Sunday, August 19, 2012

Even if it isn't raining at your house...

When the weather looks questionable (and even when it doesn't) on race day, I'm often amused by the phone calls and text messages I receive asking if the races are on or if they've been canceled.

Frequently, those calls occur when the track hasn't seen a single rain drop. The voice on the other end of the line generally says, "Well, I live 30 miles south of the track and it's raining here. How long will they wait to make a decision?"

My reply is normally something like, "We're on as scheduled. If and when it starts to rain here, we'll address it." Or, as my brother likes to reply, "It's a good thing the race track isn't at your house."

Those callers often get frustrated because, well, they want an answer that nobody can provide.

I think most track managers and promoters would agree that the best rain out is a decision made well in advance of the program and following a significant amount of rainfall... No pesky showers, no late afternoon deluge (as was the case in Vinton today) and certainly not after the program has already started.

It gets frustrating - for promoters, racers, fans and track employees. In the end, there isn't much anyone can do except take whatever Mother Nature has in store if and when she wants to disrupt the flow of race day.

It often works the other way, as well. Sometimes a cloudburst right over the race track can send a scheduled program into a tailspin even if the sun is shining a few miles down the road. Those same callers question why the races are canceled when "The sun is shining at my house."

Something along those lines happened today in Vinton. Saturday night on my way home from Independence, the weather forecast I heard on the radio for Sunday was a 20% chance of rain. That 20% chance targeted Benton County Speedway at around 4 p.m. Sunday.

A number of drivers were already lining up on pit road and one was already in the pits before the rain started falling. Although the storm didn't last long, it hit hard. After the heavier part of the storm had run its course and after the hail stopped, the call was made to cancel the evening's program.

I quickly made my way back home to the other side of town as I started to receive text messages and phone calls asking about the races. I was surprised when I got home to see there had been minimal rainfall. It was especially surprising since the skies darkened and the thunder was rumbling at home before I even went to the track.

Once home and after replying to the text messages, I decided to venture back to the race track to take a few pictures. Since most people hadn't made it there before the show was canceled and since many probably got little, if any, rain, I figured pictures would give some indication of the rainfall in Vinton. Below are a couple shots of turns one and two, plus three and four at around 4:30 this afternoon. Keep in mind, this was taken after I made my way around the enormous four foot wide ocean-puddle that greeted me at the grandstand entrance.

The front stretch into turns one and two.
 
Turns three and four and the front stretch.
 
I don't know if there is a rain gauge at the track and I didn't bother to ask because, frankly, one wasn't needed. I live in town and was surprised at the difference in rainfall from one side of town to the other. I'm sure there are many out-of-towners who were just as surprised at Sunday's cancellation, however the pictures above tell the story.

Since the races were also rained out last Sunday, I figured August rainouts in Vinton had to be a rarity, let alone in consecutive weeks. Although I have the all-time results compiled for Vinton, I have yet to crunch all the data when it comes to rainouts, etc. I decided to take a look at August rainout trends once I got home. August rainouts are, indeed, rare.

I looked back at the "modern" era of the track, dating back to its reopening in 1990. The track had been closed since the end of the 1983 season, but I'm unaware how early and how late in the season races were scheduled back then. Since 1990, however, races had been scheduled for every Sunday in August.

From 1990 through the 2011 season, there were 98 Sundays on the race schedule. Of those, only nine rained out. That's a rough average of one August rainout every two-and-a-half years. Prior to today, the track had not even seen consecutive rainouts in the month of August. In fact, only one other time since 1990 had the month of August seen multiple rainouts in a single season. That happened in 1993 when the August 15 and August 29 programs were canceled. The only other August rainouts in the track's modern history came in single events during the 1990, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2009 seasons. Prior to the August 12 rainout this season, 13 consecutive August programs had been successfully completed in Vinton.
 
Every year we talk about weather trends and how each year's weather is so much different than the year before it. Over time, it seems that "different" becomes the "norm." I mentioned a similar weather pattern for Independence Motor Speedway earlier this month when Indee rained out in the month of August for the first time in 20 weeks, dating back to 2007. This year also marked the first time since 1981 that the second half of the season in Independence suffered more rainouts than the first half. Yes, the weather continues to throw us surprises.
 
With that said, I hope everyone enjoys their Sunday night "off." Me? I'm going to find something to do to fill the Sunday night void. As I finish writing this with the clock approaching 5:45 p.m., I see the sprinkles are once again coming down... at least on my side of town.

Thanks for reading.

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