Michelin Man,
Why are you absent from this thread? We actually had racing where people showed up, tire vendors changed tires and racers, raced. I'm sure the guys that drove all the way from Oregon, Washington, and N. Cal, sure did appreciate their average cost per race lap dropping, instead of increasing with a rain out.
Good morning, sunshine!
I don't spend all my free time on Barf and as ZIM suggested, I just got back from giving my dogs a bit of a 'workout'...
You just don't get it! How many people were racing at WSMC in the rain?? 200?? 300??? 400??? I doubt it. I will bet money that a significant percentage of the "fair weather" racers just said "fuggit" and didn't show up at all, which is exactly what would happen in the AFM since we're so spoiled with good weather. You keep preaching about
'all these racers who won't come to an AFM race because the club will cancel the races if it rains'... but there are
exponentially more fair weather racers (especially those who aren't in a points race and just show up for fun) who have no desire to get soaking wet. The same thing happens for trackdays, some guys decide to ride (many only due to the fact that they will be charged anyway) and a whole bunch just say "screw it" and don't drive to the track at all or maybe drive there to hang out in the pits and drink beer with their buddies.
While the logistics may not have played a huge part in a tiny club like WSMC, when the AFM holds races even today we get 200+ riders and in the past we've seen 400+ riders. A new rain policy would have to be in place whether we get 200 riders or 400+ riders, it's not something that can be in constant flux as the economy fluctuates. Did you watch the Daytona 200 race where they stopped the race and forced everybody to change front tires?? Wasn't the delay close to 2 hours?? And according to the AMA Pro results posted, weren't there only 39 riders?? The Dunlop techs are top notch and they have several machines (didn't go to any AMA races this year but I usually saw at least 4-5 machines) but if they get mobbed by 40 riders wanting a tire change, it's not going to take 40 minutes because it's physically impossible!
I find it sort of comical that you're trying to label me as the "anti rain racing" guy because frankly it would be more profitable for me as a business if the policy changed and a whole bunch of people bought rain tires in N. California. For AFM racers they would be about as useful as owning snow tires in San Diego but it's not like I'm going to turn them down if they want to give me money for them. However, as a long time AFM member, I look at it as a cost/benefit equation and I just don't think it's a good value for AFM racers to invest a bunch of money in a rain setup. btw, I previously forgot to mention that with rain tires you're also supposed to use multi-temp or adjustable temp tire warmers, so quite a few people would also have to replace their single temp tire warmers too.
While all the 'rain-happy-racers' have chimed in, something else to consider is that next time you get to run your rain race in June at Thunderhill (yeah, fat chance!
) and it counts for points, the AFM might make some money at that event from the racers who decide they still want to race in the rain... however, all the other racers who didn't race for various reasons (no rain equipment, no rain riding skills/practice, no interest in being cold and wet) are going to be out of the points race for the rest of the season. How many will still come to the rest of the AFM races for the year and how many will just say 'fuggit' and take their 'fun money' to spend in Mexico or Hawaii instead of racing in the AFM?? So while maybe the club salvaged some money out of an even that would've otherwise been cancelled due to rain, how much money will the club LOSE at the rest of the events because racers lost interest once they were out of the points chase. What happens if that rain race is the first one of the season, how many riders will the club lose for the
entire season???
Some of you guys just can't think beyond what YOU want and completely disregard what's good for the club overall. Like I said, if it was just about me, me, me... I would be all over changing the rain policy and selling a bunch of snow tires... ehhh, I mean 'rain tires' to a bunch of racers who will likely never use them.
Oh, ghey ! 
