This story was updated at 5:03 p.m. EDT.
The first
team to join the growing Rocket Racing League (RRL) has pulled out of the
high-flying venture, citing fundamental differences.
The Leading Edge
Rocket Racing team announced its intent to withdraw from the nascent league
late Friday and was due to formally notify its board of directors earlier today.
"After
working with [the] Rocket Racing League for the past 17 months, we have
concluded that our vision, business practices, and communications standards are
incompatible with those of the league," Robert Rickard, Leading Edge president
and CEO, said in a statement. "We had very high hopes for this enterprise and
tried very hard to find a common way forward."
Formed
in 2005 by Ansari X Prize founder Peter Diamandis and auto racing team
veteran Granger Whitelaw, the Rocket Racing League is intended to provide
NASCAR-like races in the skies above Las Cruces, New Mexico using piloted Mark
1 X-Racer rockets. The rocket racers are based on the EZ-Rocket design
developed by the firm XCOR Aerospace in Mojave, California and are slated to
make their competitive debut later this year.
Rickard and
Don "Dagger" Grantham, both of Phoenix, Arizona, announced their Leading Edge
team in January 2006. Both men are experienced pilots and fly F-16 jets for the
U.S. Air Force reserves.
"There hasn't
been a working relationship between our company and the RRL for some time now,"
Grantham said in the statement. "This announcement makes it official so we can
move on."
Whitelaw, who
serves as president of the Rocket Racing League, told SPACE.com Monday that teams will expectedly come and go as the league develops, though all must meet baseline requirements.
"They are
welcome to race in the league when they are properly structured,
funded and in accordance with our rules and regulations," Whitelaw said of the Leading Edge team.
The RRL has
two other teams that include the Bridestine Rocket Racing Team led by former
U.S. Navy pilot Jim Bridestine, as well as the New Mexico-based Santa Fe Racing
team founded by Albuquerque land developer Marc Cumbow and his father Edward, a
retired U.S. Air Force pilot.
The league
also has its own house rocket, the Thunderhawk X-Racer.
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