Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
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Already canceled, heavy rain.

Anyone that happens to have a midget laying around, feel free to drive on up to Sun Prairie today!

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Does anyone know if they will run "twin features" on a different night?

TIA

Nope not running them.

Very disappointed in Knoxville's decision to cancel tonight. I went by the track around noon and there was a few spots of standing water but nothing that they haven't overcome in the past. They said because of continued wet conditions throughout the day, it hasnt rained a drop since this morning. It is a picture perfect night to go to the races. Seriously messed up on this call. And to not run the twin features, they have always made them up in the past. More things change, the more they stay the same!!!

That's rain 4 out of the last 6 weeks.  They already run a relatively short season as it is.  They need to put a Friday or Sunday in late June and late July on the schedule for make-ups.  Two shows in one weekend would be a great draw and lengthen the season. 

NOAA shows Knoxville received over 2" of rain between 7:55AM through 10:55AM today.

http://w1.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KOXV.html

I was a little disappointed as well. Drove in rain from the Quad Cities to Des Moines to spend the day with family then was going to head to the races, Rain stopped about Noon in Des Moines and was Overcast but dry the rest of the day. Don't seem like they are as adament at trying to get the show in as in the past! 

About the time they would have waited and let everybody burn up 1,000s of gallons of Diesel to get there it probably would have Rained.

Damned if you do, Damned if you don't Situation.

I'm confused....

• Knoxville Raceway IA)A main (started), 25 Laps, NT: 1. Craig Dollansky (1); 2. Justin Henderson (7); 3. Brian Brown (6); 4. Danny Lasoski (4); 5. Bronson Maeschen (2); 6. Dusty Zomer (11); 7. Lynton Jeffrey (5); 8. Davey Heskin (13); 9. Terry McCarl (9); 10. Clint Garner (8); 11. Don Droud Jr. (10); 12. Dustin Selvage (12); 13. Ian Madsen (3); 14. Josh Schneiderman (17); 15. Brooke Tatnell (16); 16. Larry Ball Jr. (19); 17. Ryan Bunton (14); 18. Mike Moore (18); 19. AJ Moeller (21); 20. Glen Saville (23); 21. Chris Martin (22); 22. Dakota Hendrickson (20); 23. RJ Johnson (24); 24. Tasker Phillips (15) DNS – Cole Wood. Lap Leaders: C. Dollansky 1, Jeffrey 2-6, C. Dollansky 7-25. Hard-charger: Henderson. Race Results 7/6

a mistake on front page?  perhaps from the week before?

It says at the top of that page June 21.  Two weeks before as last week was a rain out also.  

My wife told me if I went to one more Sprint Car race 
she would leave me.................I'm sure gonna miss 
that ol' gal. 

When it rains that much it doesn’t allow track prep crews to get the racing surface the way they would normally want it. They’re stuck with the hand they’ve been dealt.

Knoxville’s track prep crew is second to none.

Instead of second guessing their decision, consider this:

The same scenario has happened time after time, at track after track.

In many cases, when a track busts their hump to get a track ‘as good as they can get it’ in order to race, the next day instead of hearing ‘thanks for doing the best you could after all the weather issues and allowing the race to get in,’ the track hears:

…the track was one groove around the bottom, boring races…or…track was too rough, tore up a bunch of cars…or…they sealed off the track and it was a dustbowl; etc.

This isn’t asphalt racing, where the situation is literally, and figuratively, more cut and dry.

There are many more variables that contribute to that particular night’s track conditions at a dirt track.

The track prep crews have to adjust their normal plan accordingly due to factors such as humidity, wind, forecasted wind changes throughout the day, forecasted temperature, % sunshine, recent precip, forecasted precip that day, time of the year (number of daylight sun hours). And for some coastal tracks, they even have to consider the times of that day's high and low tides (Antioch comes to mind).

Botched forecasts are the worst on track crews.

Track prep crews are dependent on a solid forecast, especially on race day. When track prep is underway for the forecast in place – and it ends up being totally different, it makes it look like the track prep crew screwed up...then you should probably be redirecting your finger at the weather. 

Curiousity question, how many races have they run this season...?

Opinions may vary...

Stan,  According to info I found in the "News" section of the Knoxville Raceway web site---in 2014 the track has had 8 completed nights of actual sprint car racing and they've had 4 nights that were rained out ( 5/31,  6/7,  6/28 and 7/5). 

Understood, but why can't they reschedule the twin feature event? It's a fan favorite 

I know of people that go to twin feature night even though they do not go to many other races.

I make a few trips up there a year and twin features is always a must  

I was wondering that also.  They could have twin features for the 360's this week and for the 410's the week after.  Sure would great.    

My wife told me if I went to one more Sprint Car race 
she would leave me.................I'm sure gonna miss 
that ol' gal. 

this isn't the first or last time twin features night has been rained out and not made up.

I remember 1993, there were like 6 or 8 rainouts that year.

Saturday we got 3 inches of rain between 8 and 10:00 AM and the rain didn't stop at my house until 11:30 (and I live 6 miles from the track) and the sun didn't make an appearance the entire day (not sure where the sun came out at as referenced above, but even if it did, it sure wasn't for very long). 

The Forecast was for 1/2" of rain Saturday morning and then a 50% chance of rain again after 6:00 Saturday Night.  seems like they made the right call (if the rain had been in that 1/2" range, they probably would have tried to have the races, but the forecast wasn't for anything close to what we received).

In my 35+ years of attending races @ Knoxville, I've yet to see them "move heaven and earth" to get a weekly show (even twin features) or a World of Outlaw show ran if it rained a lot.  The only time they really "go above and beyond" is during Nationals (410 and Late Model) as 99% of the fans in the stands are there on vacation (from 100's and many 1000 miles from home) whereas the weekly show very few (maybe 5-10% of the 3000) traveled more than 50 miles to attend.

As far as making up weekly races, it's NEVER happened.  Only in the last couple of seasons have they even had a "raindate" for the Season Championship night.  If the weekly shows were big $$$$ makers they probably would try to make them up, but the question I would have is what nights? 

Do you run Fridays and make someone like Dobmeier choose between a track championship @ Rivers Cities or racing for points at Knoxville (I'm sure he's not the only one with plans to race elsewhere on Fridays or that have a regular job where they have to work on Friday)? 

Have them Sunday and make others like McCarl, Ian Madsen, Lynton Jeffrey choose between Huset's and Knoxville? (and the point $$$ they get from running both tracks?)

Could they run "twin features" every weekend for a few weeks?  Sure, but unless the crowd is doubled all those weeks, it makes no financial/business sense for the track and if you poll the drivers, that is the one night of the year that most wish would go away (it can kill your season in one night).

You run 2 nights a week and you "split" your crowd and odds are you have 1500 people there one night and 1500 there the next and pay double the purse $$$ and double the expenses (payroll, insurance, eletctric, water, etc.).  The racetrack is a business and they have to make good financial business decisions or they would be like many other tracks that no longer exist.

I know the track prep crew is the best in the business. No doubt! But that only makes me wonder more why they were so quick to pull the plug. It stopped raining in the morning and when they called it I looked at the radar and there wasnt another rain system within 4 states. It just seems to me that every year the weekly shows are just an inconvience to them. Its almost like they just want the big shows and forget about the rest. I even understand why they don't reschedule them. And I am sure the drivers are glad that twin features are not being made up. I get it. Maybe I am just frustrated cuz I wanna see some racing. Whenever they do decide they can race, I will be there!

I'm sure 99% of the drivers would love to make them up. Just because they have never made them up does not seem like a good excuse to me. They seem fine with losing money for bike races etc . If they can't have twin features then don't have them, all I said it was a fan favorite for everyone