I am no track prep guy or have I ever prepped one.
Maybe they are lacking equipment there but still even if that is true they should have found some.

IMHO I would have dug the track up pretty deep and let it rain on it.
let all the free water get deep down in the surface. Then start wheel packing that thing when the sun came up. Even if it is a bit snotty in places you can still scrape it off a bit. Would have caused a rut or two? Maybe, but they didn't call it terrarut for nothing.

I grew up at MANZY and back in the day they worked that track at least 3 days before a show. If you showed up early the track would look way way to wet to race on but after an hour of wheel packing it was close enough to let the sprinters wheel pack it to their liking.

Were the cars just covered in mud after wheel packing? Sure... put that stuff scrapes right off if you put in a little effort. I remember walking across the track after all the A mains were done and the track could suck the shoes off your feet.

If MANZY could keep a tacky track with a nice cushion in the desert from hell there is no reason they could not have done this at TH today.