Thompson Speedway officials will once again be looking for a new weekend to host the 46thIcebreaker weekend.
On Friday Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont extended a shutdown order for the state, which essentially keeps non-essential businesses closed and bans large gatherings through May 20.
Thompson Speedway was originally scheduled to host the Liquid Death Icebreaker April 4-5. Last month, when the state originally banned large gatherings, Thompson rescheduled the Icebreaker to May 15-16.
Thompson Speedway management released the following statement Friday:
“Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park is aware of Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont’s Executive Order 7X which extends all current prohibitions on business activities through May 20. We will continue to abide by the directives of our local government and health officials during the COVID-19 pandemic and will have to further adjust our 2020 season schedule accordingly. The safety of our race teams, fans and staff remains paramount. We will have further updates once available.”
The new shutdown extension does not currently effect the tentatively scheduled NAPA Spring Sizzler at Stafford Speedway. The Sizzler was rescheduled from April 25-26 to May 30-31. Stafford is tentatively scheduled to open its season on May 22.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is scheduled as part of both the Icebreaker weekend at Thompson and the Spring Sizzler weekend at Stafford.
Many Governors have already announced extended dates for lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, social distancing, etc. until the end of May. Some into June and July. Some have no date, just the state of the pandemic. The numbers for CT are still escalating, the peak for CT is still in the future, it will be a long time before CT will relax travel restrictions. I know I’m not going to relax social distancing for a very long time with the numbers the way they are. And with the numbers the way they are now, it won’t be safe for several weeks or several months.
It won’t be safe until just about the entire population has been tested.
The Season will continue to Shrink, will Series and track be able to fit all the races in?
And will fans who obviously want Racing Action, will be able to sit close at Tracks, Stadiums and Arena’s after the last few months of SOCIAL DISTANCING?
Should tracks under these circumstances do ALL 1 day shows to help get more races in?
I admit I loved the 1 day SATURDAY SIZZLER last year but I know some tracks wont ever try that, I sure hope we don’t have to cancel the entire season or run races or even NBA, NHL, NFL OR MLB games in empty places, THAT would suck just as much to me!!!!!
just thinking how the GENERAL PUBLIC will start reacting when the weather breaks. ..and if the season never begins what tracks teams sponsors classes of racing would be financially feasible going forward..
.. I hope all of you are working/at least able to stay afloat financially…stay as safe as ya all can
Sports and large gatherings will be the last restrictions to be lifted. People need to get back to work #1, #2 kids need to get back in the classrooms. All else is going to be alot longer than we initally all thought. Racing is verry diffrent than most other sports because we have Teams, Fans that travel from all diffrent States, some of those States are more infected than others. No Mayor/Town is going to allow events to happen with a possibility of another outbreak just because we all want to Race. Take your love for racing out of the conversation and think about it, 2020 season is already over.
Huh?? football, baseball, basketball, hockey and just about every of sport don’t have teams that travel state to state??? They ALL do at every level. Racing is no different than the rest. Weekly racing in New England doesn’t start for another month. Other than the tour races, nothing has been lost yet.
Racing season isn’t over, we race into October every year. We might race into November this year. Not sure when it starts but we will get to see some racing. You think Cape Cod, Nantucket etc are closing the beaches and restaurants for the summer? Not a chance in hell. Camp grounds are opening up registrations for summer 2020 again. This is like the movie JAWS. There may be a shark in the water but people will carry on at their own risk. Texas is about to reopen the economy down there. Back to work Texas! If you want to stay home moving forward that is fine. People who want to get out will get out. I’ll be interested yo see what the crowds look like when we do reopen tracks.
I’m hoping to be at Seekonk June 6th myself. I know I’ll be at Loudon in July.
The tracks should be working on hand sanitation stations throughout their properties. Do their part to help the cause.
JD
If you havnt noticed all those sports are closed and have no dates for starting up again. The Whitehouse has informed sports leagues best case is September. June at Seekonk is highly optimistic considering not 1 state in area has even peaked. I hope you are right and it is over by then.
Even July might be a bit soon bro. don’t take an expert to realise playtime is over this year wish it were otherwise but I don’t see it
im more speculating on what ’21 will look like.
seems like a legit thought experiment we have nothing much else going on lol
Dr. Fauci just said that we won’t see any semblance of normality until November.
The USA new case and death rates are still increasing. This virus has many metro areas and the rural areas to chew through. We are now losing > 2,000 people per day, most from the NYC area. That’s 60,000 people per month. At that rate, we will lose over 300,000 people through September.
You all better get it through your thick skulls that this is a highly contagious 😷 pathogen. 🦠 EXTREMELY contagious. 😷 This pandemic is still just starting. We have months to go.
School systems across the country are extending the cancellations, some even for the year already.
You can forget about large crowd gatherings within the next few months, ain’t gonna happen. 🚫
Some parks have been closed already. Beaches will be closed in the summer.
There is so much that the White House Task Force could be saying, but aren’t. It’s bad news and they do not want to stir up a panic. Emergency field hospitals are still being built all over the country. DOA’s are soaring, not even making it to the hospital. (DOA = dead on arrival) Supplies are still being sought for the pending increase in cases as the rest of the metro areas are seeing increases, and the rural areas have yet to deal with it. The rural areas will be savaged. New York comprises about 40% of the daily deaths lately… wait until the rest of the country catches up.
There is no medicine or treatment. You survive or you don’t.
Shelter in place, folks.
Don’t be an idiot. Don’t get yourself or anyone else killed. This is not a vast Government conspiracy to infringe on your liberties.
The virus decides when it is safe and when we will reopen. The experts will know when that is.
Wear a mask and wash your damn hands!
I actually think motor sports are in the best position to save some kind of live activity this year.
Team sports not so much. You’ve got the close proximity with the locker room, sweating, heavy breathing and being a team. One infection multiplies and soon the team is decimated and league standings become one of survival. I’m gonna miss the NFL for sure if that happens. UCONN back in the Big East…forget about it.
Motor sports are teams but very small teams and sometimes not even teams but more like clusters.
Losing one is not good but not critical. Fan interest and willingness to take a risk in viewing races another matter. That will depend on conditions in the future which is not now when people are on red alert.
JD is defiant and maybe in Market Basket country that is a reasonable position if it’s rural Market Basket country. Could very well be New Hampshire is the first to have regional racing seeing as how they aren’t getting whacked like the more densely populated States. Here in Connecticut it’s a different situation. Masks are in. Walking around people is in. Lines to get into stores to limit people is in. Shields and distance are in. JD is defiant and that’s a good sign for his part of the country but in my part of Connecticut a couple towns over from Stafford we are compliant.
In all this mess there are opportunities. People are hungry for entertainment and sports they are not getting now especially. Motorsports can be live, low risk and streamed. Stafford is getting 600 people watching their Friday night sim racing. NASCAR IRacing is getting a million plus on a Sunday afternoon for sim racing. Could be motor sports has an advantage over the NFL, NCAA, NBA, MLB and every other major sport. Races at empty tracks streamed and viewed by an audience starving for live content. Not dependent on big complex teams but smaller more independent units of competition. Could Stafford go the streaming route. Probably not but if anyone could they could figure out a way to do it maybe with Speed51’s help. Sign me up for the first streaming season pass.
Not ideal but perhaps a way to survive until we get a real vaccine and back to a situation where people don’t have to associate personal risk with entertainment.
The economy will determine when we open. It already is. Once Texas opens, neighboring states will feel the pressure to do the same and so on down the line. No governor is going to keep their state locked down until November. I said it before, May 31st is the limit on lockdowns. 2.5 months will have worked or it will have not. Not to say there won’t be “hotspots” down the road but people will reach their breaking point.
The White House didn’t say best case is Sept. for sports. MLB is feverishly looking at several plans that start late May/June/July. The NHL and NBA are different because training camp for next season starts in late Sept.
Listen, I know how serious this is. I wrote off April and May long before most. However. I don’t see how Americans stay in the basement for another six months. Not happening. Even if we think it should.
The Ma Governor closing the beaches and islands all summer would be a rubber meets the road moment. I don’t see him doing it but if he does it would be a huge deal. You can’t open Cape Cod, Nantucket and MV as business as usual but tell a minor league sports team they are finished. It doesn’t work that way. The economy is in the driver’s seat after May 31st. You heard it here first.
JD, you aren’t paying attention. States are announcing extensions to the shutdowns already, some just a few more weeks, and some out to the fall. Texas hasn’t been affected yet. Wait until that happens… they have a mix of big cities and rural expanses. BTW, I have friends in CT that have a daughter that lives in Texas. She is getting married later this month (April) in TX and her parents from CT can not attend because Texas is requiring quarantine for people entering the state. Trust me, the parents are working every angle possible to get to their daughter’s wedding. Texas has “only” 269 total deaths so far with a population of 29 million. Just wait until they get hit, it’s just getting started. Opening up Texas will only make things FAR worse when the wave hits Texas. But hey, Texas will live up to its reputation: Stupid is as stupid does.
JD, emergency field hospitals are being built all over the country. They are expecting the wave of infections and deaths in the coming weeks.
JD wrote, “The economy will determine when we open. It already is.” What do you mean by “It already is”? List some examples.
I’m impressed at how seriously people are taking this and complying with the recommendations. It’s a ghost town out there. Almost everyone has been wearing a mask, people stay spaced out, etc. Why do they do that? THEY DON’T WANNA DIE!!!!! As long as the tote board for deaths is ringing up like it is, people aren’t gonna budge. We have been losing ~2,000 people/day the last few days. You feeling lucky? And we are learning that if you don’t die, you could still end up with what appears to be permanent damage from the virus, such as reduced lung capacity.
Sports do not want to come back too soon and have the gathering of athletes and fans cause another wave of infections and deaths. They ain’t coming back until the coast is clear. There is way too much to lose, and liability. Go to a basketball game, get your free COVID-19.
Vacation areas are gonna suffer this season. Get ready for it. It’s a FACT. We cancelled our vacation plans already.
JD, this pandemic is just getting started. As Gov. Cuomo says, he can’t say when this will end, they are still figuring out how to save lives in the next couple days. The pandemic is still heading UP!!! The progression of the spread of the virus and consequential death rate will determine when things can open up. We are presently losing ~2,000 people per day and we are on lockdown. If we didn’t do a lockdown, the numbers of people lost already and per day would be astonishing.
Cuomo and Fauci are running this show, and they both say the virus will determine when the lockdowns get relaxed.
The virus and the death rate will determine when we can open up. Trump can bloviate about opening all he wants, he’ll be ignored by the Governors. Remember, Trump did not order a national lockdown, the individual Governors did. The Governors were looking to Trump for leadership and he backed away, claiming it wasn’t his job. There will be the typical dumb Governors like Texas and Florida, but that’s expected from them. Trump refused to call a national lockdown, but yet he thinks making the decision to reopen the economy is his command decision. 😝 The Governors won’t care whatever Trump says. Reopening the economy is not Trump’s call. The Governors are not going to put themselves in the position of taking the blame for flareups. You know Trump will say it’s not his responsibility. Trump is not going make the call… he does not want the responsibility of the potential deaths when a relapse occurs. It’s election season!!!!
Remember when gasoline was $5/gallon? Well, that shut down the economy. Vacation areas suffered, beaches were empty, no travel, no traffic, etc. People just didn’t decide to go back to traveling with $5/gal gasoline. They waited until the price came down. When the price came down, it was safe to travel again. Didn’t have to mortgage a tank of gas. That was only $5 gas the shut down the economy. The price of gasoline determined when people came out and resumed traveling. This is life or death. ☠️ The price of gasoline is < $2/gallon now and people aren't traveling. Any idea why? Here's a hint: 🦠🦠🦠🦠☠️⚱️⚰️ Insurance companies are giving back billions in premium credits because people aren't driving.
You can open up the economy, whatever that means, and as long as the pandemic is raging, nobody is gonna show up.
The virus is in control. That drives Trumpster wild!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. It was laughable when he started taking about a timeline 🦠. Like he's bossing the 🦠 around.
When it comes to Virus vs Economy the Virus is going to Win, Trump already wanted to pull off restrictions but once he saw the numbers he extended the lockdown. All dates keep moving to the right, Texas hasnt done anything yet, that was the Governor speaking off the cuff much like Trump did saying open on Easter. The worse thing that can happen now is to restart economy too early causing a re-flash in infections only to shut it down. My opinion is Schools are the indicator for anything moving forward, no schools=no events, right now CT is May 20th deadline to start school and everyone anticipates that date to move again.
JD, your view reinforces my belief that people just don’t get it and will act irresponsibly putting the needs and desires of themselves before the betterment of their fellow human beings. You remind me of my 20 year old grandson who can’t sit still for 5 minutes. The kid has access to face time, Zoom, portal you name it and he still is of the opinion if he is not with his friends it is going to kill him. I tried to tell him no, being with them just may kill you.
The longer we shut things down the better opportunity we have to halt and take the proper steps to eradicate this virus. Normalcy as we know it will not exist for many months to come whether it is relaxing social distancing, reopening occupancies, venues etc. Your view does nothing but promote the resurgence of the virus at a later date. Then we will be back to square 1 with additional stress on the healthcare system and its resources. Oh, I forgot more deaths as well.
Did anyone catch Mark Cuban on Fox news this morning? Great interview with Chris Wallace and really put things in perspective on many issues relative to COVID-19.
And to think that Trump wanted to reopen the economy today.
I’m not defiant at all. I completely understand the gravity of it all. I’ve worked from home for a month now, I only leave once a week for food. My kids appetite has not changed. I see the masks and shields everywhere. I’m more compliant than many, trust me. I’m not talking about today, this week or this month though. Talk to me June 1st. The FDA said this morning we may have peaked this week. My argument had been and remains come June 1 the economy takes over. The beaches open, stores that are closed reopen, the campgrounds open, the ice cream shops open. The summer of 2020 won’t be normal, I get it but it wont be a complete shutdown. Again every individual will have the choice to proceed at a speed they are comfortable with.
Listen, I may be wrong. I may be right. Either way, you can’t tell me in April that I’m wrong about June and July. Look how much has changed in the last month. Just as much could change in the next 60 days one way or the other. The schools are not a good indicator either because they all close for the summer. That alone makes the decision almost easier not to reopen them this spring.
Also, there is a couple in my neighborhood with corona right now. Five doors down. So, it’s here, I see it. I’ve followed protocol, listened to my governor and have remained safe. I will continue to do so.
JD, the only thing for sure is that the USA is going to lose about 2,000 people per day to COVID-19 for the next few months.
There is a population of 330 million Americans, and Trump. The virus 🦠 is feeding on those 330 million. It is going to take a very long time, some have said well over a year, before the vast majority of the population has been infected, and those that survive hopefully gain immunity. And hopefully by then a vaccine has been developed for the rest. And hopefully the CVD-19 does mutate, sending this all back to square one. As long as the virus has a full buffet of people to attack, we are gonna be under lockdown of some sort. The smart people are not going to go out. Open up the stores, restaurants, hotels, etc. … I don’t care because I ain’t going with 2,000 people a day dying and tens pf thousands a day getting infected.
BTW, there are far more getting infected and dying than the official stats represent. FAR more.
DOA’s are skyrocketing.
Some 40% of the stats are from the NYC area… there’s the rest of the country yet to be infected. The rural areas are going to be brutally impacted. That’s Fox Gnus country and they think the CVD-19 is a hoax and they just have the flu. 😷 There’s gonna be lots of people found dead at home thanks to that propaganda.
Less than 1% of the population has been tested. To reopen, just about all the population has to be tested to see who is and is not at risk. Clusterman promised tests for anyone who wanted one, and now he wants to stop testing with only about 0.5% of the population tested.
Back in Feb, I was making plans for an Alaska vacation. Couple weeks, some train transportation, arctic circle, bears, northern lights, Denali, etc. That ain’t gonna happen. It’s gonna be staycation this year.
It is very sobering to see my region looking like a ghost town. No traffic. Shopping areas are empty. Roads are empty. People are maintaining distance from each other. Vast majority of people are wearing masks. The number of COVID-19 PSA’s is shocking. All while gasoline is under $2/gallon.
Please understand… this is a highly infectious pathogen 🦠 that has barely nibbled on the population of 330 million people. We have a very long ways to go. Social distancing is working, it appears to have capped the peak loads at hospitals. We need to clamp down more to starve this predator. Because of the terrible testing rate, we have confirmed ONLY 553,774 cases as of this writing, from 2,823,684 tests. That means we still have 327,176,316 tests to go. That ain’t gonna happen by June, July, August, September, November, etc. with the incredibly slow testing the Clusterman administration is conducting.
This pathogen is in the class of measles, polio, mumps, rubella, and all the others that we normally get vaccinated for as children. It looks like we will have to hide from the COVID-19 virus until a vaccine is available. This is not like a regular flu or cold.
Along those lines, look at the anti-vaxer idiots that are causing pockets of diseases to flare up. Idiots one and all. People die for no reason.
Actually if social distancing continues we aren’t going to lose 2000 people a month until September. Maybe you should turn the news and internet off for a while.
Actually if social distancing continues we aren’t going to lose 2000 people a day until September. Maybe you should turn the news and internet off for a while.
News overload. It’s a health issue. You have to be informed but at some point the rule of diminishing returns kicks in.
I don’t know about the rest of RaceDayCt nation but I’ve had a unproductive anxiety related to the crises. Not a panic or anything debilitating but more of an under current of unease that just never seems to not be there.
I’ve taken comfort in all the changes going on in stores when we have to go out. I thought wearing a mask would be a big deal but somehow if everyone is wearing one it’s socially unacceptable not to. I hate the fact that we’re supposed to be such a great country but have to fashion BS face protection substitutes but you do what you have to. Lines at stores, shields, distance not only not a problem but kind of nice everyone is on the same page.
Another thing I take comfort in is the odds. The University of Washington predicts there will be 4000 deaths in Connecticut from the virus. Even if they are all over 65 which they won’t be that’s puts the odds of a person dying from this thing that are over 65 at under .7%. That’s based on a Ct population of 3.5 million of which 600,000 are over 65 according to the US census. If you’re a real optimist the MIT model comes in a 2600 so the odds there get even better.
There are clearly a lot of things that increase of decrease your odds of winning a lottery you don’t want to win but generally speaking the odds of geezers surviving is pretty good no matter what thing on the news is freaking you out.
I see the numbers go up ever day in Connecticut and my town. There’s a lot of death and illness to go before we see the light. Nonetheless I think it’s important to be aware of the news but not let it control us. It’s more death then we are used to at one time and the upheaval in our lives is disconcerting. However on average your odds of surviving are unbelievably good. Even if you get the dern thing and are over 65.
They didn’t have any trouble getting racers for that Thompson track rental a couple of weeks ago… not sure how they pulled it off but they did. Racing people will go to race as soon as they are allowed- no one really knows when this will happen except GF he seems to know everything… have not heard of one team saying they will not race this year due to lack of funds which is kinda strange. You would think people being out of work and sponsorship money drying up that would be the case
I truly believe racing season will not happen this year, and may even be delayed in 2021.
We need more testing, to figure out who’s got it, who’s had it, and if once you get it, if you survive, are you imune.
The numbers you see on TV aren’t real. Many people died in January and February, and we’re diagnosed as pneumonia. Many people die having not been tested. Many die due to cardiac complications. These people are not added to the total. Now, your going to start seeing deaths from things like exposure, starvation, heart attacks, and medical complications because people can’t get their medicine. These although linked to the disease won’t be counted. Financial strain is already affecting many people. Some will get very little if any relief, and that’s where deaths will start adding up. Then there’s the homeless. There already was a pandemic of homelessness in this country, and as time goes by it will get worse.
Dr Fauci said yesterday we may begin to lift restrictions in some places in May. Not to say we won’t have to double down in other places but there is hope.
1733 people die everyday from heart disease. Sad but true. 2000 a day from this isn’t far off of that should it get that high.
Rob I said the test numbers weren’t accurate a week ago and got killed. There is no way to test everyone. There just isn’t.
I keeping hearing Nascar is shooting for Charlotte at the end of May. I’m sure you will be able to get a mask with your favorite drivers number on it by then.
Saw yesterday that MA and NH had to use police to keep people off the beach. It was 52 degrees yesterday in mid April. No way they can keep them closed all summer.
JD,
I think no matter how you look at things, comparing causes of death is just not a metric that can be used fairly. Yes, you can say, X-Number of people die each day from heart disease and we don’t shut down for that, so what’s the difference if X-Number die from COVID-19? The difference being, you can’t go to a concert and catch heart disease from standing next to someone in a beer line. I think we can say with certainty that when we do return to any sense of normalcy you’re going to see cases and deaths rise. Once you let the herd out of the gate this virus is going to spread. That’s not me saying let’s all stay locked down forever, because that isn’t realistic, but using any argument comparing causes of death between any variable and this virus is just comparing apples to zucchini.
We Americans have this sense of profound entitlement. How dare that this isn’t fixed yet and is still keeping my favorite restaurant closed!!!!
Well, you want this fixed… stay home. And wait it out.
If people head out now, it will be like spraying a fire with gasoline. Throwing meat into a river full of starving piranhas.
JD, will shutting down have any impact on heart disease? Well, there’s your answer. I can’t believe you proffered that comparison. Is heart disease contagious? 😷 I’m so glad I’m not as smart as you.
JD, why do you say that the test numbers aren’t accurate? I read that there is a high degree of accuracy in the test numbers. The problem with the test numbers is that there isn’t enough testing. Only 0.5% of the population of 330 million Americans have been tested. Testing is crucial to determine if it is safe to start opening up. You can’t say because there isn’t confirmed test data, because there hasn’t been sufficient testing, that it must be safe to open up.
I’m sure that’s what Clusterman is trying to pull off. Do no testing and then say there aren’t any cases. But he’ll still have to explain that huge and growing pile of bodies.
I’ve pretty much tuned out Trump at this stage but people like Fauci, Bill Gates, Mark Cuban, Cuomo and others have all bumped up carefully against the same theme. Economic activity will need to roll out responsibly at some point once there is a measure of containment resulting from education and behavior changes. It won’t be a big bang but more regionally and by industry. There will be outbreaks and deaths and local shut downs anew. It’s just the reality now in a Sophie’s choice of unpleasant alternatives until a vaccine is widely available. That’s basically the summation of what I’ve been hearing from the people I respect most and seems to make sense.
Widespread testing for the virus and antibodies is the want to. The can do is limited for months because of the shortage of reagents needed to produce the tests. It’s rationed based on urgency just like other critical materials and supplies have been in every crises with widespread availability months away as production ramps up.
Stop testing and prove that ignorance is bliss.
🙈 🙉 🙊
JD, beaches have been closed in recent years for shark activity. And almost every summer for high levels of biological pathogens in the water. This is actually common and expected during heat waves. The shark situation is getting worse and worse, with frequent TV coverage.
So don’t say beaches aren’t going to be closed. The beaches get closed for other reasons already. If people gather in high densities, the beaches will be closed.
I could see large areas of parking lots blocked off to reduce capacity, and social distancing requirements.
so yah like I wonder if the cup series and Xfinity series and trucks, arca, etc will find the sponsor funding available if an when we see the other side of this
wonder if cup racing will dwindle down to 20 25 30 car starting fields hmmm guess we’ll have to wait and see
Wash your hands bros