Pete McLeod follows the standard athlete routine before each race. Its order is structured: He’ll meet with his team, warm up with light exercises, stretch and then visualize what he must do to win.
The process is designed to clear his head and allow him to temporarily step away from the noise. After all, one needs to be in the right headspace when preparing to fly planes at close to 400 km/h.
“It’s not a ride at Canada’s Wonderland,” McLeod says. “It’s the real deal out there.”
McLeod, a native of Red Lake, Ont., is an aerobatic pilot competing at the Red Bull Air Race, which will crown a 2017 world champion following Sunday’s event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Red Bull Air Race on Twitter
We’ve touched down in #Indianapolis and ready to see who will be crowned the 2017 World Champion at the iconic @IMS #airrace https://t.co/llMjPkeSJn
The international motorsport series has grown in popularity since its inaugural season in 2003. Created by Austria-based Red Bull, it features individual aerial races in which pilots fly through a tight obstacle course, navigating pylons at high speed while sometimes gliding just 50-feet above ground.
The 33-year-old McLeod is currently ranked third among the 14 pilots in the field and has a real chance to capture his first world title. He’s also the only Canadian to ever compete in the Red Bull series, considered the top global circuit.
“It’s great to have the Canadian flag on the tail of the airplane,” says McLeod. “We race all over the world so to be able to showcase that is great.”
His career requires McLeod to spend 200 days per year on the road in various time zones. In 2017 alone, he’s competed in Germany, Hungary, Japan, Portugal, Russia, United Arab Emirates and the United States.
He became familiar with the cockpit at age 3, when his pilot father would sit McLeod on his knee during flights. He earned his private pilot’s licence when he was 16 years old.
Back in 2008, when McLeod set out to pursue a spot in the elite ranks of aerobatic flying, he left his Northern Ontario home to receive training in Spain, Germany and Czech Republic. It yielded the type of development he wouldn’t have been able to achieve in Canada.
“If you’re a hockey player and you’re in South Africa, you’re probably moving to Europe or North America to play,” he says. “Not because there’s not ice available there. It’s just if you want the higher-level coaching and competition so you can eventually work your way into the global level, well, that’s where you need to be. It’s a similar thing for me going over to Europe.”
The instruction McLeod received proved fruitful — in 2009, he burst on to the Red Bull race scene and at 25 years old, became the youngest pilot ever in the world championship series. [sidebar]
Jim DiMatteo, director of the Red Bull Air Race since 2007, remembers when McLeod came aboard. He recalls some veteran competitors were skeptical of this young pilot, but that didn’t last long.
“He’s a gifted pilot — his family’s got good aviation genes,” DiMatteo says of McLeod. “One of the reasons he’s so successful is his competitiveness and spirit. The way he approaches something. Just a more intellectual approach and very competitive approach to how he prepares himself and gets ready. That’s impressive for a young person.
“He’s proven himself from the beginning,” DiMatteo adds. “It was like, ‘OK this guy’s got the right personality, the right approach and the right skill set. If he can put it all together, he’s going to be something special. He’s proven that this year. He’s really putting everything together.
“He’s just consistently good. Not always first, but just consistently at the top.”
McLeod has captured one race victory and several second- and third-place finishes during his career, however, a title has eluded him. He can correct that on Sunday and believes there’s more than just a champagne bath at stake.
“Hopefully a bunch of new fans get to follow not only what I’m doing, but also the series,” says McLeod, “and see that a Canadian is a real player out there and other Canadians in the future have a chance to compete at this level in the sport.”
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