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Leading into last nights races at Jacksonville Speedway, knowing that there was a chance we could have the dreaded mid-race downpour - I started thinking about a new way of handling mid-race rainouts that just seems more fair to everyone. Maybe it's done other places. Maybe there's a good reason for doing it the current way. But one thing I know is that the opinionated souls of IOW will give me their 2 cents...
Traditional rule is that we have this line in the sand that occurs when all preliminary races are complete and only features remain. If it rains during heat races/B-Mains, no matter how long people have sat and watched, the fans get a raincheck for the full amount of their ticket price (meaning they watched everything up to that point for free) and the racers go home empty handed with a rain check on their arm (meaning they aren't compensated for expenses of getting there and running heat races etc). Teams and fans that realistically can't make it back due to geography are probably refunded by contacting the track at most places.
When it rains after all of the heat races are complete, but prior to the main event being run it seems like the fans get the short end of the stick because we are keeping their money (no raincheck) and paying out the racers either by splitting the payout up somehow for a feature that hasn't run yet - or coming back to run double features on some night. BTW - Double features are a thing of the past until the tire shortage is resolved. No longer an option.
The opposite is true as well. When it rains after a bunch of entertaining heat races and B-Mains but before the feature the fans got the long end of the stick at the expense of the racers.
What if the policy was more reflective of the value received (by fans) and money spent (by teams) in getting to the point of the cancellation? I'm considering a new rainout policy that takes an equitable impartial look at the situation at the time of the rainout. Say in the scenario where fans have watched 2 great hours of racing of preliminary events but prior to the big event feature. Let's say the ticket price for this special was $20 and pit passes $30. I think it would be much more fair to take half of the purse and pay it out to the racers to compensate them for their time and expense, and then make the rainchecks worth half their paid value. So your rain check is now worth $10 toward a future event and your pit pass worth $15.
You sat there and watched 2 hours of entertainment. The racers spent money and fuel to get here and to provide that entertainment. What if we step across that line in the sand and split the difference between these two. The racers get paid a fair amount - and the fans paid a fair amount for what they saw.
And like any promoter I know... after we determine the fair split of how much to pay the racers and how much of your admission to use up (with 99% of the quiet fans probably agreeing with us) and you individually think you were ripped off in the process - I'll probably let you get your way and make you happy with a call that doesn't involve a butt chewing on social media.
The difference is that doing it the new way involves a judgement call not everyone will agree with - depending on what they were actually there to see. It's no longer a bright line. But to me it seems like both the racers and fans leave holding their appropriate amount of the stick.
Opinions?
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