Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS — The Southern California Timing Association has postponed its speed week activities after heavy rainfall left the flats damp.
The semi-annual event has been put on hold while standing rainwater dries on the flats where races occur, according to JoAnne Carlson, media liaison for Bonneville Nationals. Water was about 1-inch deep on the courses, but deeper in lower areas, including the pits, which were covered with water about “ankle-deep” Thursday afternoon.
SCTA has pushed back the racing 24 hours, though the event could be further delayed following inspection Thursday afternoon, she said. More rain was forecast for Friday, and if it drops too much moisture on the course, the event would likely be canceled, she said.
“If that drops too much moisture, we might have to cancel the meet. But we’re hoping that will pass over, and maybe we will get some drying,” Carlson said. “If we’re lucky we’ll be racing by Monday.”
While most of the people that have come out to watch are from Salt Lake, Carlson said, there were 544 pre-entries for Speed Week, with 11 countries represented. There are about 80-100 organizers who are waiting, some sitting in their cars.
“It’s a major disappointment for all of us. We’ve never seen anything like that in August. Not on the salt flats,” Carlson said.
"It's unfortunate. We have a lot of people coming from my team," Keith Copeland of Black Salt Racing said. "But we're still hopeful that it's an event that they're going to be able to have."
The Bureau of Land Management told people to stay off the access road and avoid camping in the mud while the salt dries and heals. Law enforcement officers were patrolling the area, turning around vehicles on the road until further notice, the BLM said in a release.
Contributing: Jed Boal
