Daniel Tenenbaum wrote:Sad to see this Entire weekend canceled, there is a good chance that the wind may die down by Sunday, or so says the internet weather site.
So why is the Champ day canceled along with the Practice day?
Good questions that I certainly don't mind addressing. The forecasts we were seeing (after checking numerous sources) weren't showing improvements over the weekend. Sunday was shown as better than Saturday and same as Friday, which we've already described in great detail. (Indeed, Stacey and I stayed in the area for the weekend since we had pricelined the hotel rooms. I was at the speedway twice in the afternoon dealing with the RV - it wouldn't have worked out. As for today, I didn't go out there. The winds were bad enough at the Hilton that the creaking woke me up at 4am. I also know that the pass is usually worse and it afternoons tend to be worse than the mornings.)Bob Plante wrote:As was posted in the original cancel thread, I am not sure what the reasoning is for cancelling both days of an event when one day is bad & the following day is nice. Maybe some logistics thing that I am out of the loop on.
But back to your questions. The event was canceled primarily due to safety considerations. And happily, I don't see any body complaining about that. With regard to the timing of call - two things come into play. First, the convenience to our members. We would rather give them time to enjoy the weekend that all signs pointed towards being crappy/unsafe for racing. It was completely within our authority to wait until the morning of to make the decision. But we didn't feel it is the right thing to do given what was known at the time.
Second is economics. If we decide to run a car, the track rental was just earned by the speedway. If we wait till Sunday to decide on the championship, the speedway just earned the rental. (We may be able to get some back as a credit, but it is truly a 'hat in our hands' type of situation.) So, a decision to go forward Friday night was essentially a SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLAR bet against every weather source available to us. Yes, some people would have shown up, covering some of the costs. But the turnout would have been lower. And with Saturday a complete wash, even if everybody had shown up on Sunday it wouldn't have covered the costs. Keep in mind that $10 of your entry covers sanction costs, so it takes a lot of entries to cover track rental (MAJOR expense) and porta-potties.
So, not only was the decision made on Friday based on what we believed to be right to the members. It was also fiscally responsible. And thanks for asking. I'm sure others quietly wondered the same thing. And while I won't get into specifics on a public forum, I'm happy to educate the membership on the true economics of running these events. It is important to understand that while we are blessed with weather that gives us a a year-round season, being able to pull these events off without losing money isn't exactly a stress-free task.
