We cannot control the weather. All we can do is adapt to whatever it does, and sometimes that includes getting out of the way. Each region of our country has weather extremes, and those extremes have an effect on racing in those regions. Here in Florida we deal with weather constantly whether it is heat and humidity or rain. Florida is the lightning capital of the world, and we deal with almost daily thunderstorms during the wetter, summer season.
We have learned to adapt with the weather, and usually by being adaptable and smart, we can get around whatever nature wants to throw at us. That is how it is with race tracks all over America. Each adapts to the weather in it’s own way, and racing gets accomplished in a way that is unique to the weather of the region. But even so, we are mere human beings and the weather is something much bigger than us. That means that sometimes we get the bear and sometimes the bear gets us.
When promoters are getting ready for a night of racing at their speedway, they have tools such as weather forecasts and high tech radar via the internet, to assist them in making choices. You would think that with such tools that they would be nearly perfect when guessing which would be the best moves, but remember that the weather can be unpredictable. The bottom line for owners and promoters is making money.
Racing is a business, and as with any business profit is paramount. But when weather is part of the equation the owners and promoters have to shift gears and stop looking at profit, and start looking at loss prevention. This is because when bad weather moves in, it is inevitable that the track will incur some losses, as will the drivers and the fans as well.
A fine example of how it can all go wrong happened at Ocala Speedway on Friday, September 21. The official forecast for the evening was a 60% chance of thunderstorms, but as the afternoon progressed no storms seemed to be forming. In Florida you can easily get in a night of racing with a better than 50% chance of storms, and it has been done over and over by many tracks. [click to continue…]
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