NASCARs rain procedure

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joe h

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about 5 minutes after the race was called last night, it never rained another drop for the rest of the night. I realize the stands were mostly empty, and I'm sure no one was watching the telecast, and it is way cheaper letting the morning sun dry the track than several hundred barrels of jet fuel. But when the forecast calls for rain nearly every hour, over the next four days, I think the best strategy is to take every possible window you can get.

Only other sport that refuses to play during the rain is baseball, but at least they let you trade tickets for another night, and no one is investing thousands of dollars to fly half way across the country to watch a single baseball game.

What happened last night is just another in a long list of reasons you see more more empty seats than people at these races.
 
I didn't see the race last night but when I used to attend races I always left a day or 2 after the scheduled running of the even just in case. The problem with holding races in Florida in the summer is there is no such thing as a safe time to run a race as it always rains and stops and rains or so it seems from my experience.
 
joe h said:
about 5 minutes after the race was called last night, it never rained another drop for the rest of the night. I realize the stands were mostly empty, and I'm sure no one was watching the telecast, and it is way cheaper letting the morning sun dry the track than several hundred barrels of jet fuel. But when the forecast calls for rain nearly every hour, over the next four days, I think the best strategy is to take every possible window you can get.

Only other sport that refuses to play during the rain is baseball, but at least they let you trade tickets for another night, and no one is investing thousands of dollars to fly half way across the country to watch a single baseball game.

What happened last night is just another in a long list of reasons you see more more empty seats than people at these races.
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I wasn't tuned in for the broadcast last night, not yet anyway... but I'm sure what happened is what they've done for awhile. It seems like they just let go of the "we can still race" mentality a lot faster these days. With it being a night race anyway I don't get why they were so quick to give in...

Id say last nights decision to postpone was probably along the thinking of "well the stands were going to be really empty, so if we run this race tomorrow, we will have the cup series crowd filing into the track anyway and there's a better chance they'll buy a seat to see the first race of the afternoon..."

I don't like giving up on a race fast no matter the circumstances.

With all that said... if I was discussing ideas with people who could react with them in the future, I'd suggest NASCAR look at running xfinity and Cup on the same saturdays as often as possible in the future. Basically having more nighttime cup races at any venues which have lights already. The reason it could help is like I described with Daytona today, there's a chance many of the people at the track for the cup race might consider a seat for the afternoon xfinity race.

Now this part is very important if that idea were ever considered... you need to lower the xfinity race ticket. If that happened I bet NASCAR would like the look of their crowd running both races on a Saturday like I mentioned.

Or even better. Make it a combined ticket sale. Give the fan a chance at a big day of racing. I really feel like there's a lot of juice for this idea to work.. I just wish I could get compensation if it were done.
 
JohnHill said:
I wasn't tuned in for the broadcast last night, not yet anyway... but I'm sure what happened is what they've done for awhile. It seems like they just let go of the "we can still race" mentality a lot faster these days. With it being a night race anyway I don't get why they were so quick to give in...

Id say last nights decision to postpone was probably along the thinking of "well the stands were going to be really empty, so if we run this race tomorrow, we will have the cup series crowd filing into the track anyway and there's a better chance they'll buy a seat to see the first race of the afternoon..."

I don't like giving up on a race fast no matter the circumstances.

With all that said... if I was discussing ideas with people who could react with them in the future, I'd suggest NASCAR look at running xfinity and Cup on the same saturdays as often as possible in the future. Basically having more nighttime cup races at any venues which have lights already. The reason it could help is like I described with Daytona today, there's a chance many of the people at the track for the cup race might consider a seat for the afternoon xfinity race.

Now this part is very important if that idea were ever considered... you need to lower the xfinity race ticket. If that happened I bet NASCAR would like the look of their crowd running both races on a Saturday like I mentioned.

Or even better. Make it a combined ticket sale. Give the fan a chance at a big day of racing. I really feel like there's a lot of juice for this idea to work.. I just wish I could get compensation if it were done.
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I commend them for calling it early instead of wating 3-4 hours and then postponing it like they used to do before. It was ridiculous.
 
Simple explanation from Daytona --

Jeff Gluck‏Verified account @jeff_gluck 13h13 hours ago
Jeff Gluck Retweeted Steve O'Donnell

O'Donnell indicates the drying time (two hours at least) is why they called it shortly after 9 pm.

******************************
High humidity means it would take longer to dry the track.
 
TexasRaceLady said:
Simple explanation from Daytona --

Jeff Gluck‏Verified account @jeff_gluck 13h13 hours ago
Jeff Gluck Retweeted Steve O'Donnell

O'Donnell indicates the drying time (two hours at least) is why they called it shortly after 9 pm.

******************************
High humidity means it would take longer to dry the track.
Click to expand...

That's one thing, the other was it DID continue to rain. The O.P. might be on the edge and could take a flying leap thru?
Some of us who are gluttons for punishment watched the cheap money grabs they called fights. I had paper mache guck all over my hands it my excuse didn't want to ruin the remote.
 
Johali said:
I watched about a minute of two guys laying on a mat hugging each other. When a fight didn't break out I switched channels. :confused:
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NBCSN B.S.ed everybody by saying no second rate undercard bouts. Heh Heh. The first two were crawl fest mat munchers. The last bout was the only one that was half way any good. But what ruined it was when the loser was interviewed and did his best Connor McGregor. Only problem was he cussed so much nobody watching could understand him. Our media :confused:..monkey see monkey do. FS-1 has MMA...NBCSN has MMA..not an original idea between them. But this bunch has a million dollar "playoff" hmm sounds familiar
 
It's kind of a no win situation for any sports organization when it rains. If they pull the plug early then they get accused of not giving 100% to get the race in and not caring about their fans...and if they wait it out and try to get it in and don't succeed then they get accused of keeping their fans there just so they can sell them more food and beer.
 
Smart business move on NASCAR s part to delay today. More sales from parking to souvenirs to coves sion and probably less personally costs.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Weather..... Unpredictable. Go figure.

IMO, NASCAR's policy in rain works just fine. Then again, the benefit of hindsight makes us all experts I guess. :cool:
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they can fight in the rain, so they can race in the rain..Nascar never heard the show must go on. :D:p
 
Nitro Dude said:
It's kind of a no win situation for any sports organization when it rains. If they pull the plug early then they get accused of not giving 100% to get the race in and not caring about their fans...and if they wait it out and try to get it in and don't succeed then they get accused of keeping their fans there just so they can sell them more food and beer.
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If it was just last night that rain was forecasted, cancelling is fine. But right now, while sitting in 90 degree, 100% humidity it has been showering off and on, and is suppose to continue until Tuesday. So instead of one 3 hour rain/track drying delay that would have occurred last night, we're looking at several delays today and tomorrow.
 
TexasRaceLady said:
The only way to avoid rain showers in Florida in July would be to change the date. Summer means rain in the afternoon in Florida.
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Yep. My forecast.

Today
Partly Cloudy
Precipitation 30%
Wind 11mph SW
Humidity 73%
UV Extreme

SUN
Scattered Thunderstorms
Precipitation 40%
Wind 11mph WSW
Humidity 79%
UV Extreme

MON
Scattered Thunderstorms
Precipitation 30%
Wind 10mph WSW
Humidity 77%
UV Extreme

TUE
Scattered Thunderstorms
Precipitation 40%
Wind 8mph WSW
Humidity 77%
UV Extreme

WED
Isolated Thunderstorms
Precipitation 30%
Wind 10mph SSW
Humidity 75%
UV Extreme

THU
Partly Cloudy
Precipitation 20%
Wind 10mph SSW
Humidity 74%
UV Extreme

FRIDAY- July 7th
AM Thunderstorms
85
40%
85
77
 
StandOnIt said:
Some of us who are gluttons for punishment watched the cheap money grabs they called fights.
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I let the "fights" run until Rick Allen said "See you tomorrow", then turned on my game console, fired up Spotify and listened to Judas Priest until I fell asleep. Sadly, there was no living after midnight for me last night...
 
I loved that they called it until today. It gave me absolutely zero reasons to sit thru the wannabe UFC.
 
TexasRaceLady said:
The only way to avoid rain showers in Florida in July would be to change the date. Summer means rain in the afternoon in Florida.
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BAZINGA!! I lived in Fla for a few years and it rained almost every day in July and August as I remember.
 
joe h said:
... What happened last night is just another in a long list of reasons you see more more empty seats than people at these races.
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I doubt it has much to do with the decline in attendance. The same rain policies have been in effect for decades, including through the boom years of the '90s and '00s.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
And Georgia, and Alabama, and the Carolinas, but we all know this date isn't ever going to change.
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There was an article in the Daytona Beach News-Journal earlier in the week with some big Volusia County tourism honcho saying they want the date moved. He even said back when Bill Jr. was still alive and in charge they pushed him to move it to Labor Day weekend and then November. I highly doubt ISC and NASCAR will ever go for it though.
 
Didn't watch last night's broadcast, but it sounds like NASCAR should have tried to race last night.

When I was at the 2015 Coke Zero 400, I was so thankful they were able to dry the track and race that night, even though the race started around midnight.

I had to fly back home the next day, and could not stay another day because of my summer class. It was bad enough I was missing one day of class.

Had NASCAR postponed the race, I would have missed it.
 
joe h said:
about 5 minutes after the race was called last night, it never rained another drop for the rest of the night. I realize the stands were mostly empty, and I'm sure no one was watching the telecast, and it is way cheaper letting the morning sun dry the track than several hundred barrels of jet fuel. But when the forecast calls for rain nearly every hour, over the next four days, I think the best strategy is to take every possible window you can get.

Only other sport that refuses to play during the rain is baseball, but at least they let you trade tickets for another night, and no one is investing thousands of dollars to fly half way across the country to watch a single baseball game.

What happened last night is just another in a long list of reasons you see more more empty seats than people at these races.
Click to expand...

Hard to dry the track at night. It gets very humid at night.

Short tracks in the south usually call it off if it rains after dark. Some still try to get it in and it usually takes them an hour or more to dry the tracks that dry out in 20 minutes in daytime.
 
tth.jpg
 
joe h said:
about 5 minutes after the race was called last night, it never rained another drop for the rest of the night. I realize the stands were mostly empty, and I'm sure no one was watching the telecast, and it is way cheaper letting the morning sun dry the track than several hundred barrels of jet fuel. But when the forecast calls for rain nearly every hour, over the next four days, I think the best strategy is to take every possible window you can get.

Only other sport that refuses to play during the rain is baseball, but at least they let you trade tickets for another night, and no one is investing thousands of dollars to fly half way across the country to watch a single baseball game.

What happened last night is just another in a long list of reasons you see more more empty seats than people at these races.
Click to expand...

As with many instances when Nascar either delays a race for hours or calls it off or does both ugh. With a few simple modifications the race could be run in the wet. More often than not, the cars would do a better and faster job of drying out the track. Hopefully Nascar fans who are supposed to be an out doorsy blue collared bunch will remember to bring their rain gear. I can't blame the fans for not showing up when there is a rain cloud within miles. Instead of getting wet for a couple of hours, if they want to see the race they need to get a hotel, make arraignments to miss work or not go thru the hassle in the first place. In most cases the way it is now, Nascar adds insult to injury as the fans get wet but don't get to see the race.
 
StandOnIt said:
That's one thing, the other was it DID continue to rain. The O.P. might be on the edge and could take a flying leap thru?
Some of us who are gluttons for punishment watched the cheap money grabs they called fights. I had paper mache guck all over my hands it my excuse didn't want to ruin the remote.
Click to expand...

I was there, all good. It was the thing to do. They had really lost the track at the time of the postponement. I was fortunate to be able to come back the next day, some were not, but, that's life.

Also want to say with the new stadium, there was plenty of dry space to wait out the rain delay comfortably.
 
I think I know what you are all trying to say...I...um...I think we have to build a space helicopter...
 
Or, just use the 30, or so, jet driers and air titans they brought to the track for that weekend?

10:40 on a work night, and they're just now ready to go green. And this is for a truck race.
 
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