One of the final tests
for Navy Seals is forcing them to endure extreme and wet and cold. While the conditions for NASCAR fans at Michigan
International Speedway (MIS) may not be as severe as those the Seals face, they are nonetheless a test of toughness.
Rain has played a part
in several races this NASCAR season and none more prominently than this weekend at MIS. Fans attend races in various
ways. Some stay in nearby hotels, while many others take campers and motor homes of all sizes to various campgrounds. Other
fans set up tents in the campgrounds and many simply drive to the track the day of the race.
This weekend’s Michigan
race was rained out on its scheduled time Sunday and postponed until Monday at noon.
The rains continued Monday and the race was again postponed, until Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. There is a possibility of rain Tuesday
there is the possibility of Thunderstorms Wednesday.
It takes approximately
2 hours to dry most tracks even after the rain has stopped and under the best of conditions. Cloudy, cool and misty rains
are not the best conditions and those are the circumstances that have faced the track dryers at MIS.
Most race fans attending
the race in tents and campers get to the track days before the event. Many make a vacation out of the stay or at least
a long weekend. These fans may begin showing up as early as the Wednesday or Thursday before a Sunday race. There are plusses
and minuses to the various accommodations available to race fans when weather delays occur. Those in the campgrounds
with tents, campers and motor homes, most likely have no concerns with continued availability of their rented space. The same
is not true for those in hotels and motels. Most of these fans reserved their rooms for a Monday departure. Now they
need rooms for a Tuesday departure and possibly Wednesday. If the rooms aren’t available they have a problem.
Another huge issue is
staying dry. Fans attending the race with accommodations are forced to find refuge wherever they can. Some huddle
under hooded sheets of plastic while other have rain suits. Either way, this is not a comfortable way to spend the day
waiting for a race that may or may not be run that day. Tent campers face a similar fate. After a couple of days
rain, most likely everything they own is now wet. Vendors may love it as souvenir sales may be brisk as some race fans simply
look for the comfort of a dry shirt.
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Those staying in motor
homes and travel trailers most likely are staying dryer, but face other issues. Most of the race campgrounds are set in grass
fields. After several days of rain, the temporary roads through the campgrounds become muddy and rutted and the ruts fill
with water. Those unfortunate enough to set up close to these roads now face the spray of mud and water splashing from
the roads onto their travel homes and campsites. They also face the prospect of trying to get out of these rain-drenched,
muddy and rutted roads to make their way home after the race. At the 2006 spring race at Bristol it snowed, many trailers
were forced to wait for farm tractors to pull them from the mud.
Some fans simply won’t
be able to wait for the delayed race. Most race fans are working folks and simply can’t come and go as they please.
If they had to be at work on Monday, they are already gone. Regardless, there won’t be as many fans at a delayed
race, and the fans who ultimately attend the Michigan race will have endured
and persevered.
NASCAR fans are tough
and weekends like this one at MIS prove that.
2006 StockCar Review.
