Much more than race day lost when rain pours down

As the rain pounded down over Auto Club Speedway of Southern California this past weekend, it might as well have been pennies hitting the ground rather than water.
The postponement from Sunday afternoon to early Monday was costly to ACS officials in terms of lost revenues for concessions, souvenirs and the like, but what really rang the cash register was paying for all the hourly employees to come back for another day's work.

"Anybody that is working your race is an hourly employee," said one former track official. "If you want them to come back and direct traffic, park cars or whatever it is they do for you, you have to pay that hourly rate."
Security guards, concession-stand staffers, ushers, program sellers, waste management personnel, you name it and there's a time clock attached. Say there's 1,000 people working the rainout, at about $8 an hour -- that's $8,000 an hour times 10 hours or $80,000. It's likely more than that, much more since it's California we're talking about, and that's just the hourly staffing requirement.
That's in addition to another day's worth of insurance for the entire track -- most tracks are covered 24/7, 365, but the rates go up a bit for a race weekend, and the coverage changes.
Lest you think that ACS went broke this past weekend, there is the fact that ticket monies were not refunded because of rain. "Fans with a ticket stub for either Saturday's NASCAR doubleheader or Sunday's Auto Club 500 will be entitled to free general admission grandstand seating for both of [Monday's] rescheduled races," was the way it was put on Auto Club Speedway's Web site.
Vendors lose money too, because if it's raining, there aren't many lines at the souvenir trailers. If it's raining like it was at California, there's a good chance that many people never left the hotel.
The cost to race fans is fairly steep, too. Another hotel room at $250 per, another meal out at $75, more gas for the car, lost hours at work ... the list goes on.
NASCAR itself has costs associated with a rainout. The same costs that fans incur -- lodging, travel, rental cars, rebooked flights -- apply to the NASCAR officials on the road, and there's another day's pay involved as well.
In short, rainouts profit no one except hotels, airlines, car rental companies and other service outlets.
Think of the drivers, who lose a day of precious "free time" with family, and crew members who have one less day to turn around the next racecar as well as one less day at home.
Reporters, TV personnel, media center staffers, radio personalities, all are forced to stay another day as well.
It's a cost of doing business when you hold events that are subject to the fickleness of Mother Nature.

Of course, there are those in the sport who attempt to make a bad situation just a little more palatable. Take Las Vegas Motor Speedway, for instance.
LVMS, owned by Speedway Motorsports Inc, is offering a special promotion for Nationwide Series fans this week. Race fans who bring a ticket stub from the rain-delayed Stater Bros. 300 can buy tickets to the Sam's Town 300 on Saturday for just $25.
"We're making this gesture to do our part to help the series grow," LVMS president Chris Powell said. "While we have sold more than 100,000 tickets to the Sam's Town 300 this Saturday, we have plenty of room to accommodate those loyal race fans who have endured the poor weather in Southern California."
Nothing like a little gamesmanship in the midst of torrents of rainwater, is there?
Ticket insurance, an idea that caught on last year, is available for races at Auto Club Speedway, but rain is not among the covered reasons for a claim, which are:
• "Illness or serious Injury; • Traffic accidents -- which could prevent you from getting to an event; • Mechanical Breakdown -- if your car breaks down within 48 hours of the event ; • Airline delay -- if your plane or other Common Carrier is delayed (includes bad weather) while going to the event; • Home or Business Issues -- if your home or business is uninhabitable due to fire, flood, vandalism, burglary or natural disasters; Care for a family member -- serious injury to a family member, requiring you to provide care; • Felonious Assault -- if you are a victim of a felonious assault within 3 days prior to an event; • Employer Termination -- providing protection against a lay-off; • Jury Duty -- if you are required to serve on jury duty after having purchased an event ticket; • Required to Work -- if your employer requires you to work during the event; • Work Relocation -- if you are relocated by your company over 100 miles from your home; • Military Duty -- if you are required to miss an event as a result of military orders."
Nowhere in the document on the site or in the policy itself is rain mentioned as a reason for an insurance claim.
So now you know at least one reason why NASCAR does its best to complete its events on the day advertised. It's a whole lot cheaper for everyone involved!