If you're travelling domestically, use FedEx or UPS to get your equipment around. It's a bit more costly, but it's the best way.
If you try to take tools with you, for example, be prepared for the airline security to dump the entire contents of your toolbox out, sift through it all, and then throw it back into the box in no particular order. Anything with any sort of a blade on it will be discarded, as well as batteries in some instances, and possibly traction compounds, glues and any other odd substance.
If you need to travel and race, go with FedEx/UPS. There's no other good solution.