Unpredictable weather is norm when it comes to Little 500. In 2010, the men's race was stopped and restarted due to rain and lightning.
In 1991, the Women's race was run on Saturday due to rain. In 1976, the race was postponed on both Saturday and Sunday, bring run on Monday
afternoon at 3:00 pm. Luckily, dealing with the weather as far as the rules go is pretty simple. The major rule that is affected by the weather
is the rule that states that if the race is stopped before 101 laps (51 for the women) are completed; the race must be restarted when conditions allow.
If 101 laps (51 for the women) are completed and it is stopped, it is the decision of the Chief Steward if the race is continued when conditions are
acceptable, or he can chose to end the race. From the flag standpoint, a red flag means the race is stopped and black flag means it is completed.
In practical terms, if weather is moving in and 101 (51 for the women) or more laps are completed, it is best to be leading the race. If the Chief Steward
decides to end the race, you are the winner. In most cases, the race will be red flagged in an effort to get in all 100 or 200 laps. Usually, the race will
not go from green to red or from green to black, it will go to yellow first. So remember that when the race goes yellow, everyone must hold their position
relative to the leader. What this means is that because everyone cannot creep under the yellow, the officials will that the race standing from the last
green and determine the final standings. So when it starts raining and you really want to be the leader when the race goes from Green to yellow.
Another weather issue is the wind, specifically when it comes out of the west. In years when the wind has been strong out of the west, the number of accidents
in the 2nd turn has risen dramatically. This is because as a tight pack comes out of turn 2 the riders in the front a slowed down by the head wind.
Unfortunately, the riders behind them will simply run into them because the wind is not affecting them as much as the leaders. If it is windy out of
the west on race day, be sure to have your riders leave a reasonable gap to avoid a wreck.
|