Out of service and into the record books for Goodyear blimp

With the first of its new Zeppelin airships scheduled to enter service later this year, Goodyear Tire & Rubber has retired its blimp Spirit of Goodyear after 14 years in the air. The company’s longest continuous operated airship had its last day out providing aerial coverage at last weekend’s Daytona 500 race. It was joined by the Spirit of Innovation blimp over the Daytona International Speedway, a rare appearance of two Goodyear airships at the same event. Upon its decommissioning, the Spirit of Goodyear will gain a Guinness World Record for length of continuous operation.

“The Spirit of Goodyear has provided captivating aerial coverage of the biggest televised events in its 14-year history including many prominent NASCAR races,” said Paul Fitzhenry, Goodyear’s senior vice-president of global communications. “Sports fans around the globe have seen the Spirit of Goodyear’s aerial coverage and Daytona was an ideal venue to recognise those contributions.”

Goodyear blimps have provided aerial coverage to television networks in the US since 1955, and since its launch on 15 March 2000 the Spirit of Goodyear has covered NASCAR races, as well as some of America’s biggest events including the NFL playoffs, MLB All-Star Games, NBA Finals, Preakness, Belmont States, U.S. Opens, and NCAA football games.

As the Spirit of Goodyear retires, Goodyear is finalising construction of an all-new airship at the company’s Wingfoot Lake Hangar in Suffield, Ohio. Training flights on the new state-of-the-art airship are expected to commence in the near future. Two blimps also remain in service – the California-based Spirit of America and the Spirit of Innovation, which operates out of Florida.