Last 2 years have been cold and wet.... I'm with JW and many others that are happy with the date change. My understanding is May was one of the only available blocks of time available. JW I think the date is the week after Mother's day.
I'll be there either way but stats don't lie. Much more risk for wet weather in May. Sad to say but we don't have enough clout to have it during the dry summer months.
It would be crazy to go somewhere else other than beech bend it wouldn't it? Indy? Just three hours North
I know/understand and what is a GS Nationals without rain? Majority of all the GS nats I have attended, there has been rain on a day.. It gets old getting wet or getting concerned about equipment. Cutting short when the event can't last what is planned. Sometimes tradition needs a different path for better evolution.. What do I know? Most of you purists and this is all moot.
I'm pretty sure other tracks get rained on too. Not just a BB problem. Good luck getting any track secured during prime time rental season. Money and gate revenue becomes a big hurdle if you want any track during prime season.
People have tried other locations. They didnt work. None of them. I bet the Nationals dies and is buried in BG.
Regardless of the weather we are still here in BG having fun with our friends. As I have said before it is mostly about the people (Friends) than anything. We just got back to our room after another meal with a different group of Buick brothers tonight at the Montana Grill with Briz, Waterboy, Alex and a few more of the Campground crew. May is already on the calendar. 6.5 months until the next fun time with the Southern crowd. Can't wait....
It needs to stay in the fall, way more chance of rain in May. I like the idea of the Buick Bash in June and Nationals in the fall. With them only being a month apart some people will be forced to choose one or the other and I think the Quaker event could turn into something good.
Need to be able to shift the racing between sat and sun depending on rain. Or...be able to race at night......if there is motivation to get the event in it can happen in most cases but not having to pay anything out is motivation enough to not make it happen..... A few years back it was sunny at 2pm sat with a clear forecast but they had already called it.
Alan just not August or September. Oh and no local track unless Wildhorse Pass is used. It will be hot Very Hot
It's too bad they didn't have the latitude to push it to Sunday.. at least not with the current dates.. there was a previously scheduled event today, that is running, the rain has pushed thru now. Maybe with the new dates, that Sunday will be an option, although many folks won't be able to stay, they didn't take Monday off from work.. That could be managed, once the word gets out that Sunday is the rain date.. I will say that Richard and his crew did a good job of recognizing the situation with this years event, and doing everything they could to get it in. Most of the local weather folks were saying that the rain would hold off till Friday late.. they were wrong, not much anybody can do about that. As far as May vs October... Weather is tough to generalize, there will always be exceptions, but most of the rain I experienced in the spring BG event was of the reasonably quick, flash thunderstorm type.. coming out of the plains.. it comes and goes, drops a bunch of moisture in a short time, hence the "higher precip totals" in May. Stats can be deceiving. You can get an inch of rain in 30 minutes, or a 1/4 inch all day long.. When it starts raining in late October, it's not flash in the pan thunderstorm.. it's what happened this last weekend, a slow moving soaked.. and in late October, it's cold and miserable.. happened 2 years in a row now. It's gonna rain in BG... so pick your poison Cold steady rain in late October, miserable temps and very hard to dry the track when it's so cold, even if it is a short duration event. Or a thunderstorm that will disrupt proceedings for a while, and it's warm enough that we stand around the bitch about the weather, and not have to huddle in the truck to stay warm... JW
A big THANK YOU to the GS Nationals staff, volunteers, etc. that tried to make this event happen....shifting everything around in a pre-planned event is a P.I.T.A !!! They tried...... but Mother Nature won out......no complaints here !!!! We had a great time as usual (racing, catching-up with people you only see once a year, making new friends, and just BS'ing with die-hard Buick enthusiasts !!!!) These All Buick events are becoming scarce......enjoy them while you can and make the most of it !!!! No matter when the time is next year.....WE WILL BE THERE !!!! Thanks Again,
We've had multiple trips to BG in October with 75-80 degree weather, sometimes even warmer. We've also had cold and rainy days in October. We've had the same in May. It's normally warmer in May so we've had some 90 plus days too. As far as the type of rain in May vs Oct being different I can't speak to that but water is water and that track does not drain well.
As far as the date goes from what I heard it has nothing to do with what the club wants, it is what the track wants and that is why the date change. There was a potential date in September but the clash with the NE Meet at Cecil County would be inevitable so May is being looked at. The logistics are going to be made on the fly because of only 6 months notice. Also from my understanding they have already been buying out the Friday evening program to allow everything to go on as it usually is. That means it costs money whether or not the weather co-operates. I would think that any rain in May has a better chance of drying up faster because of the possible warmer temperatures like it had been known to do in the days when it was held previously held in May. Of course a flood is a flood. It seems that most people who want the location changed usually think somewhere closer to them is the best. If the location is moved there will always be somebody that wins as far as driving and somebody will lose. If you have driven many hours to get there over the years you are now used to it and can handle it because you are still coming back. Anybody who has driven 10 hours to get there and now would only have 6 hours will love it but the guy who now has to drive 14 hours will not be happy and may not come back. IMO the odds of picking up more people coming to the meet or at least making up for the loss of people not coming to the meet because of a location change are very small. Also, no matter how great the costs to take over the track for 4 days at Beech Bend it would have to be astronomical at some of the other tracks mentioned and no matter what they cost you can't buy the "homey" feeling of Beech Bend. I did like the October dates because of the cool air and possible better performance but whatever date, rain in the forecast or not, I'm going to the GS Nationals.
I agree with the may dates . Been going there since 1981.missed afew but in the spring it does dump more water but does also dry quickly. Well sometimes! I was getting race gas in town the girl at the desk asked how the program was going. I said the lane callups and the racing was kinda laid back and slow. She told me she's heard that about our show before. She mentioned that other events there aren't like that. I've heard this from others about how quick other events get cars into and out of the lanes. It would really help some weather situations if our race directors or track personnel could speed it up to beat the weather if possible. We still had a great time and glad I busted my balls to get a engine in two weeks before the event. See you all next year! Oh and I'll take good care of the SS16 winners crown for another year. Lol.
