OSW rained out! Duh, we race in the rainy season...

[Lizzard]

Got to OSW for the first race of the season at 1:30pm. First practice at 3pm.

Rain at 5:20pm. Cancelled at 5:50pm.

Now the question. Why the HELL doesn't some track race in the winter? WE all sit on our asses for months with no racing and GREAT WEATHER and then because of the all important "Speed Weeks" we start in the rainy season.

How many races were rained out at OSW last season? 8.

How much $ and time do races/track officials and workers spend going to the track just to go home?

How many racers would come to OSW and NSS in the winter? How many from Florida? How many from up NORTH? How many more fans are here in the winter?

November thru April. The driest months of the year in Bithlo. Guys want to race year round could do it but I bet the car counts would be larger than the way they do it now.

I have only been racing here in Florida for 10 years. Not long compared to a lot of racers but something needs to change or our local tracks are not going to make it.

[Edm]

good points but you are a beating a dead horse. MANY of us have been asking these same questions for the last several years.

[Prowler018]

I was actually told by an official they were going to do that this year but apparently not.

[ocalasp76]

You could open the track and race every night and twice on Sunday... But if they don't promote it, it ain't a gonna happen.

Promote it or they won't come......JMHO
-JIM-

[Frasson118]

I guess you forgot to notice it ISNT the rainy season, but sometimes it does still rain. Daytona had their first Feb rainout in 54 attempts. It can, and does rain in Florida at ANY time.

The thing I DONT get, is that OSW seems to give up far too easily. We all know that in the summer, we do get our afternoon monsoons, but it quickly dries up after that. If everyone got used to the idea that the track would do everything possible to race each night, more would support it. Rain, in the summer, is gonna happen. Expect it, then work around it. Giving up doesn't build confidence in anybody.

In my opinion, bailing out after only a 1/2 hour of rain, and still 2-1/2 hours before showtime, is far too premature.

[Lizzard]

Well, as for canceling early...that is probably determined by many factors. Many we don't know.

Look at the monthly rainfall averages for Bithlo.
We race in all the months in RED and they are by far the highest averages.. Sure it rained yesterday but if you go by the percentages it makes no sense to run in the summer.

How many teams would love to come to Florida for big races in the winter?
How many cars would come from all the other tracks in Florida that would not be racing in the winter?

Jan 2.35
Feb 2.69
Mar 2.81
Apr 1.88
May 3.47
Jun 7.26
Jul 6.86
Aug 8.06
Sep 6.14
Oct 3.75
Nov 2.14
Dec 1.87

[Frasson118]

There is very little down-time at the other tracks in Florida during the winter months. The Northern guys only come in February. Also, there are plenty of Northern fans are down here during that time, but aren't interested in our local racing for one reason or another. For many, the racing in Florida, with a few exceptions, kinda sucks in comparison to "home", wherever that may be.

Many years ago, Florida WAS the Mecca of winter racing. Times have changed, and as much as I wish they'd come back, it probably never will.

[Jane]

I remember when we raced 50 weeks a year and just took off during Christmas. But the guys complained it was too much and they never had time to build new cars, etc. so the down time. But Jerry is right, those days were good and we had fun and we did have some Northern folks here to race with us because their racing ended so early so they came here. But alot has changed over the years and we got what we got and guess we just have to settle for that.

[Lizzard]

Well, something has to change. The economy, the appeal, the season....

I wouldn't want year round racing either. I was just looking for a way to get around the constant weather cancellations. November thru April works for me. Racing at 40 degrees is better than the long days that end in going home early.

[flvideo]

At Pgs we started the season on 1/21 and will close July and August. We will have esentially 2 seasons this year. They plan on racing into Dec too I think...

[Tommy King]

Race in the rain!!!!! Try it you will like it. Rain Tires.

[dd38]

I wouldn't mind if racing was year round again. The problem was the points season was basically year round too (and Speedweeks points counted). That's what racers complained of. Since I don't run for points I then could pick and choose when I wanted to race. JMO.

[racnphotos68]

And not in any way picking on Orlando but the amount of rain they got would be enough to have water weeping out of the track the rest of the night. There is no way they could have raced the Supers without tearing a few up trying to dodge the water. 2 1/2 hours could not have helped that. Just my opinion.

[ancrdave]

I figured a rain-out just as soon as there was one drop of rain... There wasn't going to be much of a show... Only 9 SLM showed for the Brighthouse race and there wasn't much else in the pits either...

Car counts all over were really bad this weekend... Citrus, Auburndale, Desoto and Punta Gorda struggled to get past double figures in just about every class and many were at 8 or less... The only bright spot was a nice field of 20 LM at Citrus... Car counts were even pretty off at Bubba with exception of Thunder Stocks... Even with Budda in the field for car count they only had 12 LM and NFS had just 4 LM...

[Edm]

There is very little down-time at the other tracks in Florida during the winter months. The Northern guys only come in February. Also, there are plenty of Northern fans are down here during that time, but aren't interested in our local racing for one reason or another. For many, the racing in Florida, with a few exceptions, kinda sucks in comparison to "home", wherever that may be.

Many years ago, Florida WAS the Mecca of winter racing. Times have changed, and as much as I wish they'd come back, it probably never will.

Good points, but I see Yankees every single day that want to see racing.

With traffic and the way the track retains water I can understand the early cancellations. Nobody wants to sit in traffic or wait for the track to dry. 10 years ago we didn't have the traffic we have now.

OSW HAS TO DO SOMETHING OR WE WON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT CANCELLATIONS.