QOTD: How Can Racing Deal With the Rain?
NASCAR has had a rain problem recently.
As frustrating as it has been to see the Cup Series deal with rain delays for four straight weeks, including a rain-shortened race in Chicago (and a rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 in May), there may just be very little that NASCAR can do about it. It could just be bad luck.
That said, some folks on social media complained that races, especially the Chicago race, have been starting too late in the afternoon. This means that if a track doesn't have lights, a rain-delayed race can bump up against darkness. I suppose, too, though I am no meteorologist, that later starts in the summer mean more time for humidity to build and cause rain.
NASCAR, to its credit, is working on learning on how to race in the rain with wet-weather tires, windshield wipers, and other tech. But the series still has to stop on when there's standing water on the track -- and the series still can't run in the rain on most oval tracks due to the speeds involved.
So what can NASCAR do to avoid the rains? Start races earlier, TV ratings be damned? I'd point out that while it can be annoying for a sport to bend to the will of TV, ratings also help a sport make money and grow.
Maybe more lights at tracks, and in the case of Chicago, temporary lighting? The city of Chicago does have street lights on the roads that made up the street course, but they're likely not bright enough to help racers see at speeds of 100+ mph.
Or is this one of those things where not much can be done, and fans and drivers just have to deal with contingency plans such as delays or postponements should the weather not cooperate?
Sound off below.
[Image: NASCAR]
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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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