Epping commentary

[Butch]

I just looked at the NOAA forecast. I will be a miracle if this race gets completed this week.

 

[ZWeinstein]

I just looked at the NOAA forecast. I will be a miracle if this race gets completed this week.

My guess is if they don't get all of pro eliminations in today they are going to finish in Bristol. Not sure about sportsman.

They just said 11:45 est time for the start so it looks like I get another hour nap.

 

[DG]

Not looking good for today!

www.DragRaceCentral:

Sun, 04 Jun 2023, 10:29 AM Weather Delay

By Rick Green

EPPING, N.H. - Due to weather the start of racing is delayed. No estimated time for Round 1 at this time.

Will keep you posted.

Epping, NH Weather Forecast and Conditions - The Weather Channel | Weather.com

Today’s and tonight’s Epping, NH weather forecast, weather conditions and Doppler radar from The Weather Channel and Weather.com

weather.com

 

[mick]

what a terrible thing to happen on the 3 days of your biggest event of the year.
read where finalists split the money on the tasty fast deal ...... so clay has 1.5 wins in a row

 

[Professional Fan]

I feel bad for the racers and fans attending this race. Has to wind up being one of the worst events of the year for various reasons: no PS or PSM, very hot on Friday so poor performance of most fuel cars, really cold on Saturday so poor performance again, rain delay on Sunday and cold, short fuel fields. Bummer for everyone.

 

[tb]

Done for the day

NHRA New England Nationals postponed until Monday

With continuing precipitation in the forecast, Sunday's activities at the 10th annual NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway have been postponed until Monday.

www.nhra.com

 

[Jack]

what a terrible thing to happen on the 3 days of your biggest event of the year.
read where finalists split the money on the tasty fast deal ...... so clay has 1.5 wins in a row

And the weather was really nice for the last 10 days before this event started.

 

[I was NITRO BREATH]

Today (Sunday] was a disappointment on many levels. First, of course was the fact that there was no race. Second was that the Nhra kept us fans at the track way too long before canceling. I thought the problem was going to be the rain. But the race that was going to start early (10 AM) was held up because the track was too cold. We were then told that racing would begin at 11:45. In between there were periods of light drizzle but everyone stayed and the pits were busy. 11:45 came and went and no racing. And no announcement of when racing would begin. It was getting colder as time went on. And there was more intermittent light drizzle. A small group of people left at that point but most stayed. Still no word from NHRA on the game plan. But it was obvious that the temp was dropping, wind was picking up and the track was moist. At 1:00 o'clock I think it was a safe bet to say that the race could not be run even if the rain stopped since the track needed to be dried and the temps were falling. At that point NHRA should have sent everyone home. But nothing was announced. All we got was alot of ridiculous banter from a guy named Jason and Joe Costello. At a little after 1:00 it started drizzling again. At that point a huge group of people left. But still no word from NHRA!! That's when my wife said she was freezing and we left. I don't know when they canceled the race but it should have been hours before. I'm not an NHRA basher, on the contrary I usually compliment them on their management of the races. But they really blew it this time. I understand that it is very difficult to cancel a race but it was too cold and too rainy from early on to keep the fans around. I was thinking that maybe they were looking at the radar and saw that the rain was moving away. Obviously , that was not the case. So I'm wondering what the thinking was. The upside was that I got a lot of time to walk the pits.

 

[J]

Today (Sunday] was a disappointment on many levels. First, of course was the fact that there was no race. Second was that the Nhra kept us fans at the track way too long before canceling. I thought the problem was going to be the rain. But the race that was going to start early (10 AM) was held up because the track was too cold. We were then told that racing would begin at 11:45. In between there were periods of light drizzle but everyone stayed and the pits were busy. 11:45 came and went and no racing. And no announcement of when racing would begin. It was getting colder as time went on. And there was more intermittent light drizzle. A small group of people left at that point but most stayed. Still no word from NHRA on the game plan. But it was obvious that the temp was dropping, wind was picking up and the track was moist. At 1:00 o'clock I think it was a safe bet to say that the race could not be run even if the rain stopped since the track needed to be dried and the temps were falling. At that point NHRA should have sent everyone home. But nothing was announced. All we got was alot of ridiculous banter from a guy named Jason and Joe Costello. At a little after 1:00 it started drizzling again. At that point a huge group of people left. But still no word from NHRA!! That's when my wife said she was freezing and we left. I don't know when they canceled the race but it should have been hours before. I'm not an NHRA basher, on the contrary I usually compliment them on their management of the races. But they really blew it this time. I understand that it is very difficult to cancel a race but it was too cold and too rainy from early on to keep the fans around. I was thinking that maybe they were looking at the radar and saw that the rain was moving away. Obviously , that was not the case. So I'm wondering what the thinking was. The upside was that I got a lot of time to walk the pits.

That happened at bristol years ago,we were in the tunnel with everyone else and i happened to check nhra.com and said it was over for the day,no announcements on the pa. Maybe they want to keep people around so they buy more souvenoirs or food lol.

 

[DanTheFan]

How about doing what every other key event does these days. You load their app and they push messages to your phone. Someone has to be in charge of that communication though. Years ago, I drove to Maple Grove only to have it start to rain when I got there. They didn’t cancel the day until 7pm. So I went back to the hotel and spent the night before driving home. Oh, except they wound up running until 1am or something and I missed it. Come on guys, get some technology working.

 

[T.Smith]

How about doing what every other key event does these days. You load their app and they push messages to your phone. Someone has to be in charge of that communication though. Years ago, I drove to Maple Grove only to have it start to rain when I got there. They didn’t cancel the day until 7pm. So I went back to the hotel and spent the night before driving home. Oh, except they wound up running until 1am or something and I missed it. Come on guys, get some technology working.

I received notifications from the NHRA.tv app.

 

[Cliff]

70% chance of rain today (Mon). Still, I hope they get the race in.

 

[none]

Everytime we thought we were getting close it would start spitting again. We finally got the cars in the lanes ready to go and it started again

I made the announcement at 1:05 that the event had been postponed to Monday.

And I am currently sitting here (Monday 9 AM) watching it rain.

Alan

 

[qualified17th]

Everytime we thought we were getting close it would start spitting again. We finally got the cars in the lanes ready to go and it started again

I made the announcement at 1:05 that the event had been postponed to Monday.

And I am currently sitting here (Monday 9 AM) watching it rain.

Alan

Appreciate the updates. What's the plan for the sportsmen? Saw they weren't on the run schedule for today, but never heard what they were doing instead. Run it later this year? Just cancel it and refund everyone?

 

[Jack]

How about doing what every other key event does these days. You load their app and they push messages to your phone. Someone has to be in charge of that communication though. Years ago, I drove to Maple Grove only to have it start to rain when I got there. They didn’t cancel the day until 7pm. So I went back to the hotel and spent the night before driving home. Oh, except they wound up running until 1am or something and I missed it. Come on guys, get some technology working.

Because it's too difficult for the sanction ing body to make a PA announcement at the track ???? Really?

 

[Nitro Fiend]

What data does NHRA use to try to predict what the weather will be at the track in the near future ? A weather station like the teams use ? Contact with NOAA ?
I am assuming that the officials are not just standing around looking at their apps on their phones.

 

[none]

Appreciate the updates. What's the plan for the sportsmen? Saw they weren't on the run schedule for today, but never heard what they were doing instead. Run it later this year? Just cancel it and refund everyone?

They will run here in August. The Regional event will run as a double with one being the Nationals from this weekend and the other being the regularly scheduled Regional.

 

[T.Smith]

What data does NHRA use to try to predict what the weather will be at the track in the near future ? A weather station like the teams use ? Contact with NOAA ?
I am assuming that the officials are not just standing around looking at their apps on their phones.

They use Punxsutawney Phil. If he comes out of his cage, there's only one more hour of rain. If he doesn't, then it's 8 more hours of rain.
I stopped over there at Indy last year to see the little fella. I offered him some Taco Bell and little bastard tried to bite me.

 

[Notch1320]

Until NHRA builds an app to join the 21st century they’ll be a second level racing sanctioning body. They spent a ****load of money on the stupid video game that flopped., how’d that work out?

 

[tom]

They will run here in August. The Regional event will run as a double with one being the Nationals from this weekend and the other being the regularly scheduled Regional.

thanks for update