Oh Puh-leeze, not again.....Thunderstorms in Pocono forecast

[Matt]

Current forecast calls for thunderstorms roilling into the area around 4 PM. Which means the start of the race, an hour later than has been traditional so TNT can put on an hour long dog and pony show pre-race show (maybe Weber bought the war wagon from NBC at the post-contract fire sale?) could keep the race from reaching the halfway point. Storms are supposed to be intermitant but it takes a long time to dry a two and a half mile race track that tends to leak water up through the surface after a down pour.

I'm about a mile and a half from the track and currently its about thirty degrees cooler than Friday. The skies are that low, slate gray color that in late autumn would have the field dogs circling the porch and neighbors hurriedly stacking firewood by the back door. It's moist enough I can feel every bone I've ever cracked. Just please, let em get to halfway even if it means abbreviating the pre-race show. I don't want to half to write about a race a day late again.

[Butterbean]

Matt, I don't believe I'd call a tribute/honoring Bill France Jr a "dog and pony show".
BTW, I don't care for Bill Weeber either. 

[Matt]

For whatever faults he might have had, Bill France was a practical man. If he were at Pocono today, saw those clouds and read the forecast he'd be looking for Roger Penske who doubtless has planes out there flying looking for the rain, and for Larry Mac who is NASCAR's Rhodes Scholar of Weather. If it came down to a tribute or getting the race in, well, I figure he'd go for the race. So the fans wouldn't be dissapointed? Partially but not entirely. So the network wouldn't take a bath on ratings with a Monday race and the sponsors wouldn't loose all that eye-time on the tube. Like I said, he wa a practical man.

As for Weber, I can tolerate him a lot better than some of these new faces the networks are trotting into the booth who know little to nothing about the sport and make it clearly evident every time they open thier mouths.

[Matt]

OK, it is now officially raining at the track. Sigh. Looks like another long afternoon.

[Butterbean]

More "dog and pony show"...David Pearson, who I think is the best EVER stock car driver to strap himself in a racecar.

[Butterbean]

BTW Matt Yocum know his stuff too.  He knows the history of the sport from the begining til today. 

[Chris]

Guess we'll get to see itf NASCAR is "ALL TALK" (which I think we all knnow they are)
What I'm referring to is their "Rain policy"
Every time they rain a race out they always get on the TV and say
"Our Rain policy is to NOT START a race unless we can run the ENTIRE distance the race is scheduled.  SO we called the race and it'll be ran tomorrow...."

I KNOW it's all a bunch of BS,...
I think many of you do also...
I guess TODAY we'll get to see if they prove it to ALL of us...

The race will take the biggest part of four hours to run... DARK will come BEFORE 8:30;... especially with overcast skys.
SO if the race isn't started ky 4:30... according to NASCAR'S OWN PR policy, it should be postponed until Monday..??
IMO all they care about is grabbing everyones ticket money... geting to 1/2 way and calling it a show,... a done deal; and to hell with putting on the race as they "propose" they would like to.

We'll see how it all plays out... anyone want to bet if the race gets started.. it's gets shorted by darkness...
Gee... won't THAT be a surprise

[FS Ren]

That just doesn't make sense Chris.  NASCAR isn't who "grabs" the ticket money, it's the Matiolli family. At least at Pocono it is.  Besides, it's not like they will refund the money to people who can't come back on Monday.  It seems to me that by trying to get the race in today, they are doing everything they can to cause the fans, at both the track and at home, the teams and TNT the least amount of inconvenience they can.

If you want to be angry with someone, get angry with the Matiollis. They're the ones who haven't put lighting up at Pocono. One reason that they have dates so close together is so that both races are given the best chance of being completed before it gets too dark in case of rain delay.  I know if I was in those stands, I'd be pretty pissed if they delayed the race with four-plus hours of daylight left and little chance of rain.

They started almost as late as they could have today.  As long as there is no more rain and they don't have too many yellows, they should be able to easily get the entire race in.  I seem to remember a race a couple of (few? time flies) years ago at Darlington before the lights that ended well into twilight. The cameras were able to see the action, but it was pretty dark according to the announcers.

Here's the tables for today at Pocono. They have until about 9:00 tonight to get the race in.

              SUN
        Begin civil twilight       4:55 a.m.                 
        Sunrise                    5:28 a.m.                 
        Sun transit                1:00 p.m.                 
        Sunset                     8:32 p.m.                 
        End civil twilight         9:06 p.m.                 

[FS Ren]

Here's the link for the tables if you ever want to see when sundown is anywhere:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html

Also, they say that rain is coming so it may all be moot anyway!

Ren

[Chris]

Ren...
You have to attended some races and been put in this situation..
Yeah... I know what you are saying... but my point is NASCAR runs the show.
NASCAR decides IF or when they run the race... if it is postponed or not, etc...

Here's what I am getting at... Just a few years back  we went to a race at Dega.
SAME thing happened that happened today...
Race started late and then when they was racing NASCAR decided (it was like 5:00) EASTERN time... and DEGA it was 4:00... so 3+ HOURS until dark.
NASCAR says... race will end in20 laps... too dark to race at these speeds.
Here's the rub... the rain had COMPLETELY blown out,.. it was SUNNY and CLEAR... not a cloud in the sky.
SO there's NO REASON they should of called the race that early...
Gee.. BUT it got to past 1/2 way and NASCAR decoded... thats all we care about... let's call it a day.
We got out of the parking lot,.. drove ALL the way home (To NE GA - couple hours) and it STILL wasn't dark... didn't even have to turn on my headlights.

You have to remember they can't race at full speed into the dusk of the day. MAYBE 7:30 ... 8:00 at the latest
Of course that is IF they really WANT to

[falcon325]

Here's the link for the tables if you ever want to see when sundown is anywhere:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html

Also, they say that rain is coming so it may all be moot anyway!

Ren

Thanks Ren.  I was looking all over for that.

But I'm afraid your 9:00 figure is way too late.  I don't konw what "civil twilight" is, but "end of evening nautical twilight" is the point at which you can't distinguish objects that size of a person four hundred meters away.  It is typically about thirty minutes after sunset. 

And sure enough, they just called the race.

[falcon325]

Blu?  Don't jump buddy.

Who's turn is it for the Blu-watch?  Take his belt and shoe laces and check on 'em every fifteen minutes.   



Look on the bright side, Blu.  I'm getting worried that the 24 team is using up all their racing luck.  Need to save some of that lucky mess for the chase.

[FS Ren]

Hey, I've had a race that I planned a vacation around called because of smoke, so I understand your frustration.  It's not like I haven't been to a race that wasn't shortened or delayed.  We all have.

I think they did all they could today to get the race in, but like Matt said, that track doesn't dry easily at all.  If you looked at the stands before they called it, most of the fans there had given up on it when they called it too. 

Great race though, even if it was cut in half.

Ren

[Chris]

You have to remember they can't race at full speed into the dusk of the day. MAYBE 7:30 ... 8:00 at the latest

What ya say...
This ol racing boy has been down the track a mile or two....
Almost on cue... right between 7:30 and 8:00

[Chris]

I know what you are saying Ren...
Just SUCKS to pay and travel all that way to see HALF a race...
I'm sure almost EVERYONE there would of rather come back and saw ALL of a race tomorrow
I know we drove 8+ hours to go to MOST of the races we went to when I was gowing up.... and WE would of ALWAYS got rained out than say 1/2 a race... and we didn't pay $100+ for each ticket like they do now days.