Extreme Weather Experience ?

[c7]

With the BY400 coming up soon I was wondering what experiences other here have had with extreme weather at racing events.

Last years BY400 is near if not at the top of my personal list.
An MIS Cup race in June that R.Wallace won in the early 90's is another.
I also remember being at a very very cold New Bremen, OH USAC race in the fall with my Dad when I was a kid.

I also remember a very hot B. Unser Indy win in the #48 Olsonite Eagle on an uncomfortble May day at IMS.

Thanks to NBC the BY400 starts just as the heat of the is setting in the MidWest instead of the race ending as it was pre-NBC.

What are your experiences?

[KevMcNJ]

cold: Turkey Derby at Wall Stadium (NJ)around 1980.
Dad spilled hot chocolate and it froze on the seats within minutes.

also saw an enduro at Mahoning Valley (PA) speedway on 1-2-88
which was run with ice and snow on the track

heat: Richmond Silver Crown race 2001. nuff said

Winston 500 @ Talladega July 1988. We had seats under the covered section and the metal roof was just baking me alive.
I was pretty sure I was gonna pass out. I survived and saw Schrader win his first WC race

[carl s]

"What are your experiences?"

Hottest - any of the daytime Las Vegas IRL races - the last was the worst.
Coldest - Las Vegas 1997? accompanying Sat Night SCRA race on the dirt oval- And this from a New Englander who sat through many a freezing day and night at the track.

carl s
Indio, CA

[Liz]

I've seen snow at Terre Haute and Eldora, but it still wasn't as cold as the '92 500 - the only year my husband ever brought beer home.

Hot - I've been to a lot of sweaty sprint races, but wooden bleachers don't hold the heat like metal ones, so my nod would go to last year's Brickyard.

I agree that waiting until past 1:30 to start the Brickyard (thanks a bunch, NBC! ) is just ridiculous. But of course we are merely the paying public.

[roach]

A couple of years ago, it was 71 degrees when I left Bristol after the spring race. 500 miles and 8 hours later, I was in 4WD going through snow drifts 10 miles from home!

jcr

[MM658]

Hot -- '75 and '77 Indy 500's come to mind.

Cold -- Riverside Park (Agawam, Mass.) running openers at night in late March was an "interesting" idea. I remember a snow storm taking place ~ 5 days before the opener one year in the late '80s or early '90s. The promoter got volunteers to help shovel out the grandstand the day before the race. At the race, it was like sitting outdoors in the middle of winter. Yet, they drew reasonably well, so who were the crazy ones??