Yes, It Does Also Rain in Florida

Round three of the Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park administered by the Lucas Oil Racing Series was scheduled for Wednesday night but the elements had much to say about that. About 4 pm a line of showers with a little embedded thunder rolled through the area. It didn't rain that long but it did come down quite hard. Soon the sun was back out and track officials set about trying to get the raceway back into acceptable shape.

An announcement was soon made that racing was still on and series officials continued to check tires for the evening's racing action, even though most race cars remained buttoned up in their haulers. Grading and other activity was going on as a few cars finally unloaded. As it got later, they attempted to turn on the track lights and the light bank in turn three failed to work.

Suddenly, activity ground to a halt and an officials' huddle was formed. Soon after it was announced that the program had been canceled due to the light problem and the fact that as the evening cooled after the sun set, the moisture was bleeding back up on to the track from below. Some in the crowd earlier were hoping for a postponement with it being kind of damp and the hour growing later, favoring a doubleheader at some point during the week. East Bay has been famous for attempting to get in all their shows possible, with day/night doubleheaders often held in the past. I'm not sure what changed their thinking in 2017 but tonight's show ended up being a cancellation, not a postponement and the show won't be made up. That made some of those hoping for a quick postponement rather than trying to stick it out and get the show in looking a bit foolish.
It was noted that before the haulers were buttoned up that several drivers including Frank Heckenast Jr, Brian Shirley, Brent Larson, Kenny Pettyjohn,  Billy Moyer Jr and Nick Kurtz had already left the grounds and with several others also slated to do so after Wednesday night racing, unless there is a large influx of different drivers at East Bay for the final three programs, it could be hard to muster up even forty cars for their highest paying shows. Don O'Neal, Darrell Lanigan and Zack Dohm were scheduled to join the field on Wednesday while Bloomquist, Flinner and Horton planned to wait one more day.

With rain in the forecast for Saturday, many are now wondering what, if any, the contingency plan will be for the biggest race of the week, should the worst happen.