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

Am I the only one who feels screwed over when the promoters/track owners declare an event completed because the heat races were finished? No Feature race(s) were completed. Isn't that part of a completed show? Isn't that what the fans are paying to see? No refunds for the live gate or PPV buyers? Was the entire purse paid out, or any of it for that matter? Why then, when that happens, do I feel so incomplete? :) Sorry, but I for one don't feel as though it's right to be told "well that's all you get for your money". In my opinion the promoter and track owner are the risk takers when it comes to the weather and putting a complete show together for the fans. The risk should not be the buyers! And the show IS NOT complete with just the heat races!

On the flip side, I've gone to races where a make up feature was run in addition to the regular show, with no admission $ increase.

Are you sure a make up feature won't be run at a later date?

Tracks 'should' have their rainout policy stated so racers and fans know what the procedure is up front on nights where weather may become an issue.

That being said, it's important to try to find that information prior to attending tracks - as many of them are different.

And some are fair, some are not.

Some make it easy to find their rainout policy, some do not.

Unless it's a traveling series event, I prefer taking whatever remaining events that are left after the rainout, and spread them into upcoming events. Then no one gets shortchanged. All the races are eventually run and all the purse money is eventually distributed. And it gives you something different to look forward to, as it creates double features for X amount of nights down the road.

If it's a traveling series, unless they're scheduled to come back to that track later in the season, that may not be possible. Then it can become sticky. Sometimes a series will dictate rainout rules.

Inclement weather has become a real issue on both sides of the fence, and it's such a hassle for everyone involved when it occurs. But it needs to be handled fairly by the track, as it's not right for a track to profit from inclement weather either. If their policy is set up that way, inclement weather is going to happen sooner or later during an event, and the long-term effects to attendance and driver support will outweigh the short-term profit.

Just look for their rainout policies, and if you don't see them clearly posted, that's a red flag. Then ask them for it before traveling and spending your hard earned money for what's supposed to be entertainment.

:)

After 35 years of following dirt tracks as a fan, I have experienced all kinds of senerios with rain outs. Some good, some bad. If it is a traveling series and a make up date can not be worked out I understand the promotor's delima. If the purse is to be paid out and split amoung all the drivers, then I am OK with that decision and caulk it up to a few hours of fairly cheap entertainment.

Been that way for me for over 50 years. 

Same here. Just wondering what others felt about the situation. The weekly shows usually do make up a feature without extra charge, and that's fine. And if explained that it was a one time visit by the fan, a track will more than likely issue the traveller a refund. The travelling series don't seem to be as polite, if that's the right term. And.....each party seems to blame the other for the rules. The instance I refer to each one blamed the other for the policy. The PPV provider blamed the track, the track blamed the series, etc......Go figure. Nobody wants to admit to being the culprit. And unfortunately, the more corporate the racing becomes, the less sensative those putting the show on become towards the fan. At least it seems like that in many cases.

Our local track is 4 events not including qualifying.  But they usually run the make up features within the next couple weeks.

I'm assuming this is about the All-Star/IRA race last night. The purse is paid out to the drivers, hence why there is no refund. Otherwise tracks would cancel at the slightest hint of rain because situations like this would be huge money losers

Nope.....not about that. And as far as it being a loser, that's sometimes the risk of doing business. It's more of a loser if the show is cancelled in advance actually, not part way in. If a show gets cancelled at the end of the heats because of weather, they already have a good portion of the concessions sold, and then they keep the fans ticket money, too? I could maybe understand if the drivers are paid a split on the entire purse, but that's the only way I could justify it. Otherwise it is a large windfall for those putting it on. As far as the deal last night in WI and the All Star/IRA show, how was the purse paid out? Just curious.

I have been following the IRA/All Star situation and all that was not run was the A for the 410's and the A for the 360's.  Complete show.  I believe they paid out the A main portion of the purse to the qualifiers of said races, equally.  

No way is it more of a loser to cancel in advance compared to paying out the purse and refunding tickets. As far as I know the policy is once the heats are done the purse will be paid out at some point so there is no refund (either in a makeup feature or distributed amongst the field). The purse was paid evenly amomgst the drivers at the all-star show because everything was done except the A-main. 

And people are bitching like thay have never been to a rain shortened race.  They are lucky they got to see what they did because it would have been a completed night right after the heats were all done.

Read it! It's not refund AND pay the purse  Read it again!  It's no refund and no complete purse paid that is the foul. And this was not about the All Star deal.

Kind of like if the projector fails half way through the movie....."you can go home now, we consider that a completed show". And in the past rain shortened races were handled differently than most are today.

So you're saying they completed heats, then didn't pay out purse or set up make up features? Then yeah I agree that's a crappy deal but I've been going to races for 40+ years and never seen a track get rained after heats and not set up makeup features or distribute the purse amongst the field

    I dunno.  I don't remeber any race I've been to since 1973 being any different.

Baseball games are considered complete if there is a rain out after I believe 5 innings.  No fan gets a refund.  I also had it explained to me that refunds are hard to give to people because so e are paid via credit card and if you give cash, that person may get two refunds so it just does not happen.  There is also a HUGE difference between maybe 50 to 100 theatre goers versus 4 to 12 thousand fans.  Weather is the determining factor, not a stupid malfunctioning projector.

All tracks I've been too are very upfront about how their rain checks work. Most places I've been consider if all Preliminary races (heats and b's) done it's considered a complete show.

I live a half hour north of St. Paul, Minnesota, in a town by the name of Forest Lake.  We're about 300 miles from Knoxville and my son and I used to do last minute "redeyes" down there sometimes on the spur of the moment.  My rule of thumb is that I don't go locally if it's over 30% or when I see a line of showers bearing down on us on the radar.  In the case of traveling one time we made one of those runs to Knoxville at around 20% and as we approached Des Moines the sky to the south turned nasty.  By the time we hit the rest stop north of Des Moines we were caught in a downpour.  A race team at the rest area called the track (before cell phones) and let us know that it rained out.

We decided to do an about face and head for Jackson which was still going strong with the 360's at that time.  We turned west on I90 and got to around Blue Earth when we saw Sprint Car haulers going the other direction.  So we called it a night and headed for home.  As we drove up I35 past the Elko exit we could see the track lights and found out that all the local tracks got their shows in.

Moral of the story?  Sometimes it rains and I don't like eating the cost of gas or a pit pass so I make my decision based on the weather before leaving the house.  Do I miss some races on account of that?  Yeah but I've seen so damn many since 1960 that I know it ain't the end of the world to miss a race and I have saved myself from these kinds of sitations more often than not.  ;)

Doing an edit to add a PS.  On Friday night I went to Princeton, Minnesota, to watch my neighbor's son drive his Micro.  We ended up pitted next to "team Forest Lake" aka Brooke Tatnell and Jerry Richert Jr. isn't driving anymore but was helping on the car Bill Balog was driving.  There was nothing in the forecast so I felt pretty confident but a line of showers half the length of Minnesota came across from west to east and hit us before the Micro and 360 Features.  I was the original UMSS series photographer when they first started so it was nice catching up with people but I was bummed that one of my few nights of racing got rained out.  Rain happens, even when it's not in the forecast.  I didn't know how slippery a trailer ramp could be until I helped push that car up the ramp in a downpour. 

Stan Meissner

Always been get the heats in or over half the events and its a complete show for the 40+ years i've been going to races. I've had it happen plenty where features were not run.Not even in the following weeks. Seems like it used to happen more in the past maybe because promoters are quicker to pull the plug these days on an iffy forcasts.

If I had been at plymouth I would have been dissapointed for sure but not standing at the ticket booth looking for a refund.

lesson learned for those that have not experienced this before I guess. I would recomend asking at the ticket booth when going in or calling ahead if it is a concern.