September 7, 2008
By Kim Roberson
Kim Roberson
|
Ahhh, isn’t Mother Nature grand? Last week it was the heat, this week, the rain…and a woman named Hannah.
Friday dawned sunny and hot in Virginia, but looks can be deceiving. I made it to Richmond International Raceway around noon, and the hum of cars circling the track filled the air.
Sadly, so did the buzz of encroaching rain.
As the day went on, the clouds rolled in, and as the Nationwide Series cars lined up on the track to begin their qualifying laps, the heavens decided to open. I was talking to Elliott Sadler about the annual Sadler Barn Party he had hosted Wednesday when the drops began to fall. As we talked, an umbrella was passed to him, but he talked to me until the drops became bothersome, and then we called it and he immediately aid “I’m heading to the bus”, because it was pretty obvious we weren’t going to get qualifying done.
Mike Wallace, who had been sitting in his Geico Toyota at the head of the qualifying line in the hopes that willing the rain to go away might pay off, finally hopped out of the car, raised his hands and shoulders in a shrug of “what can you do”, and walked over to talk to Nationwide officials who had been driving the track to check on whether it could be run on -- or not.
The rain came down harder, umbrellas popped up, and drivers headed to shelter as I walked back to the media center to have dinner, and watch the radar.
As we waited to hear from track President Doug Fritz and NASCAR Vice President of Communications Jim Hunter about the havoc Hannah was about to wreak on us, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards both walked in and took a seat at the interview table. We knew it was a bad omen when even they were kicked out in favor of the “big dogs”. (They moved out into the front hallway and did interviews out there instead.)
Eventually, NASCAR officials and Richmond International Raceway Friday postponed all on-track activity until Sunday. There was no easing up of the rain, and the weather was only going to get worse as the hours dragged on. Jim Hunter stated that NASCAR and the track had been working closely with the State of Virginia and local safety officials to determine the safest way to deal with the approach of Tropical Storm Hannah as it concerned the scheduled races.
"NASCAR has been in touch with the Governor’s office and other State officials and have reached this decision after much discussion. State officials say there could be high winds in the area over the next 24 hours that could knock power lines and trees down, and they feel this would just be the best thing for everyone," explained Hunter on Friday evening.
Fritz added "You can't always tell 24 hours out what the weather is going to do, so you always try to balance it. We really pushed to get both races in as scheduled, both Friday night and Saturday night. But at some point, you've got to make a determination that it's not going to happen."
It wasn’t the first time NASCAR had lost out to Mother Nature this year, however it was the first time they had lost out to a tropical storm in a while, and the first time they called a race more than a day in advance.
"I can't recall another incident where we went out this far," Hunter said. "Our position is usually to do everything in our power to get the events in as scheduled. But I think there were some mitigating circumstances with this, particularly when you get to the amount of high winds that are forecast for here, as well as the rain that's forecast for here.
"We will open the garage at 7:30 Sunday morning," said Hunter. "The cars (for both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series) have been secured in their haulers until Sunday morning. The teams will not have access to them until the garage opens again". For those not familiar with Richmond, the infield is very compact. The Nationwide Series doesn’t actually have a garage…the teams instead work on the cars behind their team haulers.
Over on the Cup Series side, there is a garage, however it is open air and only closed using canvas tarps. Tropical storm force winds would send tools flying, and while there wasn’t any danger of people being injured, there could have been damage done to the cars...so back into the haulers they went as well. Since this was supposed to be an impound race, once the cars were secured in the tops of their haulers, the teams were told they were off limits and sent packing until this morning.
Drivers were left trying to decide what to do with their suddenly free Saturday.
"I think I might gas up the plane and head home, either to Missouri or North Carolina, I’m not sure," said Carl Edwards after the announcement.
Sprint Cup points leader Kyle Busch said he was going to get in touch with his dad and find out what time practice was for the PASS South Series race in Newport, Tennessee, where he had one of his own late model teams running on a quarter mile track "to maybe get some practice in for Sunday".
Reigning Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson said he might just hunker down in his motor home and "I’ll just be lazy and see if any golf carts float by or fly by throughout the night…I think (it is going to be easier to know) you are going to be racing at a given time and you know the conditions and I think it is going to be easier on the teams and drivers if we can just keep everyone out of trouble tonight and tomorrow across the board.”
(No word on if Jimmie encountered flying golf carts or got into trouble, but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt on that last part.)
Once the drivers get back out on the track today, they don’t appear to be too worried about the changes caused by all of the rain left by Hannah. When asked about how different the track would be today after being washed clean, Dale Earnhardt Jr. commented “It’ll be fine. By lap 75 we’ll have it worked in pretty good.”
When asked about the difference between running at night, as planned, and during the day, as they will today, Kyle Busch said “The pace will slow down…It becomes real slick…and we’ll be running all over the race track trying to find where the grip’s at. Racing side-by-side, it will be a little harder to do that so there’s going to be more guys side by side because it’s hard to complete the pass. We’ll be fighting it all over trying to find something.”
While some fans who couldn’t stick around until Sunday packed up and hit the road for home, many stayed. Many of those who were camping had pulled in a lot of the lawn chairs and other “accessories” they usually hang outside to show their love of the sport, but it didn’t stop them from enjoying the fact they were at the track. They raced RC cars and partook in the stocked coolers of beer, soda, and whatever else they had brought with them.
“I’m glad they put the State of Virginia first, and it makes everyone’s plans easier” said one fan. “We’ll just hunker down and drink and be merry” said another fan from nearby Powatan, VA, who had brought his camper and family to spend the weekend at the track and wasn’t going to let the storm ruin the weekend. “It’s not just about the race; it’s about the experience, too”.
Not too many fans can say they got a Tropical Storm AND a race in one weekend, but those who stuck it out for today’s race can say they have.
No one has ever claimed that Richmond was boring, especially the last race before the Chase gets started. This weekend was just a little more exciting than usual. Let’s hope the racing lives up to the level of the rest of the weekend.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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