Congratulations to NASTAR on its 25th Anniversary. This, the world’s largest race program for recreational skiers, has played an important role, adding to the spice and fun of the sport by providing an outlet for all of us who share that basic instinct that says, “Last one to the bottom is a rotten egg!” Most of us will never win a cup or a medal, so that NASTAR pin we aspire to is especially important.
The statistics are impressive: in 1992-93, almost 300,000 racers participated at 180 resorts in 32 states. The program’s administrators say there have been 4,150,744 NASTAR entries since the first race in 1968. That’s great! May the next 25 years see that double or triple.
The press releases that provided these and countless other bits of background got much of the history right. But, for the sake of historical accuracy, we want to correct an important omission. Absolutely essential to the start-up and early years was the role of Hall-of-Famer Gloria Chidwick as national coordinator. It was Gloria, a former class A racer and experienced administrator in organized skiing, who got NASTAR up and running and then administered it during its early years.
Congratulations are also due to Ski Magazine which launched NASTAR. (It is still “A Ski Magazine Program,” but you’d hardly know it any more given the dominating headlining of the program’s commercial sponsors!) It took courage and conviction on the part of the late Arnold Abramson, then publisher of Ski, to commit to the birthing of NASTAR, the brainchild of his editor, John Fry. It was not, after all, the “normal” thing for a publication to do.
And, obviously, congratulations also to Bob Beattie, who has been resourceful in running NASTAR over the years, and has managed to keep intact the original spirit of the program—the fun of recreational racing.
A SAM editorial
