The event allowed the Rocket Racing League to showcase their vehicles and talk about other developments, including a iPhone game that will be available next month (with an iPad version to follow in June.) The league was a little hazy about their future plans, beyond doing a series of increasingly-ambitious demonstration flights through the end of next year, although they did not announce when the next demo flight would be. By early 2012, Diamandis said, the league would be ready to begin actual competitive races. Skeptics will note that the league has pushed back the date of actual races multiple times over the last several years.

Yesterday demonstrated that the racers, while impressive, still aren’t quite ready for full-scale competitive racing. While the first set of flights went well, the second set, about two hours later, ended early: neither racer appeared to relight their engines after the initial takeoff burn. Both landed safely, and there was no sign of problems with either vehicle when they were towed over the league’s tent for the public to view closeup. RRL hasn’t yet disclosed what caused the second set of flights to be cut short. (Update: RRL spokesperson Diane Murphy said Sunday the truncated flight was caused a computer glitch that caused an alarm that shut off the engine in one of the aircraft. Both landed as a precaution, but a later check showed that it was a false alert and not an issue with the engine or other part of the vehicle.)

Even that, though, appears to have slowed down. Last year the league announced plans for exhibition races at eight sites in 2009 from a list of 20 venues, primarily air shows. However, Whitelaw tells MSNBC that plans call for two rocket racing vehicles to fly at the Reno Air Races in September. Those would be powered by Armadillo’s engines, and Whitelaw said that they are making a number of modifications to the aircraft based on the flight tests performed last fall. Unlike last year, it does not appear that the league will be flying at Oshkosh. The economy, as you might have guess, gets the blame for the slowdown in activity.

Carmack also revealed some details about Armadillo’s plans for Level 2 of the Lunar Lander Challenge. He said they are planning now to be ready to compete for the prize when the “season” opens in early July, the first public reference I’m aware of regarding how the X PRIZE Foundation plans to run the LLC this year in lieu of a once-a-year event in New Mexico. Carmack added that they would be prepared to fly again later in the year if someone else successfully completes Level 2 this year with a higher level of accuracy. Flying early, he said, would allow them to then focus their work on other projects rather than LLC vehicles.

RRL did not respond to my inquiries last week, but on Tuesday they did announce that they have won FAA approval to perform X-Racer flights at a number of airports in the US. The league plans to select eight venues of the 20 approved by the FAA for exhibition flights in 2009, to be followed by competitive racing in 2010. The venues include several airshows, including EAA AirVenture and the Reno Air Races, and other airports scattered around the country, including Mojave, Las Cruces, and Moffett Field near NASA Ames in the Bay Area.

One of those eight appears likely to be Oshkosh, Whitelaw tells MSNBC. Production of the racers—which use an airframe from Velocity Aircraft, now owned by the RRL, and an Armadillo engine—will ramp up early next year, with two to four planes ready by Oshkosh. Whitelaw also said that the RRL is looking into “vertical drag racers” (which, as it sounds, would be rockets taking off straight up for a short sprint to a predefined altitude) for next year as well, a concept that’s been promoted by Armadillo’s John Carmack for a few years.

The most intriguing part of the MSNBC story, though, is at the end, where Whitelaw hints that his partnership with Armadillo might extend beyond developing engines for the RRL. Whitelaw said plans for an RRL demo at next week’s International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS) were cancelled because “we need to focus on winning the Lunar Lander Challenge.” [Emphasis added.] When asked if the RRL was in talks to purchase Armadillo, Whitelaw only provided a “no comment”. While the RRL might be interested in acquiring Armadillo to be vertically integrated (just as it acquired Velocity), it’s not obvious what Armadillo would gain from such a deal.

Rocket Racer takeoff at Oshkosh from Jeff Foust on Vimeo.

I’ll add some more video as time (and video quality) permits.

I was at the EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on Friday and saw the Rocket Racing League’s first vehicle fly during an afternoon performance. I have a collection of images from the day, including both the flight and some items at their exhibit, including the second racer (which, RRL officials said, will begin flying next week.) More insights to come.

The big question, though, is whether both the XCOR- and Armadillo-powered vehicles will fly at Oshkosh. “We’re going to have both vehicles there,” Whitelaw said. “Whether or not the Armadillo-powered vehicle flies is in question right now.” The XCOR-powered vehicle, which will be operated by the Bridenstine Racing Team, does have its “pink slip” from the FAA allowing it to fly at Oshkosh, but the Armadillo vehicle does not. “Don’t ask me why, because it’s beyond me,” he said. “The plane’s been ready to fly for weeks.”

After Oshkosh the RRL does have a number of exhibition events planned for this fall. A slide during Whitelaw’s presentation included the Reno Air Races in September, the Nellis AFB show in Las Vegas in November, and the X Prize Cup. Wait, how is that last one possible since there won’t be a formal X Prize Cup event this year, only the Lunar Lander Challenge (LLC) competition that will not be open to the public? “There is another event that is X Prize-driven,” he said, apparently referring to the LLC. “So I think we’re either going to fly there, or we’re going to have our own standalone event in Las Cruces in late October or early November.”