Wednesday was an interesting day in our region with a couple of weekly shows and several special events going on around the area. Unfortunately there was also rain in the forecast for nearly all of these events so decisions were made and as they always have been, even before the glorious world of social media, one way or another those decisions are being second guessed.
The two Wednesday night weekly shows at Alta and Oskaloosa were both canceled. I don't know the circumstances out in northwest Iowa, but at Oskaloosa a Flash Flood Watch had been issued and the rain chances were at 60% or higher for both the afternoon and evening so, in my opinion at least, it is hard to blame them for making the call to cancel the races early in the afternoon even though it had not yet rained at the track. Come on folks, even if your weekly show was pulling in 100 cars a week and filling the grandstand you probably would have canceled under these conditions, but when your margin for running a profitable show is already slim, you definitely make this call. And of course, once they did, the line of storms built up to the east of Oskaloosa and the track stayed dry all night even though my yard here in Mount Pleasant finally got a two inch drink of water. All things considered, still the right call.
Fair races are different, they are often structured based upon the assumption that your crowd is going to be larger during the Fair so you are more likely to run the risk against a gloomy weather forecast and proceed. That appears to be the case last night at West Union where a Facebook posts announces that the races are still on, however I have not seen any results so hopefully they got their complete show in.
The "Porker 40" at the Hamilton County Fair in Webster City was rained out last night and I am assuming will not be rescheduled. Why, some may ask? Well, because the purse was based upon the event happening during the county fair when you are more likely to catch some casual or first time fans, so running it on a makeup date is not as feasible because those folks won't come.
By having three nights of racing during its six night run the Dubuque County Fair has the unique option to push ahead with a race, in particular the first two, on an iffy weather night because if the rain arrives before the show can be completed, as it did last night, you can come right back with makeup features on the Sunday show. So, if you were not at Dubuque last night, you can now even get more bang for your buck on Sunday night when all you have to pay is the $10 admission to the Fair.
By far though the worst headache comes when you have a mid-week special scheduled for a regional racing series and the rain arrives before you can complete the program. Such was the case last night in Peoria with the MOWA Sprint Cars. A solid field of more than thirty Sprint Cars completed their four heat races before the rain fell and wiped out the remainder of the show and now here is the dilemma for the track promoter and the series director. If Peoria does not already have another MOWA event on the schedule where they could run another full show plus the makeup feature they have a decision to make that either way the drivers or the fans are not going to be happy.
Qualifying heats are complete, the drivers want to be paid and to do that the promoter must use the ticket revenue from tonight's show to do so meaning that the ticket stubs that those fans are holding on to are not worth anything going forward. The fans are mad.
If the promoter insists on not paying the drivers, they are mad, and the promoter must now give the fans options on how they can use their ticket stubs for future races at the track or perhaps even issuing a refund. After all, if you don't pay the drivers, you can't keep the ticket revenue.
If they identify a night to bring the drivers back to only complete the program, run just the feature, nobody is very happy with that, drivers, the promoter or the fans. And if the track and the series can come together to schedule another full event where the makeup feature will also be included the fans who think that their ticket stub from last night should be worth something will be mad when they have to buy another ticket to pay the purse for the full show. You see they the forget that their first ticket is paying the purse for the makeup race.
So as you can see, this scenario pretty much has no good solution, but my suggestion for all future events like this would be as follows. Post a sign on the ticket booth and the pit shack that says something like this:
"There is a threat of rain tonight and we thank you so much for coming. This is a touring series event and there are minimal options for making up this race should Mother Nature interfere. If the qualifying heat races are completed and rain cancels the feature the drivers will be paid the total purse in a manner decided upon by the series director and, since your ticket pays this purse, your rain check will have no value. If rain should arrive before the qualifying events are completed you will have the option of using your rain check for its face value at any of the remaining events on the track's 2017 schedule, or you may request a refund by sending it along with a self addressed stamped envelope to...."
And just as a follow up I would have my announcer tell the crowd one more time what the policy is just before the National Anthem is played and give fans the opportunity to leave now with a refund if they choose to do so.
When Terry & Jenni Hoenig and I presented the end of the year event Shiverfest we had a scenario like this on a Sunday, meaning that we were already using our "rain date" and while we did not think ahead enough to post the sign at the ticket booth or the pit gate, we did explain the plan during the drivers' meeting and I announced it to the crowd before the races started and after the heat races were completed. As forecast the rain arrived while we were running the B-Mains and the rest of the show was washed out so we split the purse as we had explained we would to the drivers and, while disappointed that they did not get to see the features, the fans went home knowing what the situation was and that the drivers had been paid.
We had no complaints and yes, Facebook and racing forums were in use at the time.
The next time that Mother Nature threatens or intervenes, put yourself in the shoes of the decision maker(s) and think about the big picture rather than how it just effects you. That is what a regular reader of the Back Stretch would do.
The forecast looks great for this weekend so go support the sport at the track of your choice!
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