The streak of weather woes continued Saturday for short track operators in the state.
Management at the New London-Waterford has called off tonight’s scheduled racing card due to standing water at the facility after torrential rain on Friday.
It marks the second consecutive event lost at the Speedbowl due to weather and the fifth rainout of a Connecticut short track racing event over the last nine days.
Stafford Speedway has lost its last two scheduled Friday night events to rain and Wednesday’s event scheduled at Thompson Speedway was also lost to stormy conditions.
Well, seems like they are running behind in those drainage improvements.
Stop wining dareal very few tracks could clear that much water even with the best drainage
Excerpt from the Thompson press release;
“Despite the storm quickly clearing the track, the immense amount of rain left much of the oval flooded.” That’s just from the thunderstorm that came through that evening.
Waterford just went through a tropical storm that dumped 4” – 7” of rain. What would you expect?
It sucks. Yesterday turned into a beautiful Friday afternoon. Stafford cancelled. Today perfect weather. Waterford cancelled.
You forget Dareal is an engineer and knows all the calculations and equipment specs required.
This is why Nascar hired him as their lead engineer for all their sanctioned tracks; he is not just some single A league engineer.
Dareal send them the links of your professional qualifications and publications on all things Engineering, Racing and Law.
I preemptively reserve the right to call B*%%s~¥¥ on any of your responses.
I saw a road closed sign due to road flooding in Willimantic late this afternoon . I can only conclude they have the same staff as the Speedbowl in that town.
🌈🦄2020,
There were tremendous storms for much of the evening last night in the Stafford area. Just because the sun was out in the late afternoon doesn’t mean they were getting a racing card in last night. And I don’t care if it’s 80 and sunny, if the bulk of the track is covered in water you can’t race.
I’m baffled by what sort of point you were trying to make here.
My house is 15.4 miles north from Stafford. It’s amazing the difference that makes, it was a beautiful night, short shower around 2am. But otherwise dry .
Rob P.
Go search out some of the videos people posted on Facebook of the flooding in the Stafford and Willington area last night.
Once the last of the Elsa rain went by, it became sunny and the temperature soared up to the mid-80º. Other than the high waters, white waters, and flooding, you’d never know a tropical storm just went by. 👀
Locations and facilities that are poorly designed, or were designed and developed before modern codes were in place, are just gonna flood… they will not drain. They will make like a bowl, a giant cesspool of a bowl. 🚽
The waters are very high. I was out for a bike ride today and the rivers, streams, wetlands, etc. are right up to many roads. We were pretty lucky around here.
It was a good call for Stafford. Enfield is two towns east of Stafford and we get the weather first. Thunder shower cells came through. Not like the epic stuff we’ve had but race killers. If they waited it out and dried the track it would have been a miserable night for everyone. Good racing at Thunder Road on FloRacing however.
It allows management to focus on the Human trafficking side of the business.
I was there they had all hands on deck. Have 2 of the 7,000 gallon trucks pumping track and 1 running out back gate . So much saturation they couldn’t get ahead of it. Safety ls most important. Good Call Track .
Atomic Punk Really ? Grow up already.
Viva why would you tell someone to grow up for mentioning something that is 100 percent true and should be known by everyone? The guy who owns the track is a convicted sex offender and human trafficker. That’s not a joke. Just because it doesn’t bother you to support a business owned and operated by a person convicted of being a human trafficker and sexual predator doesn’t mean there aren’t people who don’t want to support that cause. Would you support a business owned by someone who molested a child you were related to? Probably not. But you’re alright with supporting this business because you don’t know any of the victims and you like the track. I wouldn’t be bringing any teenage boys there to race, work on cars or sit in the grandstands. If you don’t want people to make jokes about the track owner being a human trafficker then don’t support a track owned by someone who has been convicted of human trafficking. Careful at the bus stop.
Doug wrote, “It was a good call for Stafford. Enfield is two towns east of Stafford and we get the weather first. ”
Enfield is WEST of Stafford.
🤪 🥸 🧭 🗺
Hey nobody corrected you when you said you were out for a bike ride but it was actually a tricycle
That is why you make Donation’s to your local fire department ! They will bring pumper trucks in to help relieve the water situation . The show must go on !
Let it go man. It’s been 4 years.
Glad we have our local track open.
Why does someone have to bring up the past when there is news at speedbowl ?
It’s just water and rain .
Track looks amazing since new stands and re paving in front of entrance and grandstand areas .
Foods good.
No beer makes some sad but its ok.
Sk lites is some great racing .
11 in a truck go Ken C.
Bando’s kids interviews are priceless in winners circle.
Seems like fans and racers are happy to be there .
Don’t like the owner or track stay home snd keep your comments to your self.
Tracks open Wednesday and Saturdays weather pending .
Come see some great racing .
Competitors race at and fans go to the track they have not the one they wish they had.
The Speedbowl may very well be positioned to have the best long term future for racing in Connecticut. It’s the perfect size, great location, refurbed and is just lacking one thing that in time will be resolved. Patience as seasons are linked to the brighter day free of the albatross the key to the Speedbowl faithful peace of mind.
It’s not hard to imagine at some point in the future with a different owner the new home of the epic Icebreaker and World Series franchises. Headlined once again by the NWMT, Thompson having made the final break from circle track racing.
Viva he was convicted of human trafficking and other crimes involving being a sexual predator about two years ago. If you think people should just easily forget about that it probably means you’re also a sexual predator yourself.
If your child or your wife or your parents were murdered by someone in 2018 what would you think if someone said you should just let it go and let the murderer get on with their life? It’s actually kind of sick that you think people should just forget about the fact that the track is owned by a sexual predator.
Why does someone have to bring up the past? Because people should know they’re attending a place where the property owner is a convicted sex offender. If there was a pedophile living next door to a daycare center would you tell people they shouldn’t worry about it because what that person did was in the past?
The Winnebagos are floating like corks.
“ Locations and facilities that are poorly designed, or were designed and developed before modern codes were in place, are just gonna flood… they will not drain. They will make like a bowl, a giant cesspool of a bowl. 🚽”
So that makes Thompson “a giant cesspool of a bowl 🚽”? Some people can’t find it in their demeanor to post positive things about anything or anyone.
Really boo kai? He is? Tell us more about it that hasn’t been reported on and talked about hundreds of times. Maybe they should make an announcement every Wednesday and Saturday night before the races start. That way all the men women and children in the stands and pits will know. Because right now I bet they don’t.
Earl, being non-positive and complaining, wrote: “Some people can’t find it in their demeanor to post positive things about anything or anyone.”
Is daengineer claiming that the drainage wasn’t improved or installed when the new stands were built? 😂😂😂🤡
Well said dareal
🌈🦄2020, well, if the drainage was improved, it still sucks.
What’s your point?
Oh dadumbdumb, nice try. Short memory have we? You have got me beat by a long shot. When’s the last time we had an update from WeldingWonders? I will let the numbers speak for themselves.
I’m not challenging anyone here but asking the Speedbowl guys. Is there a patch on the track surface indicating the infield drainage was addressed? I don’t see anything and never thought it was part of the issues that were preventing the opening. New stands for fan safety and satisfying EPA concerns that I thought were related to wetlands near the track.. Track drainage and the swampy area in 1 and 2 not on the list.
WeldingWonders????? 😝😝😝😝😝 Focks Gnus is far more credible, and it’s total 🐂💩.
Yeah, WeldingWonders needs to get a map for Doug and show him that Enfield is WEST of Stafford.
DRRRAINAGE!!!! Name that movie..
Doug, from what I understand the drainage issue had to do with the runoff from the pit area into the brook that borders the back stretch and pit area. To the best of my knowledge there is no patch on the track to show evidence of any upgrades to the drainage issue in the infield.
I would also believe that any runoff from the pit area or infield would be required to pass through an oil/water separator prior to the discharge of the final product into the waterway. That separator would require constant, documented maintenance by a licensed contractor to assure it is operating properly as well.
Has that been done to satisfy DEP requirements I don’t know. Was that a requirement of the issuance of a permit to operate the track, I don’t know. Not certain how you can find that out other than researching past articles on Racedayct on the subject which was around the time the stand replacement was being discussed.
30 + comments ..lol they don’t need any PR at Waterford they have this site !!!. bottom line the story was all over the news and was rehashed when Bemers boy toys assaulted him ! people choose to spend money on entertainment and as I said anywhere ya go there are degenerate criminals .just look at our government ! people are no longer sensitive based on the state of our society , its survival of the fittest. no more moral compass, anything goes. what’s worse a kid locked in the basement playing GTA or call of duty for days at a time or a kid in the stands at the race track?. you have minors driving dangerous high speed racecars on ovals ?? who woulda thought this 20 yrs ago ?? you say your worried about kids??? your all hypocrites !!! don’t worry plenty of degenerate illegal behaviors at racetracks across the country. female bottom slapping , unwanted sexual advances ,driver on driver assaults with a race car or with fists .. LOL yeah its family entertainment at its best ..cmon get real da real. PS Thompson floods, Riverhead floods, Waterford floods.. perhaps mother nature is angry ?
Viva when that Karma gets you… Please think of me and the Joy filling my heart.
You can not fix the drainage issue unless you install a very expensive pumping and discharge system or raise the elevation of the infield. The track was a pond at one time that they filled in during the tracks initial construction. The stream behind the track gets higher then the elevation of the tracks infield during and after large storms, therefore it floods like this. This has been an issue since the track opened.
Perhaps PR@🚽 is on to something about karma… Mother Nature is taking it to the 🚽. Maybe, just maybe, it is God’s will. 😝😝😝😝😝😝. Nah, just kidding.
I would think that pics would have been posted during any factual drainage remediation back in the day when “construction” was going on. From all the pics that were posted, there was no indication at all that anything like drainage was addressed. The manager guy Serlucky would have posted pics about that. All pics that are available do not show any drainage remediation work. It was all they could do to get the stands replaced, and that was a miracle.
😝😝😝😝😝
Hey Earl, all indications are that WeldingWonders is preparing an even bigger post. Whenever Doug’s posts slow down a bit it’s because WeldingWonders is working on a galactic post. Wait for for it…
Hey, did the Earth flip over and East is now West, and West is now East?
😝😝😝
🗺
🧭
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, …
I did look back at the RaceDayCt articles and listen to an Unmuffled with Serluca. Aside from the drainage issue it was interesting to read and hear all the twists and turns and misfires from the perspective of where the track is now as an operating facility.
There’s nothing preventing anyone from going to the Town Hall and researching exactly what work had to be done to get where the track is now. I’m not that interested but did find this in a RaceDayCt article dated April 8, 2020.
Mike Serluca
“I had expected some delays on the project, like I said last year, I fully expected that we’d be racing last year,” Serluca said. “If it wasn’t for the major drainage issues we had I think we would have actually been doing some racing last year.”
Suffice it to say the infield drainage was never on the to do list. They had to do a phase 1 or 2 environmental assessment in connection with the renovation, an issue was revealed and they were required to fix it.
I get the fascination with the owner but it’s been over 4 years and everyone by now has made their judgement about that facet of the track. You can continue to beat that dead horse hoping for some kind of twitch but I’m thinking more about the future.
Looking at the aerial shot of the improved Speedbowl on Facebook I can’t see any of the drama or controversy. I don’t see a tower, don’t see concessions stands and with the new stands don’t see much of anything that is unique. What I do see is a blank canvass. None of the old personality but neither the problems they presented either. A great starting point that at some point in the future would be very inviting for a monied investor to purchase and put the finishing touches on. The basics are there and much of the hard work done. The major barriers any prospective owner faced in the past regarding the stands and environmental issues mostly addressed and the list of unknowns shorter.
The owner may not be thinking of selling now and that’s fine none of we oldies like to think in terms of our shorter horizon. But make no mistake he does have a shorter horizon, he has no heirs I know of and the track no longer a broken down mess. Two years, five years, whatever the current owner will be out of the picture. The odds that someone continues to operate the facility exponentially greater now then a few years ago.
If you were going to build a track from scratch this iteration of the Speedbowl has much of what you’d want. Industrial zone, near a population center, perfect distance for a short track, current environment impact assessment, town approvals up to date, no bad seats and they’re all new. Oh yes and a rabid fan base already in place can’t forget that.
What do you think racing will look like in Connecticut in 5 years. I see Stafford chugging along setting the standard for quality racing at about the same level. Thompson no longer offering oval track races. I can also imagine the much maligned Speedbowl under new ownership as a legitimate competitor to Staffords short track dominance in the state and region.
Drainage remediation, and all the environmental issues it entails, is something beyond the concerns of current track management. Like infinity and beyond.
I believe there may be some undersized drainage culverts downstream that will not allow water to flow adequately from areas around the track. Never mind the wetlands between these culverts that are overgrown with vegetation and brush causing obstructions to water flow where everything discharges into the Niantic river which is about 2.5 – 3 miles from the track.
Then to complicate matters the infield becomes lower than the water table of the surrounding areas during heavy rains.
No matter what you do with pumps and or elaborate drainage systems, until you correct the issues downstream to alleviate the high water table nothing will ever change. This is a long term issue that won’t be resolved anytime soon no matter who owns the track.
IMHO
Doug, I agree. Stafford will keep on keeping on, Thompson unless leased is done, and the Speedbowl is poised to make a significant impact in circle track racing given the right circumstance.
god bless the bowl, and a tissue for the haters!!