IT TAKES ALL KINDS: BALLOON RACERS TEST THEIR ACCURACY, NOT SPEED

Ted Ring is a licensed hot-air ballon racer with no balloon.

Sherry Ireland has a balloon and a pilot's licenses, but lacks the flying time to enter competition in Baloon Fest '93, being held in Cape Girardeau this weekend.

"I'm flying Sherry's balloon this weekend," said ring, who has been racing about a year and has been around the hot-air balloon scene more than eight years.

Bill Bussey, meanwhile, is a 16-year veteran of ballooning and has many hours to his credit, which includes one 29-hour flight from Texas to North Dakota.

Ring, Ireland and Bussey are just three of the balloonists who are in Cape Girardeau this weekend for Balloon Fest '93, which features more than 30 balloonists from 14 states who are competing for more than $10,000 in prize money.

Competition flights tarted at 6 p.m. Friday, and will conclude at 6 p.m. today.

Conducting the races here, for a second straight year, are Rob and Jetta Schantz, who own and operate Skysigns Unlimited, Inc., a business of hot-air balloon sales, service, instruction and show promotion.

Ring, a St. Louis resident, is looking forward to his next race.

"I'll be flying my own baloon then," said Ring, a computer programmer for Edward D. Jones & Co. investiment services at the firm's St. Louis headquarters. "I received news Friday that everything has been approved for me to get my own balloon."

Ring has been flying in competition about a year and has more than 100 hours racing time.

Ireland, a Collinsville, Ill., resident who has also been involved in balloon racing more than a half-dozen years, has a pilot's license, with 45 hours flying time.

"That's not enough hours for this race," said Ireland. "But, I will pick up another two or three hours flying time here."

The Cape Girardeau event requires 100 hours of flying time.

Ireland is here with her parents, Jim and Nancy Ireland, of Lincoln, Ill., who will be serving as scorers this weekend. The Irelands are also balloonists.

"That's where I became interested in balloons," siad the younger Ireland, who works in the Hyatt Regency Hotel sales office in Collinsville. "I started crewing for them six or seven years ago. I received my pilot's licenses in February of this year."

Bussey, a dentist from Longview, Texas, became interested in hot-air balloons 17 years ago.

"I was one and had to have it," he said.

Since then, he has owned a total of 41 of the crafts, including the six he currently owns. He also holds nine world records.

"Actually, balloon racing is a misnomer," said Bussey, who flies in more than 20 competitive meets a year. "It's really a test of the pilot's ability to maneuver the craft. The race is not one of speed but accracy."

One of the most popular races is that referred to as "Hare and the Hound" races.

"A balloonist who is not racing is selected to serve as the hare," said Jim Ireland. "The hare lifts off prior to the hounds, and places a target on the ground. The hounds then take to the air and attempt to fly over the target throwing a marker toward it." The pilot whose marker lands closest to the center of the target wins.

"The marker is a small bag of sand about four ounces attached to a six-food streamer," said Ireland. "The idea for the pilot is to get as close to the target as possible."

"A race can be won by a marker thrown a hundred feet away or just a few inches," said Ireland.

Balloon racing is a relatively modern sport, which started growing in early 1970s. There are now more than 5,000 licensed balloon pilots in the United STates.

This year's national championships will be held at Middletown, Ohio. Missouri will host the 1994 championships at Columbia.

Meanwhile, balloonists can find a competitive race almost every weekend from late May through October.

Two balloonist festivals are scheduled nearby next month at Centralia, Ill., Aug. 20-22 and at Eddyville, Ky., Aug. 26-29.

The Centralia event is considered a premier attraction, with attendance expected between 50,000 and 60,000, with more than 40 hot-air balloonists.

One of the highlights of this year's event at Centralia will be the return of two Walt Disney World balloons, the "Castle in the Sky," which is 145 feet high, and "The Mouse That Soars," which stands 96 feet high.

The Mickey Mouse balloon will also appear at the Eddyville Balloon Festival.