drone Racing Championships, reports CBS News correspondent Carter Evans.<\/p>\n

The games get underway on a Sacramento soccer field Thursday, featuring 120 pilots from all over the world operating packs of drones zipping around an 11,000-seat stadium at speeds of up to 80 mph.<\/p>\n

The field has been completely netted in order to avoid any close calls with spectators, but for the competitors, there\u2019s a lot at stake: The prize money totals $25,000.<\/p>\n

250-size drones such as the Blade Mach25 are popular models in drone racing (Photo by Jason Cole\/RCGroups).<\/p>\n

When you hear about drones in the news, drone racers aren\u2019t typically what comes to mind. But the Internet is swarming with videos captured by drone pilots, like the 34-year-old Spanish-born hobbyist who goes by the enigmatic name Charpu.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s arguably the most famous among this new breed of pilots, but the hobby is rapidly turning into sport, and Charpu has some serious competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cCharpu is definitely the guy to beat!\u201d 24-year-old Zoe Stumbaugh said.<\/p>\n

She has been building her own drones in a bedroom workshop for less than a year. But it wasn\u2019t her first passion.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, motorcycles were my thing. It was everything to me! Like, being able to ride, it gave me this whole experience being outside of my body, into the world, and living. I really couldn\u2019t live without it,\u201d Stumbaugh said.<\/p>\n

But a debilitating and painful medical condition confined her to bed for six months and forced her to undergo four major surgeries. Her riding days were over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got really really depressed \u2014 like, I completely shut down, I didn\u2019t want to do anything with my friends,\u201d she said. \u201cOne of my friends suggested, \u2018Go to the hobby shop,\u2019 and I found this little ultra-micro, little quadcopter that fits in the palm of your hand. And I just fell in love with it the first flight.\u201d
\n\u201cOne of my friends suggested, \u2018Go to the hobby shop,\u2019 and I found this little ultra-micro, little quadcopter that fits in the palm of your hand. And I just fell in love with it the first flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said it was that little thing that started her whole addiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I put the camera on it, you start doing FPV (First Person View) \u2026 it was really like riding a motorcycle,\u201d she said. \u201cYou were living in the world around you and no longer in a bed or sitting down or feeling hurt, depressed, whatever. Nothing else mattered when you had the goggles on. In a weird way, it was just what I needed!\u201d<\/p>\n

Zoe Stumbaugh (second from right) with fellow drone racing enthusiasts. (Photo by Zoe Stumbaugh)<\/p>\n

Spectators at the National Drone Racing Championships will also be able to don goggles of their own and watch the action from the point of view of any one of their favorite pilots.<\/p>\n

Soon she was building bigger and more elaborate aircraft, and her videos on the Internet developed a following. Drone manufacturers even began sponsoring her.<\/p>\n

Now Stumbaugh is off to the nationals \u2014 and is considered to be one of the top contenders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just can\u2019t wait to get to the races and show off my skills,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Race director Scot Refsland called the competition \u201cFormula One in the air.\u201d He thinks this week\u2019s event marks the birth of a brand new sport.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve already been approached by several people with very large checkbooks that are interested in this space,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what this is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty years ago, Ron Semiao turned skateboarding into a legitimate sport when he created the X Games. \u201cYou know how this started as a sport? It started as kids one-upping each other with tricks \u2014 I can do this, can you?\u201d Semiao said. \u201cSo with something like drone racing, it\u2019s naturally built in, because it\u2019s navigating obstacles: Who can get from point A to point B the fastest, and without wrecking?\u201d<\/p>\n

But Semiao said drone racing will need more than just drama to evolve into a professional sport. Big-time corporate sponsorship is key to creating the full-time stars of tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been approached over time by a lot of professional skateboarders that have said, \u2018Thanks for creating the X Games, \u2019cause now I don\u2019t have to work at the deli anymore! I can make a living doing something I love,’\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

If and when major sponsors get behind drone racing, there\u2019s no shortage of pilots who are more than ready for prime time.<\/p>\n

Stumbaugh\u2019s disability prevents her having a normal job at the moment, but if drone racing could be her job, she said she\u2019d do it. \u201cAnd I would love to do it,\u201d she said. And I have a passion for it that will never end.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They\u2019ve turned the tides of wars and flown over farm fields dusting crops. Now, drones are transforming into something brand new: sporting equipment. California\u2019s State Fair is hosting the first-ever U.S. National Drone Racing Championships, reports CBS News correspondent Carter Evans. The games get underway on a Sacramento soccer field Thursday, featuring 120 pilots from … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Drone Racing Soars as Competitive Sport”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":327,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions\/327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}