Richmond Forecast

AndyMarquisLive said:
If the fans don't know severe weather is coming, that's their own fault. I do not know what some of you armchair promoters expect the track to do. The fans need to take some responsibility from time to time. I always check the weather on race day -- and the weather in Richmond today said "SEVERE STORMS TONIGHT". If the fans aren't willing to take responsibility and pay attention to the, I don't know, dark skies, there's absolutely nothing the track can do.
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I agree. Unless the NASCAR officials stand their threatening the fans with guns in hand and jail time in mind...the fans are going to do what they want to do. All NASCAR can do is hope that the fans will heed the warnings. They all should know weather is on the way, even by simply looking at the sky. Nearly everyone has cell phones. If there are scary looking clouds in the sky, just look at a radar on your phone or call a friend asking them what the weather is doing.
 
Trust me , weather is the only topic of conversation at the track. The skys are still partly clear and the stands are filling up. 60% chance of rain. Should they send everybody home?
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
If the fans don't know severe weather is coming, that's their own fault. I do not know what some of you armchair promoters expect the track to do. The fans need to take some responsibility from time to time. I always check the weather on race day -- and the weather in Richmond today said "SEVERE STORMS TONIGHT". If the fans aren't willing to take responsibility and pay attention to the, I don't know, dark skies, there's absolutely nothing the track can do.
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I agree. But that may be asking too much of the jorts and croc adorned masses who make up a large part of the NASCAR contingent.
 
ted@economy said:
Trust me , weather is the only topic of conversation at the track. The skys are still partly clear and the stands are filling up. 60% chance of rain. Should they send everybody home?
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No way will they send home all of those potential concession stand sales. They'll tell them to take cover under the stands. (which happens to be where the concessions are located :D)
 
Since there will probably be a lot of time leading up to the race to debate this kind of stuff once again..... What are all of the NASCAR fans supposed to do in this situation? Is everyone to pull out and head back to their respective motels/hotels? I'm just curious what all of the weather experts opinions are on here.
 
Matthew2470 said:
No way will they send home all of those potential concession stand sales. They'll tell them to take cover under the stands. (which happens to be where the concessions are located :D)
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No way they would GO home (unless the race is postponed ).
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
If the fans don't know severe weather is coming, that's their own fault. I do not know what some of you armchair promoters expect the track to do. The fans need to take some responsibility from time to time. I always check the weather on race day -- and the weather in Richmond today said "SEVERE STORMS TONIGHT". If the fans aren't willing to take responsibility and pay attention to the, I don't know, dark skies, there's absolutely nothing the track can do.
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You're correct. Take responsibilty just as if they'd bought an older model used car and turned out to be POS. It's all about taking responsibility and it applies to every one of us.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Since there will probably be a lot of time leading up to the race to debate this kind of stuff once again..... What are all of the NASCAR fans supposed to do in this situation? Is everyone to pull out and head back to their respective motels/hotels? I'm just curious what all of the weather experts opinions are on here.
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It's too late to do anything. The weather predictions have been solid for hours already. This is the same scenario we had at Pocono. We'll have to wait an see how it plays out. If I were sitting in my hotel at 4 pm and nascar announced the start time is likely to be postponed until 9 pm, I would sit right there and wait or maybe head for the track and sit in my car.

Since nascar seems to be sticking with the 7 pm start time, I'm not sure what I would do with severe weather approaching. If NASCAR is OK with dicking with their fans while they play the 'maybe we can get 40 laps in at a time' game in the face of 80% chance of severe weather, what can a fan do?
 
Just look at that shot they just showed! As a fan, how can you just stand there? People aren't the smartest. If I saw skies that dark, you can be that I'd either take cover under the stands, or I'd go wait it out in my car. If I remember right, they give you a ticket that allows you to get back in after you leave.
 
Judging by the radar, the track might not get too much rain. Looks like the line coming in is very small and the scattered showers that are behind the line appear to be breaking up.
 
#17D500winner said:
You're correct. Take responsibilty just as if they'd bought an older model used car and turned out to be POS. It's all about taking responsibility and it applies to every one of us.
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I have taken responsibility with my Buick POS. Turned it in to a nice little car -- though it still has a lot of major problems.
 
Brent said:
Just look at that shot they just showed! As a fan, how can you just stand there? People aren't the smartest. If I saw skies that dark, you can be that I'd either take cover under the stands, or I'd go wait it out in my car. If I remember right, they give you a ticket that allows you to get back in after you leave.
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People do what they want to do. They figure nothing will happen to THEM because bad stuff only happens to OTHER people.
 
If I had driven ten hours to the Richmond race today, you can be assured I would be in the stands right now. If I died at the track, what a way to go. :)
 
jeff_gluck


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This says it all...at Richmond International Raceway
 
Speaking from the experience of attending the Richmond races for many, many years..... I can tell you that the parking lot outside of turn 1 starts to fill up at 7:30am. People that go to this race are there for the duration. Then, many will wait for hours after the race to be able to leave the parking lot. That many people do not move in and out of that speedway property at the drop of a hat. Its a lengthy process.
 
In nascar's world, rain always travels in a narrow band of storms that attack race tracks.

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dpkimmel2001 said:
Speaking from the experience of attending the Richmond races for many, many years..... I can tell you that the parking lot outside of turn 1 starts to fill up at 7:30am. People that go to this race are there for the duration. Then, many will wait for hours after the race to be able to leave the parking lot. That many people do not move in and out of that speedway property at the drop of a hat. Its a lengthy process.
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I've left my house (in St. Charles) three hours before a race and made it there an hour before the race.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
I've left my house (in St. Charles) three hours before a race and made it there an hour before the race.
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I don't think you understand my post. It had nothing to do with driving time to the track. Diehard fans such as myself fill the parking lots long before you leave your home for the track. Sure you can leave later and get to the track but that has nothing to do with what I said.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
I don't think you understand my post. It had nothing to do with driving time to the track. Diehard fans such as myself fill the parking lots long before you leave your home for the track. Sure you can leave later and get to the track but that has nothing to do with what I said.
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"Die hard fans" like you :rolleyes: also have a responsibility to monitor the weather. :rolleyes: It's not NASCAR's responsibility to keep you safe. What can they do? Magically erect a shelter that can safely funnel in 90,000 people in like five minutes?
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
I don't think you understand my post. It had nothing to do with driving time to the track. Diehard fans such as myself fill the parking lots long before you leave your home for the track. Sure you can leave later and get to the track but that has nothing to do with what I said.
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Raceday started well over an hour ago at 5pm eastern and there was a huge crowd there.
 
The good news for a weather delay, the ABC game of the week hasn't started the second half. So, if there wasn't bad weather in Richmond, we wouldn't see the race at all.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
"Die hard fans" like you :rolleyes: also have a responsibility to monitor the weather. :rolleyes: It's not NASCAR's responsibility to keep you safe. What can they do? Magically erect a shelter that can safely funnel in 90,000 people in like five minutes?
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Sometimes I think you forget who you're defending yourself against. I think you forget which side of the argument that I'm on when we're talking about this subject. I agree, the fan is responsible.

My point is that a crowd of that magnitude does not move in and out of the track like some seem to think. I just went back and looked at some of my old tailgating photos at Richmond. By noon the lot outside turn #1 is full. I can't tell you how many people that is but it's a lot. If you get there early, like I used to, it is a long time before you can think of pulling out of that place. If I were there today and I were facing the weather that they are I'd probably still be sitting behind my truck waiting for the race to begin or for it to be called. I sure as heck wouldn't be trying to leave. Where am I going to go? Back to the safety of my RV. Yeah OK.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Sometimes I think you forget who you're defending yourself against. I think you forget which side of the argument that I'm on when we're talking about this subject. I agree, the fan is responsible.

My point is that a crowd of that magnitude does not move in and out of the track like some seem to think. I just went back and looked at some of my old tailgating photos at Richmond. By noon the lot outside turn #1 is full. I can't tell you how many people that is but it's a lot. If you get there early, like I used to, it is a long time before you can think of pulling out of that place. If I were there today and I were facing the weather that they are I'd probably still be sitting behind my truck waiting for the race to begin or for it to be called. I sure as heck wouldn't be trying to leave. Where am I going to go? Back to the safety of my RV. Yeah OK.
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Richmond's different now though. You and I both know they get half the fans they get when you and I went there. It doesn't matter what NASCAR does in a situation like this though.
 
From a better weather day/night @ Richmond. Here's a link to the flyover @ the April 2009 race. We used to sit at the top of the newer section heading into turn #1. Not good drinking seats at all. It's a long way down to the restrooms from there.

Link to flyover.
 
Again, ultimately, it's the fans' responsibility. I was able to get radar and storm alerts on my phone -- in 2004, on a black and white basic device. I mean, this is eight years later, where most people have iPhone and Android devices.
 
I don't really care what NASCAR track that you can think of. If there is a night race people still arrive early. Heck, just a couple weeks ago @ Bristol, I left my campsite about 6:30am Saturday morning to hit WalMart for some ice. People were already tailgating. If I weren't already camping there I would have been parked right alongside of them. For me and many others these races are an event that lasts far more than the 3-4 hours from green to checkered.
 
Again, television audiences should be thankful for the rain in Richmond. ABC's college football game of the week 3:30 to go in the THIRD quarter. ESPN2 and ESPNews NOT interrupting college football highlight programs for NASCAR updates.

As good as ESPN normally is, they have made the decision that college football gets priority, even over NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing.
 
I don't care if it's raining or not ABC...I'd still rather watch some NASCAR coverage instead of college football!
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
I don't really care what NASCAR track that you can think of. If there is a night race people still arrive early. Heck, just a couple weeks ago @ Bristol, I left my campsite about 6:30am Saturday morning to hit WalMart for some ice. People were already tailgating. If I weren't already camping there I would have been parked right alongside of them. For me and many others these races are an event that lasts far more than the 3-4 hours from green to checkered.
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Exactly. People who never go to races don't really understand the race weekend atmosphere. It's easy to sit and judge from home but unless they've been to an event their opinions don't count.
 
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