This past Saturday, Maple Grove Raceway hosted its third Winter time no prep drag race in history. Just like the last two New Years at the Grove events, the weather leading up to the event looked iffy. The racing community was buzzing about this event and we were hopeful for another successful event. A lot of questions were circulating about temperatures and what factors there were in cancelling the event. Given this is not our first time hosting an event and playing the weather waiting game, we had our sights for full steam ahead. There were a few moments when we did question if we were going to be able to race. Not necessarily because of the temperatures, which we were noticing forecasted between 33 degrees and 44 degrees as a high for the day. But because of the precipitation being expected. From 14 days to 5 days out, we were seeing a percentage of precipitation that could either be snow or rain. That was when we started to scratch our heads and wonder if we would be lucky enough three times in a roll gambling against Mother Nature. As the event was four days out, we noticed a more consistent forecast with a temperature that ranged in the mid to lower 30s with no chance of precipitation. We felt confident at that point we were for sure racing, just wearing a few extra layers of clothing.
The day before, our team was doing the final finishing touches to the track, ticketing and grounds for the event. Yes, this even included snow removal. There was some snow still left in the staging lanes and around the track that had no plans of melting before Saturday morning. We were all planning for just a super chilly dry morning to open the gates. But what we did not expect when we looked at the hourly right before bed was that 30 percent chance of rain for three hours in the middle of the night. A 30 percent chance of rain seemed like nothing to worry about given it came out of nowhere and that it was only for three hours. As the team headed into work, we noticed everything was still pretty wet and some of us still were experiencing some light rain….hours after predicted. As the sun was trying to rise, it was looking like a gloomy start to the morning, but our track team got right to work. The gates opened at 7am and racers were greeted by the sights of tractors and blowers all making laps on the track. The initial goal was a 9am start for the Daily Driver class. Keep in mind, trying to dry the track with no wind, no sun and no warmth is a hard task. But our track team had their heads down and just kept at it. Mother Nature threw them a bone, and blessed us with some wind. Which was great for track drying, not great for those trying to stay warm. Somehow the team dried the track, the sun came out and we went racing on time.
We were pleasantly surprised when the forecasters ended up missing the mark on how the day would turn out. What was predicted to be a high of 35 degrees with some sun turned out to be a high of 39 degrees with full sun. That lead to a chilly but comfortable day for racers and fans. Temperatures didn’t start to really drop until the sun began to set. Then it became pretty chilly.
The most talked about class this past event around the pits and on social media was the Daily Driver class. Many were hesitant about joining the class leading up to the event given the car could not be faster than 10.0 seconds in the 1/8th mile. For many that seemed “too slow” for entertainment. For us…that was the point! We had four other grudge style heads up classes that were just full of fast cars. Which everyone loves fast cars obviously. But, the Daily Driver class was designed to be fun and entertaining. We saw all sorts of cars and trucks come down the staging lanes. One fan even commented that it looked like a “drive thru line instead of a staging lane”. After the first time run, some of the fans came back out to the gate to enter the class just because it was funny to watch. We watched many familiar faces going up against new comers. To some that seemed like an uneven playing field. Given their level of experience in racing was different. But the beauty of the Daily Driver class having the time restriction, was it acted as a leveling agent. Even the more seasoned racers in the Daily Driver class were being tripped up trying to go slower. It was not in their nature to go slow.
Overall the Ice Breaker event was a success and the Daily Driver class was a hit. We are thankful Mother Nature cooperated for a third time during the Winter months for us to host a no prep event. You can see the class winners from this past Saturday below. And if you missed the action and want to see what you missed, check out 3.61 Media who was there the whole day documenting the event. His website is https://www.3-61media.com/Clients/Maple-Grove
