[The Boss]

Originally Posted by Half-Inch Stud

Lake in Wood Campground, or Maple Grove yard?
...the Sunny Day plan was to spend Fathers Day at Lake-in-Wood AFTER getting a time slip. Butt Hay there's other things for a rainy day. Safe driving. Dumbask Question is there a possible re-schedule? HIS

Mark, we were in the Maple Grove yard - got there last evening so Jim could get a jump on things this morning....it was beautiful at sunset.

I woke around 5:30 to the sound of rain this morning, and it rained off & on until Jim made the regretful decision a little after 7:00 this morning. We had radar & laptops - everything that was needed to make a qualified decision about the event. It's unfortunate that so many people had left early and were already on their way at that point only to be turned away at the gate (we saw you banging gears up the hill - car sounded great!).

I'm sure Jim would gladly hand over the reigns of this event or any other to somebody else. Paying the bill for smashed Jersey barriers or the tab when not enough people show up on a rainy Father's Day isn't something I would want to do.

Thanks Jim, more than happy to travel for another try if you decide it's worth all the trouble!

[triathlonx13]

We had no rain from a TA truck stop (over night stay) and a short hour ride into the Maple Grove complex at 8:00am ?? Pavement wasn't wet ?

[GTO JUDGE]

Declaimer: This is lengthy:::

I don't care to get caught up in a debate and won't but I thought I'd share a not so pleasant decision I had to make based on weather:

I can appreciate a difficult decision that needs made as it happened to me several years ago for our All Pontiac Show. The day before our show a good portion of the showfield was under water up past the ankles. Upon talking to the Dealer who was worried about the forecast on show day 100% heavy rains with severe T- Storms, & high winds we talked about LIABILITY, lightening hitting standing water with cars and people? With that forecast as predicted by every weather outlet, I sweated out a sleepless night. 4 am it begins raining. I am on the phone with my officers at 5 am. What do we do? It stopped raining. We are all on the phone looking at radar, heavy rain on top of us all over the Central PA region, but no rain. Do we cancel based on a forecast?

By 5.30 I am at the showfield with a sick feeling in my guts. Officers show up at 6 am. Every weather forecast said the same…. 100%. We begin calling all preregistered participants. Many thanked us, some we could not reach. They were on the road. Some came from W. Virgina, Virginia, Delaware, and upper PA near NY. 8 am no rain… folks are pulling in. I am explaining to them the situation, some drove 3 hours or longer, I was sick to my stomach and numb. Unless you have gone through this you have no idea how a decision you make will affect others.

Some were gracious, some pi$$ed, no rain. I bet we had close to 12 people show up from long distances one got a motel over night. When I tell you I was sick to my guts, that is putting it mildly. Still no rain. Some hung around. We popped the hoods on the cars and made a mini car show…. It didn’t rain a drop all friggin day. All had the forecast wrong. We looked like idiots, but how many would have come reading the same forecast?

The story gets worse: ...............We decide on a makeup day … Rain or shine: Early October was the best the dealer could do and us having a month to re-advertise, our postponed event was a rain or shine event however the weather was to be that bad... safety over ruled everything we could not in good conscience jeopardize anyone. So, that day comes: 50% chance of rain… It not only rained, it flooded a portion of the showfield, 40 degrees wind chills in the teens. Some drove through 6” of snow in upper PA to get to Lancaster. First time it snowed this early in a very very long time. It stormed all day heavy all day long. 35 cars showed that day in a monsoon. We bought pizza and coffee and drinks for all. We ended up throwing a party for all, on us. All the donations we had as our fundraiser, many expensive items went to winners for a buck or 2. We lost our a$$ to the tune of 500+ dollars. That’s a lot of money for a club to lose.

Some reading this know what happened as they were there.

My point to all this is: Unless you are the one making the decision you haven’t any idea just how tough it is to base an event on a weather forecast. Then adding insult to injury, the weather turns out to slap you in the face because your decision you made didn’t reflect the forecast. … Just my

[Rob B]

We drove 10 hrs, 600 miles, with 2 cars attached to the back of my truck. Almost $500 in fuel and gas alone to come out to the PY event and the Maple Grove race. And yes, both me and Carole (Rustie) were upset that the race was cancelled but we were there with the Zeeks, and like the Boss stated above, everything we had available to us showed heavy rain was coming and there was no way the program could get run. I KNOW Jim had the same feeling as mentioned by GTO JUDGE also because we were all there!! He DID NOT WANT TO CANCEL but when the track is telling you to pull the plug otherwise your about to lose a serious chunk of coin, you follow their recommendations.
Jim, as well as his family have put their hearts and soul over the years into trying to get events together for the Pontiac community some have been successful and some haven't but at least they've tried and continued to try at least up to this point but I think this truly may have been their last go at it.
Look, we don't drive all that distance to try and make money off a race or hope to win something big at the show. We do it to visit with old friends and others we may only see a couple of times a year who share the same common interest as we do. We go to support a vendor who also puts his heart and soul in this community also, and if people don't support these kinds of events, its pretty simple, they just won't exist anymore.

[Jerry H.]

This event has been on my bucket list for many years and I was disappointed when it went away a few years ago. When PY started up it's event and Jim decided to give it another try in conjunction with their event I thought it was a great idea to combine the two. Although I've not been able to attend due to financial constraints, I do hope Jim will still consider to take this on in the future. I'm down to one event per year at the most, and I will try to make it this one for next year. Hope to see you all in Dayton next month!

[Jerry H.]

Rob and I were typing at the same time. And I concur exactly with what he said. Some of my closest and best friends are the one's that I've made within the Pontiac community. I only get to see them maybe once a year. I don't take 'vacations', but I save my money to come out to Pontiac events. Like Rob said, if we don't support these events and the guys who put them on, they will go away. And they can't control the weather.

[60man]

Originally Posted by Rob B

We drove 10 hrs, 600 miles, with 2 cars attached to the back of my truck. Almost $500 in fuel and gas alone to come out to the PY event and the Maple Grove race. And yes, both me and Carole (Rustie) were upset that the race was cancelled but we were there with the Zeeks, and like the Boss stated above, everything we had available to us showed heavy rain was coming and there was no way the program could get run. I KNOW Jim had the same feeling as mentioned by GTO JUDGE also because we were all there!! He DID NOT WANT TO CANCEL but when the track is telling you to pull the plug otherwise your about to lose a serious chunk of coin, you follow their recommendations.
Jim, as well as his family have put their hearts and soul over the years into trying to get events together for the Pontiac community some have been successful and some haven't but at least they've tried and continued to try at least up to this point but I think this truly may have been their last go at it.
Look, we don't drive all that distance to try and make money off a race or hope to win something big at the show. We do it to visit with old friends and others we may only see a couple of times a year who share the same common interest as we do. We go to support a vendor who also puts his heart and soul in this community also, and if people don't support these kinds of events, its pretty simple, they just won't exist anymore.

Well said Rob...I'm sure it was a painful decision to make but Zeek had no choice...made the right choice. I am only sorry I could not make it. I don't think it was right for the track to make a statement other than cancelled due to weather.....period. Thank you Jim Zeek for all your efforts..

Hope to see all at Norwalk..

[Brian Baker]

Originally Posted by Rob B

We drove 10 hrs, 600 miles, with 2 cars attached to the back of my truck. Almost $500 in fuel and gas alone to come out to the PY event and the Maple Grove race. And yes, both me and Carole (Rustie) were upset that the race was cancelled but we were there with the Zeeks, and like the Boss stated above, everything we had available to us showed heavy rain was coming and there was no way the program could get run. I KNOW Jim had the same feeling as mentioned by GTO JUDGE also because we were all there!! He DID NOT WANT TO CANCEL but when the track is telling you to pull the plug otherwise your about to lose a serious chunk of coin, you follow their recommendations.
Jim, as well as his family have put their hearts and soul over the years into trying to get events together for the Pontiac community some have been successful and some haven't but at least they've tried and continued to try at least up to this point but I think this truly may have been their last go at it.
Look, we don't drive all that distance to try and make money off a race or hope to win something big at the show. We do it to visit with old friends and others we may only see a couple of times a year who share the same common interest as we do. We go to support a vendor who also puts his heart and soul in this community also, and if people don't support these kinds of events, its pretty simple, they just won't exist anymore.

Rob, did it bother you there was no purse posted before coming out?

Where is the "like" button for this post?

[Rob B]

Originally Posted by Brian Baker

Rob, did it bother you there was no purse posted before coming out?

Where is the "like" button for this post?

I honestly didn't care, unless there was a $1000 win, I wouldn't break even for the trip anyway, but thats not why we do it. We race to have fun, the competition and to hang out and shoot the chit with friends and other racers. I've won some decent money races in the past and some that make you chuckle, in the end, it really doesn't matter. We go to support the people who continually attempt to put these events on and we'll continue to do that as long as our health and scavenging finances allow us to!

[shotgun]

Rob will show up anywhere there is a chance of running into a women with her own hand cuffs and night stick. He likes female cops also.

[Rob B]

Originally Posted by shotgun

Rob will show up anywhere there is a chance of running into a women with her own hand cuffs and night stick. He likes female cops also.

I tried to get the officer I was "chatting" with to get her out of her cruiser but she wouldn't..and the officer advised me not to try either....

[Brian Baker]

Originally Posted by shotgun

Rob will show up anywhere there is a chance of running into a women with her own hand cuffs and night stick. He likes female cops also.

Nice change of pace from his pup tent days.

[triathlonx13]

This is all starting to resemble an Abbott and Costello skit . Enjoy.


.

[shotgun]

Who's IN first!!

[miller_time]

I agree with Dave (black70GTO). I am a regular bracket racer at E-town and enjoy going to the Pontiac only events. I go to Ohio every year. It costs me about $500 just in gas. I went to all of the Pontiacs in the park events at VMP. I have seen many Pontiac events come and go and it's a shame. We all need to stick together to keep as many events as possible but payouts should be posted.
I also agree with Dave on "Those who do RACE, Those who don't talk $%it on all these boards !!!!!!!"
What kind of Pontiac do you race , Brian?