An observation made when a blob of rain three states wide was bearing down on every track in the upper Midwest. Who are these people who start posting on the boards looking for a track that isn't going to rain out? They post that they're going to drive long distances so they can attend a Friday night race somewhere.
I'm not knocking the more affordable classes of racing in our area so don't get that idea. Nevertheless, does it make sense to haul a $300 to win class of car hundreds of extra miles when your regular Friday track rains out? To take it a step further, what if you're a fan of these classes and your regular Friday track rains out? Are you going to hop in your car and drive hundreds of miles to find some track where the lineup is Mods, MWM, Supers, Streets and Pures? Me? I'd just find something else to do and stay home.
If it was something really special, say the USA Nationals for instance, you better believe that I'd be on the road regardless of the weather. When it's a race of that stature I'm going to do everything within my power to see a race and I'm going to wait out their rain date if necessary. On the other hand, I enjoy watching Mods, Midwest Mods, Supers and Streets but I can see those a couple nights a week every weekend all summer long. If I missed a night no big deal, I'd just do something else. Evidently some people take these entry classes or more affordable classes or whatever you want to call them way more seriously than I do.
And the posts on the message boards criticizing the tracks for canceling when they see severe storms bearing down on them. These people actually get angry at the tracks for canceling when it's obvious they're going to get hit. I don't get it. Don't they ever pickup a newspaper or fill their gas tanks? It ought to be pretty obvious why the tracks no longer wait it out like they used to. It's d*mn expensive just to get the cars to the race track anymore and the tracks are doing their racers a favor by not luring them out there only to pull the plug after everyone signs in. That way if there is another direction they can go where the weather is more favorable they have time to do so. Also, everyone saves travel expenses when a rainout is imminent anyways and can apply that towards the next week of racing. You can't fault any tracks for doing that, some of them are having a tough time this year and it wouldn't take much to upset the balance.
Now I'm going to say something that will make me look like a big hypocrite. Tomorrow night is the annual Firecracker at Cedar Lake. I have been waiting for my grandkids to get a little older so I could bring them out to their first race. Finally tomorrow was going to be that night that I've been looking forward to for three years and have been planning since early this year. I made a mistake, I looked forward to it too much, got my expectations too high, and now it looks like I could be disappointed. Earlier in the week (as has happened way too many times this year already) the weather for tomorrow looked like it was going to be ok. As each day passed the forecast for Saturday kept getting a little worse until now it's not looking too good. In addition to bringing the grandkids and all my kids and their spouses out there I bought a bunch of food and was going to host a cookout.
I was going to camp at CLS and have a good time with my racing buddies after the family left but if Saturday rains out I'm probably going to invite the family over to my house instead. If they race we'll be there, if we get rain sometime during the course of the evening I hope they'll still be able to shoot of the fireworks. Wow, I'm close to having a nervous breakdown worrying about the weather and how I'm going to accommodate my family. I can't even begin to imagine the stress involved promoting one of these tracks with the weather we've been having. There have even been two nights where the sirens went off during the races.
It has been a tough year and I'm sure that many of you have dealt with disappointments so I'll stop being a hypocrite and think of ways to deal with the circumstances. It's my job to show everyone a good time tomorrow whether it's at the track or here at the house.
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