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

Asking for a friend..�... What is the temperature that determines whether they cancel a WoO show?

Not WoO, but I watched a Cheater's Day race in late October dressed for the North Pole. It was mid-30's and spitting snow.

Honest answer: if it's considered cold enough to keep a sufficient crowd at home.

Just thinking ahead to Knoxville next weekend.

Looks dry so far!!  Temps in mid 60s  for highs and mid to low 40s for lows..

I suspect that is a dash before the number 30 not a minus sign.

Near freezing would be colder than i would want to watch in or race in, maybe if its the last day of a multi day event

Even though I may not know you, I 
care what most of you think!

Yes, 30 above. It was and end of the year race that had been postponed twice.

Stood in a snow covered infield at the Grove also saw a 70 and a half year old win a 305 race at Lincoln in a heavy snow squall in 2005 he was still competing as of last year.

I was wondering the same.  We are going out to setup the camper for the year next Friday if the races are a go.  I am hoping to have some sort of confirmation mid-week before we head out.  Otherwise, we'll wait until the first Saturday night show of the season!

Same here EGRAS, Are you at North Campground

Yes sir!  

We raced snowmobiles in the 70/80s never too cold and We raced in a 500 mile cross country started in  Winnepeg Canada went to St Paul 56 below 0 chill factor. A few racers that also raced on ovals were Duhumel]bikes] , Dick Tricke Nascar]. Sammy SessionsUSAC. Stacey Redman Knoxville  Giles Villenue Indy cars people just dressed accordingly ,One problem getting cars to run well near freezing, I would say 45deg pretty chilly to get a crowd.Now with Dirt Vision and Flo the crowds are smaller if things are uncomfortable.

Good stuff. My mom raced the I-500.

Plus we all (mom, dad, brother, myself) raced the USSA tour back then across MI, WI, MN, Weedsport, West Yellowstone (I blew a cylinder on the backstretch of last lap leading, LOL) and I picked up a win at Beausejour. 

Coldest I remembered being was at International Falls on the 1/2 mile and the high was -20. No bueno.

We probably were at the same tracks on several occasions.

But 'too cold' in the dirt track world is all a function of location (meaning north or south), if advance tickets are sold - and how many, and 'then' vs 'now.'

'Then' being 1994 Knoxville WoO when the 2nd day rained out and they rescheduled on Sunday afternoon and it was right at freezing, front blew through, winds out of the north at a solid 30mph and intermittent sleet. It was so windy my friend Patty couldn't even get her cigarette to light while under a sleeping bag and a blanket.

It was like us, and 37 other idiots in the stands. And Knoxville never did that again. But it was an amazing race with Wolfie literally kicking everyone's butt for the win. He was lapping cars left and right, and his thick Sioux Falls blood probably didn't even get fazed by the temp.

And I still dream about all the fun Cheater's Day events at Sioux Empire Fairgrounds. It was always the last hurrah up there and never disappointed, decade after decade. Too bad it's just a fancy fan-shaped parking lot now. I really liked its location by the FSD airport with those huge passenger planes literally scraping the top of the big grandstands roof as they passed by - you could hardly hear them approaching over the racing on the track, and it would about scare you to death when it surprised you.

Regarding the south, like in TX, fans are really only interested in dirt track racing on Saturday nights - decent weather pending. Rare exceptions are a WoO series event. But then the season is so long here that fans don't worry about going much if there's any sort of inclement weather scenario.  We tried to test fans many times at many tracks with either an occasional Sunday, or with an iffy forecast, but the fans just didn't materialize enough to make it worth the $ risk. Exception was a Mem'l Day Sunday or if July 4 holiday fell on a Sunday where fans were mostly off work on Monday.

I'm glad there are still so many HH board members that bring up some of the 'good ol' days here for us to reminisce.

Enjoy the upcoming racing weekend wherever you go, engines should be screaming at Knoxville with 60 degree temps. 

It's looking like the forecast has been deceiving.  The "high" temp looks to be at midnight on Thursday night/Friday morning.  The temps fall all day down through the 50's through the mid afternoon.  Still looks like upper-40's at race time, so assuming this doesn't stop them from running, I'll be bundled up!!   The next night looks the same.  

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