NASCAR has been around for over 70 years with multiple divisions racing on a regular basis, during that time rain has shortened over 50 races since 1972 and delayed too many races to count, including this week’s Talladega race being the most recent. With stats like this, one would wonder, why has standard weather condition equipment not been introduced before now?

What’s the Big Deal

When a race is delayed or ends due to rain it is not just a hard call made by NASCAR, it is a call that effects many.

Teams/Drivers: Drivers have a race-day routine and when they get to the track they just want to race, when a race is delayed or moved it really throws off their mojo and they could struggle when they otherwise would have been on their “A” game. Teams are on a strict weekly schedule as it is to get cars ready and turned around to go to the next track. When a race is delayed, they are put on an even tighter timeline for the next week of racing.

Media: Depending on the broadcast agreement with the particular broadcast company, broadcast costs could go up because many times, the time slot for NASCAR races are pre-paid, causing announcers to just fill the time in with random interviews, stats, and old races many times. Plus, if a race is moved to the next day, NASCAR would require more airtime. With this new time slot, the viewership for the rescheduled races are largely diminished. Media covering the races must adjust multiple schedules to make room for coverage of the newly scheduled race, while also accounting for the previously scheduled coverage.

Fans: Those in attendance of a delayed NASCAR race have been excited all day long for the event, only to have to hurry up wait, wait and wait some more for the race to start, then be told to wait until the next day. For many folks, a Monday race would mean either take a day off work or go to work and watch on TV instead. From a TV viewer standpoint, fans feel gipped if a winner is announced because of rain not allowing them to finish the race. If the race is delayed we feel we have wasted the day if we have to sit and watch filler material on television for them to ultimately call the race and come back the next day to watch the race at a time that is probably not as convenient as Sunday afternoon.

"The biggest thing is just the effect on our fans," said Speedway Motorsports Inc. president Marcus Smith. "The fans and the sponsors that are here [have] the biggest disappointment. That's our biggest cost.” -espn.com

Watkins Glen 2017

NASCAR has already begun to introduce solutions to the rain delay issue beginning at Watkins Glen in 2017.

“According to the NASCAR rulebook, should the race start under dry conditions and then it become rainy, “the rear flashing light must be activated on all vehicles for the remainder of the race.”

“Rules state that during the caution period, cars may “elect to pit and change tires (‘wet’ or ‘dry’), install ‘wet’ weather condition equipment” or they may remain on the race track at their “sole discretion.”

And the crew chief is “solely responsible for the decision of when to change or utilize ‘dry’ or ‘wet’ condition equipment.”

Should it rain before the green flag is waved to start the race, all vehicles “will return to their assigned pit stall and must install the “wet” weather tires and activate the rear flashing light for the race.

“Windshield wipers may be installed. No other adjustments or refueling will be permitted at this time.”

Originally, if it rained during a road course race and rain tires were available, NASCAR would throw a caution and bring everyone into the pits for a five-minute break to allow everyone to change to rain tires. This was only used once in practice, the the then-Nationwide Series NAPA Auto Parts 200 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2009.  It was technically used in the 2008 race as well, but that turned into a much longer red flag due to adverse conditions beyond the effectiveness of Goodyear's rain tires.

Expanding Efforts

NASCAR has a solid start on a rules package for rainy day weather on road courses. They need to expand on it to include all other races. Since rain is inevitable each week, we need to take a proactive approach and implement a plan of action that allows us to continue with the show, instead of just reacting when the inevitable does happen. Everyone just wants to go racing on schedule.

Here’s what needs to happen across the board for tracks other than Road Courses:

1. Rear flashing light must be on cars for every race and able to be turned on in the event of rain. They must turn them on as it begins to rain

2. Goodyear will need to fine tune the process of having a supply of rain tires or treads to be added to slicks if a race begins to be affected by rain.

3. Rain-X infused windshield tear offs will also need to be readily installed to repel the rain

4. Deflectors will need to be attached on the driver side window to prevent rain from coming in, but also allowing the driver not to become overheated.

5. Since it will be slippery on the track and the high speeds would cause a mess, quick change restrictor plates/tapered spacers will need to be installed to prevent high speeds yet continue with the racing action.

At a practice session in 1995, Terry Labonte made the first test of tread tires in rainy conditions at Martinsville Speedway. Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt tested rain tires at Watkins Glen later that year. We are now 25 years down the road and we are still waiting to implement these radials into the series. Numerous attempts since that initial 1995 test have taken place and each time rain wreaks havoc.

The perfect combination has not been found yet. With this Gen7/NextGen Car coming out in the 2022 season, this would be a great time to implement these changes. I wish that would be the case, but it may never be at the top of the NASCAR checklist for a number of reasons including costs, the changes are going to cost money for teams, Goodyear and NASCAR to implement any rain changes. 

NASCARs reputation is also on the line if they were to make changes that end up not working. None of the tests that have currently been run with weather condition equipment for rain has been overwhelmingly productive. Other series of racing already run in the rain.

Initially the changes will cost some, but these costs can be continually reevaluated and adjusted for effectiveness until it gets to where everyone is comfortable. These are the best drivers in the world, they should be able to drive in these conditions rain or shine.