Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

ive been going 30 yrs and next weeks forecast looks as wet as I can ever remember. I know they've had a few qualifying nites rained out in the past but what happens if it rains all week?

Good question. I think they will run day shows if ABSOLUTELY required. Luckily Wednesday next week is a long ways off for predicting weather in Iowa. If last night showed anything its that Knoxville only needs like a 2 1/2 to 3 hour window to get the qualifying show in. I won't get to worried just yet but the forecast does not look amazing. 

Thank you Knoxville for running the show last night quickly. It really paid off as we just missed the rain by 20 mins or so.

Man did they ever do a good job last night getting the show in.  I was listening on the KNIA app and couldn't believe how fast the night was progressing.  Virtually no time between heats, B then A.  Kudos to the track...though another couple cautions or another red here or there and it would've been really interesting. 

I live streamed last night and couldn't beleive how quick it was over. Nice job. 

The weather is maybe more of an issue with me as I'm on a bike & tent camping. This Sunday's forecast looks better, so maybe try that & ride to sturgis and keep an eye on it. 

Trying to predict Iowa weather is a useless exercise for anything more than 48 hours away.  I hope it does not discourage anyone from possibly attending. Big props to Knoxville for getting the show in, that was impressive.

I always like when they show rain in the forecast a week in advance.  The weather a week ahead is almost always wrong.  If they are calling for sunny weather all week you can count on them putting rain in the forecast a day before the Nationals start!! 

Honestly though, even on the crappiest days, there are windows to get shows in. 

The Knoxville track crew watches the weather extremely close next several days. Their years of experience helps them prepare to try to do the best they can. Several years ago a Sat rain out left much of the bottom of track full of water and very deep ruts in track still at 11 am. Bit of sun and wind and by 730 they added water to top and racing before 9 pm

Wed night I checked the forecast for Thursday and it was a 20% chance of rain. Thursday morning, I checked again at the airport and it was 60%, which of course turned out to be right. How many times have we had a beautiful day with no rain and then drove home after the races in torrential downpours? That's just Iowa weather.

They would like move the entire program up to Badlands Motor Speedway and run the Nationals there. 

Its amazing how fast a show can run when the drivers cooperate by not spinning out or crashing.....

Very true.   Basically even a forecast for the next 24 to 48 hours is only 80% to 85% accurate.   Anything beyond that and the percentage of accuracy drops down significantly.   Sometimes I wish they didn't even have a 5 day forecast, let alone 7 day and 10 day forecasts.   

Gulf of Mexico dictates central US - tropical storms develop there,  moisture pumped North = radar gazing at Marion County Fairgrounds. 11:00 pm program starts -  Gotta Love It! 

Weather predictions one week ahead of time are just that.....predictions. I'm not worried, they can race at midnight if need be. Can't wait till next week

Knoxville Natioanls attendee since '95
Favorite Tracks...River Cities, Knoxville, Cedar Lake
Favorite Drivers...S.Kinser, T.Kaeding, K.Madsen, S.Smith
Proud Canadian 

56.59% of all stats are untrue, 45.78% of the time...

"90% of what you read on the internet is bullshit"...............Abraham Lincoln, 1863

Most people don't really understand what the percentage chance of rain actually means anyway.   I've even heard that four out of three people have trouble understanding fractions too...

1987 rained out Wed., Thurs., Fri. Ran Wed. and Thurs. on Saturday starting around 11:00 AM, ran the Wed. show, kicked us all out, charged us again, ran the Thurs. show, kicked us out, charged us again. Reworked the track and I think the features started around 8 or 9 P.M. They scraped the infield to get to some solid dirt and I watched the Saturday races from one of the huge piles of mud in the infield. They moved the Friday, Non-Qualifers races to Sunday, the travelers left and the locals got all of the NQ money. I helped a 360 guy with an open trailer and about a million milk crates of parts we'd never use unload, get wet, load it all up and do it again the next night, for all three rain outs. What a nightmare! Not sure if it was that year, but I've been there when the "A" didn't push off until after 1:00 am. Guess what I'm saying is, they'll get it in. It isn't the Nationals if you don't get wet.

The Year Kraig Kinser won (on Sunday night?) was pretty wet from my recent memory.

Yes.  I believe two of the nights were completely rained out that year.  If not mistaken, they ran the Friday night Non-qualifier on Sunday afternoon and then finals on Sunday night.  Also a few years back, they ran the B and A on Sunday night--I believe we got the E, D and C in on Saturday night and got rained out--drenched--in the stands.