STAFFORD – Late afternoon and evening showers Sunday forced Stafford Speedway officials to postpone the 52nd NAPA Spring Sizzler 100.
The NAPA Spring Sizzler 100 will now be run on Friday May 10.
All rain checks from Sunday will be honored on May 10. An official event schedule for May 10 will be announced at a later date.
Track crews spent four hours attempting to dry the track through intermittent showers through the evening.
Sunday’s schedule at Stafford included the NAPA Spring Sizzler 100, the 40-lap SK Modified feature and the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature.
The SK Modified feature was completed with Troy Talman getting his first victory in the division.
Eight laps were competed in the SK Light Modified feature when showers arrived. Cars were brought down pit road for the rain delay at 5:44 pm. Track officials announced the postponement at 9:45 pm.
This is an all-time fumble by Stafford management.
You had almost 6 hours of time to get your most prestigious race in, and failed to make even a single adjustment to do so.
It’s no wonder the car count is falling when you essentially tell tour modified teams and fans that they are worth less than a pit party, SK’s and SK lights
Not a single person in the stands would have complained if the sizzler was moved up to race 1 and the pit party was shortened. It might have been the most one-sided vote in recent human history.
Yes, SK & SKL teams may have lost out. They have ~20 chances to make the race up, are much closer to the track and have a lot less invested than the tour teams.
This is the 2nd time in 4 years Stafford’s stubbornness to change schedules when the weather starts going upside down has affected the sizzler.
What about fans that cant make the return date? Are our wristbands worthless? Or the teams that now have to cart to Stafford another time?
And even if they could have dried the track. No one stuck there was going to be happy. No one that left was going to be happy.
A lot of times people like to blame greed in these types of decisions. That doesn’t even make sense here. They sold a lot of tickets, they had every reason to want to get this race in. and now they are stuck with a lot of rain checks and probably nearly 0 paying customers the 10th. All because they refuse to make changes.
Weather sucks. Certain groups go down fighting and certain groups just let it happen.
Stafford is better than this.
NOT HAPPY WITH STAFFORD = HORRIBLE TIME MANAGEMENT
I am usually 99 percent positive on this site …. BUT they really dropped
the ball on this RACE… PEOPLE CAME FROM LONG DISTANCE TO SEE THE SIZZLER , DRIVERS AND TEAMS CAME FROM A LONG WAY TO RACE THE SIZZLER… THEY WASTED HOURS OF GREAT RACE WEATHER WITH PIT PARTIES AND VIDEOS… WAKE UP STAFFORD ..!! SIZZLER SHOULD BE LINED UP AND RACED BY 2PM . START HEAT RACES AT 100PM.. SIZZLER 100 SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE PRIORITY BUT WAS LAST ON THE LIST !!! ALL THOSE PLANS PEOPLE MADE TO COME AND VISIT & SOME CAMP OVER AND WATCH THE GREATEST RACE IN THE HISTORY OF SPRING WERE VERY HAPPY WITH THE SUN COMING OUT AND WARM RACE DAY AHEAD OF THEM … SIZZLER SHOULD BE IN THE HISTORY BOOKS THIS MORNING , THE OTHER FEATURES COULD BE MADE UP DURING THE SEASON … THEY LOST SIGHT OF WHAT THIS DAY WAS ALL ABOUT & THE HISTORY OF THE SIZZLER IS ALL ABOUT… RUN THE RACE EVERYONE CAME TO SEE EARLY SO PEOPLE WITH LONG DISTANCE TOW HOME FOR MONDAY MORNING WORK CAN SEE THE RACE AND BE HOME AT A DECENT HOUR TO GET TO WORK MONDAY … STAFFORD YOU FAILED US FANS ON THIS ONE BIG TIME… HOPEFULLY YOU LEARN FROM THIS HUGE MISTAKE ON USAGE OF SUNNY WEATHER EARLY IN THE DAY. NOAA WEATHER WAS CALLING FOR RAIN SHOWERS LATER IN THE DAY BUT I GUESS YOU DON’T CHECK THAT, WHEN THERE IS A TON OF CONCESSIONS TO SELL AND TIME TO WASTE WITH PIT PARTYS AND VIDEOS AND SK & SK LIGHTS RACING BEFORE THE BIG SHOW EVERYONE CAME TO SEE ..!!! WOW WHAT A HORRIBLE USE OF A WARM SUNNY RACE DAY … TONS OF UNHAPPY FANS ETC,,,, RUN THE BIG SIZZLER 100 AS FIRST FEATURE !!! this is why we came to Stafford , to see the 52nd year of the greatest race in the history of spring and we did not see the sizzler we saw heat races and sk feature and it FIZZLED OUT …
STAFFORD YOU MADE A HUGE MISTAKES OF THIS ONE & I HOPE YOU DO A PUBLIC APOLOGY TO ALL THE FANS AND TEAMS THAT TRAVELED TO YOUR GREAT FACILITY TO WATCH THE SIZZLER AND THE RACE NEVER GOT STARTED …!!! WOW …. TERRIBLE JOB & BLACK FLAG TO STAFFORD MANAGEMENT ON THIS ONE….
I wish Stafford would go back having their pit party in the morning instead of having to stop their program in the middle. I know you can’t do anything about the rain, but they lost an hour of racing time there. They had a great crowed and lot of out state plates in the parking lot. At least the did offer rain checks.
Wow so many things were wrong yesterday – I know it is easier to say after the fact. With the weather being iffy later on in the day – 3 sk heats would of been better, moving the pit party till after the races or cancel it, first feature should of been the Sizzler. So many out of state fans this weekend – feel sorry for them, might be a long time before they think about coming back for a late start on a Sunday. If the Sizzler start time is after 8:00 PM May 10th – I don’t think they will be coming back either. – That’s just the fans side – Car owners are taking a bath also….. Rain Sucks! ( new t-shirt idea)
Zig,
Features were on the publicized released schedule for 4:15 pm. That means you start features at 4:15 pm. That doesn’t mean you just decide on the day of the event that you’re moving features up with a couple hours notice. People purchase tickets online in advance. If the schedule says features begin at 4:15 then you don’t start features at 3 pm. You don’t have people showing up at 4:15 to be told, “Oh yeah, we ran the Spring Sizzler at 3 pm, sorry it’s over, have a great day.” Tell me the last time the Red Sox decided at 2 pm on a game day to move the start time of a game from 7:30 pm to 6 pm because there was weather in the forecast? There was a publicized schedule well in advance of the event. Any fans or teams that didn’t agree with that schedule could have skipped the event.
All races are subject to change – due to weather and other events- many times heat races are scratched, feature schedule has been changed many times before. Even starting times have been earlier than 12:00 on Sunday
Unfortunately, these two day Open weekend shows have become marathon days. The pit party should be on the track at 11 am like it always was people are working on cars and the pits become a mosh pit. Then, at 12:30pm features start- no practice, no qualifying only features and by 3:30 the Open race would start (Tour Sizzler Main event). And you’re done by 5/6pm on a Sunday. It’s common sense quit keeping people there all day new fans won’t come because they aren’t conditioned to it. I’m 28 and guys/ girls my age won’t come and that is a big reason why. Also, it’s 2024 open up the weather/radar app and make a decision to alter the schedule. Grandstands were packed by 2 so nobody was going to miss it if you put the open race first. No excuses thank you Stafford for investing in your facility I love it I wish other tracks did it but, you have to start features no later than 1. I’m a returning customer, I’ll still be there May 10th.
Alrighty, was there yesterday and actually stayed until they officially called it off around 9:15. FEW NOTES:
Not going to destroy stafford management here.
-start the program/feature in April at 2:15 – 2:30 at the latest. It’s April. Stafford has its own micro climate with rain and cold. There is zero reason to start it at 4:15 on a Sunday when people have work the next day. I think that destroyed them yesterday.
-Be realistic about rain delays. There was about 200 fans left after 7 pm. I assume they wanted to get it in for the drivers more so.. which is understandable however you can’t leave them hanging
-next point is if you know you have below average track drying equipment then you have to be realistic on conditions and radar..(next investment perhaps)
-food prices are pretty high.. they do need to pay for the upgrades. I hope that’s the only reason for the $7 hot dog.
Overall I believe it was a learning experience on communication and looking at a radar. Stafford gets it right more times then not. They usually have the best interest of the fans. Be careful not to go rogue because that is what is sinking nascar. On to the next race!
Totally get your point Shawn and don’t disagree, and even though the weather came in earlier than expected, it was still a roll of the dice as to whether or not they would have been able to get the entire 100 lapper in to begin with. The weather report on Saturday showed rain moving in Sunday somewhere between 7 and 8. They could have and probably should have modified their schedule in advance on Saturday.
I’m not sure you should ever risk alienating thousands of fans and team members just to satisfy those who show up to buy tickets at 4:00 for a 4:15 post time. I can’t imagine that is more than a few fans.
Moreover, not alienating the first group who has been with you all weekend or all day is far more important to your future than some late comers. You could easily show some courtesy to the late comers by saying “Sorry, but due to the weather forecast we had to move the main event ahead on the schedule but you are welcome to watch the rest of the race for free.”
I went to a Lucas Oil Late Model Series race last year where they did everything Stafford should have done. They moved the starting time up an hour and ran the the main feature first. No one complained.
They had 3 races to run. One was already qualified. Packed grandstand and beautiful sunny warm weather to start the day. I left the track without seeing the sizzler. I think that’s an epic failure. Is keeping to a schedule the point of the day, or is it to run great races. Good job of keeping schedule, very bad job running races. The people who run Thompson gotta be laughing at Stafford. Thompson seems to be able to adjust schedule on their big weekends. I didn’t sense any urgency to get the racing in yesterday. You could see the clouds coming during the pit party and people started to grab their phones and start predicting rain. Stafford officially should have changed their schedule then, but no, sit around for another hour
Very surprised that Stafford didn’t adjust the schedule, without the pit party and running the SKL feature last, they might have still gotten the whole program in. Why not do the pit party in the pits at 11 AM? By 7pm many people had given up and left and NOBODY was happy!
Shawn, this isn’t the 90’s any more. People get information a lot quicker these days.
And last I saw, the word TENTATIVE is used on all of Stafford schedules. might as well delete that word.
There were several thousand people there already by mid-afternoon. i cant imagine there were more than a couple dozen people planning to show up right at feature time. And I’m sure most of those people would have looked at a radar and waved off those plans anyway.
If you move things forward a few hours, sure….someone will complain because someone always does. But I really doubt you end up with the overwhelming negativity they are seeing yesterday/today.
NASCAR, one of the most rigid organizations in sports, has shown so much more willingness to change in the face of weather these days. Both in Cup with things like LA and on the mod tour.
Would be a great poll to see if fans liked the handling of yesterday or not.
People will say it’s easy to criticize Stafford for their inflexibility is getting this show in. But…it’s 2024 and modern radar is highly accurate and the prediction many of us in the pits had certainly came true. And..they had a head start. With no LCQ needed the pit party should have been scrubbed and the Sizzler moved to first up in the running order. Standing on the trailer ramp talking to a crew guy of a prominent team that traveled hours from out of state we looked at the radar , the time and the end of the rain event plus the needed track drying (at night with heavy heavy air) and said NFW is this race happening tonight. I hate being right but this was an easy call. I love SMS my favorite speedway but this was a FAIL on their part. Sorry if that ruffles a few feathers. Come Stafford you can do better.
Unfortunately dodging rain clouds has become part of race management these days , Sure they could of done better but I for one is willing to give them a pass on Sunday We all know predicting weather is a crap shoot we’ve all suffered through rainouts that pissed us off Get over it , I am . Oh well on the May 10 race
I was happy with the car count , good numbers for all the open wheel classes.
The dirt tracks in PA adjust the schedule all of the time and they run the top division first all of the time.They run effecient shows.I do not have to be at a speedway for 8 hours to see 3 divisions.Poor management decisions by Stafford today.
Lots of meteorologists and event planners in comments everywhere. I don’t like the results of what happened yesterday but I accept that trying to schedule around weather is always going to be a crapshoot. If they had multiple days notice that the weather was going to be dogsh*t like NASCAR did for the Clash, or like ACT and PASS did for the Northeast Classic they could have changed. I was watching the weather all day and it was always “chance of showers late.” The stands definitely weren’t full early in the afternoon, so plenty of people were planning on coming late. They deserve more notice than morning of.
Does Flo racing play a part in schedule or are they flexible to move their times
Lucky for me I’m able to go back on the 10th. But like someone said the schedule is tentative or subject to change. So why not change it? Is Flo like a TV network now where they call the shots on start times and scheduling? I just don’t get the late start time on a Sunday evening when in the past running in the afternoon worked fine. Plus running heat races first and then having a pit party made no sense. And yeah concession prices are out of control but if people are willing to pay then oh well.
Flo does not play a part in event schedules. This is why major dirt series love the streaming model versus live TV–they don’t have to tailor the show to a specific time. If they need another 10, 20, or 30 minutes to get the track preparation right they just take it. No producer forces a promoter to have their main event under conditions the promoter knows are not ideal for their in-house paying fans.