USAC scheduled 4 dates in 5 days in PA and somehow managed to have 20+ drivers tow in despite the fuel costs only to have not run a feature event in two nights. Why didn't they schedule at least one rain date in case the weather didn't cooperate?

Look at what group you are dealing with. :headbang It would have made too much sense.

Maybe next year will be better and more thought out....

Rain dates aren't something USAC can simply decree - promoters have to agree to them and rain dates are notorious losers for race tracks, particularly in a day and age where people have very regimented schedules in their lives - as a person who has been involved with the Long Beach Grand Prix said many years ago - "There's no such thing as a "walk up" crowd anymore - today both parents work, kids have more organized activities and people don't just wake up and make a spontaneous decision to spend a couple hundred dollars. " This is an even worse problem now when gas is 4 bucks a gallon. And there is the matter of getting enough help to run an event. Next time look around ask yourself, how many people it truly takes to work at a short track, every gate has a person, someone takes tickets, somebody cooks and sells food, there are scorers, pit stewards, announcers, people who clean up, sell fuel, tires, and now, you have to get them back - and depending when the plug was pulled - pay them twice now. This is not as simple as it seems.

That is the quote of the week...no, make that month. If some people knew what they were actually talking about, (like Pat does:respect then I could take their rants more seriously. Some people just shoot from the hip without any thought or knowledge of the situation.

Friday as a "rain date" for a 30-lap feature at Grandview is a non-starter, as the track would have to put a whole new show together (against Williams Grove!) in order to justify people coming back for what would otherwise be as little as 15 minutes of Sprint racing. Sunday for Williams Grove would be in direct opposition to the Pocono Cup race, and , I assure you, the fan bases are NOT mutually exclusive for those two different brands of racing in PA. It would be a full-on Money Loser, even being as close to Hagerstown as it is, where the racing is (supposed) to be the night before.
It's Raining here in PA. It sucks. It is making a disaster of this Eastern Swing, but it is the way the dice came up. Grandview was setting up to be a terrific night. Now it's just a show that never happened.

psullivan, you have just described why more and more short track owners and promoters are cancelling races at the first sign of inclement weather than ever before. It is better to cancel an event than open the track an have 1000 or less fans in the stands, low car counts and still have to pay your employees for a nights work as well as a purse to the racers. Most races on a short track due not have a rain date, you were spot on with the explanation of why promoters due not book rain dates. It is not as simple as it seems. When you look at the bottom line, the track owners, promoters and competitors all have a limited number of dates in a given race season to make money, they all feel the effects of any lost date. Too many lost dates for the track, no revenue, no more business. Too many lost dates for the competitors, no revnue, harder and harder to find sponsorship, tougher and tougher for the competitors to continue racing. I am not just describing the plight of USAC racing, all forms of racing face tough challenges in the state of todays economy. Support your favorite form of racing whenever you can.


Patti

the real question is did the drivers get tow money for showin up, if not i bet many of them don't go back next year. Long way to drive when the first 3 races get rained out.

I was looking for a rain date for Williams Grove. USAC and that track have a history and it would have been nice to see them make every effort possible to get the show in. Rain dates may be losers for promoters, but if the racers don't get SOME kind of compensation for coming then the promoters won't have to worry about scheduling because there won't be any teams willing to come back.

When discussing this issue with a track where we were running the midgets some years ago, I also found that, if he didn't cancel by noon, he had to pay the town 50% of the standard fee for police, firemen, ambulance, etc. If he didn't cancel by 5pm, he had to pay 100%. And, the deal with the power company was, once the lights were turned on, a "peak power fee" was paid, which meant it didn't matter much how long they were on. Any outdoor business is tough in a rainy climate.