Unsafe track delays Outlaws

Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2000 | 10:31 a.m.

An unsafe racing surface prompted officials from the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Pennzoil World of Outlaws to postpone Tuesday's opening night of the Z-Max Silver State Shootout at the half-mile dirt track.

Weekend rains left the track too soggy to properly prepare it for the winged sprint cars and Tuesday's show was rescheduled for Friday evening. It was not possible to reschedule Tuesday's races for Thursday night because the World of Outlaws is holding its annual awards banquet that evening.

Tonight's racing is expected to go on as planned, according to LVMS general manager Chris Powell.

Dale Blaney, driver of the No. 93 Amaco racer, was one of several drivers who tested the track Tuesday evening and deemed it unsafe to race.

"The corners weren't bad but the straightaways were real wavy and choppy," Blaney said. "It's tough to not race (but) I wouldn't want to race on it. For whatever reason, this surface is tough for them to get right."

Powell said the problem stemmed from a combination of track workers adding sand to the dirt track, the facility's normal watering regimen and the rainstorm that hit the area late Sunday night and early Monday morning.

"The watering that we did would have been fine except the sand really held in the moisture," Powell said. "The watering we did came back to bite us. Nobody had any bad intentions, but we learned the hard way that this track will now hold water a lot better than ever before.

"It's a tough way to learn and I can't apologize enough to the fans."

About 6,000 spectators were sent home with the promise that their tickets would be accepted for Friday's show. Fans not able to attend Friday night can get a refund by mailing their ticket stubs back to the Speedway's ticket office.

But that did little to soothe the dozens of angry fans with whom Powell spoke shortly after the race was postponed.

"They're just killing their racing program here," one disgusted fan muttered as he stormed out of the facility. "They just keep screwing things up."

Powell appeared sympathetic to his customers' concerns as he held court with them for nearly 30 minutes.

"The fans have every right to be upset,' Powell said "All they expect of us is to have the facility ready and we didn't do it and it's my fault and I'm sorry."

After running 94 events since late February, Blaney said none of the drivers are looking forward to extending the season another two days.

"Everybody was looking forward to racing," Blaney said. "It has been a long year and if we could have raced (Tuesday) and Wednesday and been done with it, that would have been good.

"Hopefully they can make the track safe enough to race (tonight) and Friday."