Saturday's Report
8:00 AM
Yes, it's raining in Edmonton... or more precisely, beautiful downtown Leduc. Yesterday's off and on rainstorms begat last night's thunder and lightning, turned into heavy rain and it's still coming down this morning.
I haven't logged on to Drag Race Central this morning, but I'm sure that Larry Sullivan won't have anything posted yet as he's probably seen the same dismal conditions outside that I have, and like Punxatawny Phil, rolled over and gone back to sleep for another hour or three.
With a bit (or quite a bit, depending on your personal level of pessimism) of downtime confronting us today, maybe I'll have the time to get the photo pages fixed up (as one of our fans in White Rock so succinctly pointed out last night) and even give Dean Murdoch a chance to update the SpeedZone website.
Next update in an hour or two.... or three. By noon anyway. Now where's that coffee ?
PS: Anyone who knows what a "food Nazi" I've become lately would be shocked to learn that last night's "balanced" dinner consisted of three double Long Island Iced Teas (no, there's no tea in it, just lots of booze) and a plate of nachos and dried ribs. Healthy choices? I think not.... but it seemed like a great idea at the time.... especially after the second (or was it the third ?) drink. Only the waitress and the poor sucker who picked up the tab knows for sure. Thanks Dean and/or Bill.
8:15 AM
Latest weather update: it's not raining, it's f&$%#ing drowning outside right now. When does the bar open ?
4:30 PM
We did venture out to the track around noon, and drove through the nearly underwater pro pits. The sportsman pits are a whole 'nother story, as some of those inhabitants may find themselves washed out to sea before the track dries out.
Speaking of the ocean, when you find seagulls on the entrance road of a prairie dragstrip, you know something otherworldy is happening. If we see even the slightest hint of a parade of paired animals, then we're heading for the highest hill which we can find. Unfortunately that is probably the indoor skihill at West Edmonton Mall.
As we made our rounds of the pit area, the predominant mood was one of sullen resignation. People knew that today was a write-off without waiting for any official word, and they really don't hold out a lot of hope for tomorrow. While the pits are still mostly full, if we're looking at the same weather conditions by this time tomorrow, the exodus of racers will rival that of some biblical story.
And then we can consign BudPark to forty years in the wilderness, as the chances of another national event here (especially in light of the complete absence of outside event sponsorship) after any contracted races remaining would have to be slim to none, without some major changes (ie, improvements) to the facility.
The management and owners of the track are sincere, decent, hard-working people who have turned a chunk of the never-ending prairie into a motorsport park that they can be proud of on the local level. But to thrust it, with all its current limitations, onto the national stage is frankly asking too much of it at this time.
The most likely rationale for awarding a national event to Edmonton was the rather thin schedule that IHRA had a few years ago, and the track owners must have felt that their best chance of ever gaining that holy grail was then or never.
I've found out many times, and always the hard way, that it's best to "be careful what you wish for" as many times it's not what you really needed, wanted, or were prepared to deal with. While it's difficult to draw a direct parallel to building and attempting to race an alcohol dragster, to building and running a dragstrip, the analogy can be so very true at times.
It's time to close off this update before I start getting too philosophical and start saying things that other media mavens feel that they have already written, or I start chewing on the hands that have been feeding me this weekend.
Our next update, other than to report on progress on the photo pages, will be tomorrow morning. Or maybe, if we get out to a movie tonight, possibly a movie review. I'm voting for Kill Bill Vol. 2, while Dean and Bill are leaning towards some chick flick or some other wholesome family viewing. Yeah, whatever.....
That's it from the second day of (NON) qualifying from the IHRA Rocky Mountain Nationals