INDIANAPOLIS – During a morning briefing on event operations at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Media Center, track president Doug Boles told reporters that track and racing officials were monitoring a potentially severe storm that could include lightning and could impact the start of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
Here’s what you need to know from Boles’ morning update:
Where is the storm right now?
As of 6:20 a.m. ET, the first of two waves of storms that hit IMS were around St. Louis. According to weather experts working the track, this storm is expected to hit between noon and 1 p.m. Sunday, with some light precipitation possibly falling before the real storms hit.
As of Saturday evening, that first wave looked like it could hit IMS in the 2 to 3 p.m. window, Boles said, but those patterns have changed.
“Our plan right now is to continue to monitor this storm. We think we’re going to get some sort of weather at some point today,” Boles said. “Our biggest concern is not rain, but rather lightning and the safety of our Speedway customers.
“The next few hours will define when this storm could hit Indianapolis, and we will want to make sure we update our customers and let them know where we are (in terms of changing the day’s schedule) to give them time to decide what what they want to do – whether they stay at the Speedway or whether they want to stay in their car, or frankly whether they want to wait at home until they see how this weather works out.”
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IMS will be proactive in the face of lightning threats
Although fans are familiar with the typical 8-mile rule (lightning in that radius can temporarily postpone or cancel youth sporting events), IMS says it will make calls to empty the stands much quicker.
Boles said weather radars will be displayed on video screens around the property so fans can monitor and act accordingly.
“As we start to see this storm develop, we will start to think about asking people to leave the stands much earlier than within an 8-mile radius, so they can implement their own safety plan,” Boles said. “We still have 120 minutes to see how this storm develops, and then we will make another decision on the right thing to do to keep our customers safe.”
IMS will alert fans of weather and venue updates through its public address system and on its video boards. Fans can also text “Indy500” to 67283 to receive alerts on their phone.
What does this mean for the Indy 500 start time?
With a green flag expected at 12:45 p.m. ET and rain possibly arriving by noon, there’s a good chance the 500k won’t start as planned, Boles said. On Saturday evening, IMS, NBC and its partners discussed moving the start of the race to 12:15 p.m.
“But when he started thinking the storm might hit at noon, it didn’t make sense,” Boles said. “And the last thing we wanted to do was move up to 12:15 p.m., ask customers to come here while they wait for the pre-race ceremonies, and then, some time before that, tell them they have to leave due to the weather.
“When it looked like these storms might hit us until 2-3 p.m., (going back to the start), 30 minutes could have really helped us, but because of where it’s happening, it doesn’t have any impact. sense of moving it at all because we would put ourselves in a worse situation.”
What will happen to the Indy 500 pre-race ceremonies?
The driver presentations are scheduled to take place this morning at 11:47 a.m., a little less than an hour before the scheduled drop of the green flag. The romance parts kick off at 12:11 with “America the Beautiful,” and that’s where Boles said the show would likely go on hiatus.
“The most important part for people is the last half hour,” Boles said. “You start to rethink from ‘command (to start the engines)’ backwards. I think by 9:30 a.m. we will definitely have made a decision on where we’re going with these items. If he only rains, we would usually go through the pre-run to a normal stopping point which is before these last important parts of the cadence, and then switch there every time we get closer to the start or. of the restart of the race.
“So it’s just about how much other stuff we’re putting on hold.”
Boles: “Make decisions to keep yourself safe”
Boles ended with this message to fans:
“We ask our customers to think about the question: ‘Where can I park? How comfortable am I?’ Some may not be comfortable in the stands for a long time before this situation occurs Think about where you are parking and where you are currently. Maybe where you are now is not IMS and you want to. sit and wait. These rooms are important because this place is so big.
“We ask our customers to check the weather, watch the radar, listen to where we are and make a decision that will keep them safe. This storm is pretty easy to see. You can see the red in this storm. We hopefully it will separate or disappear by the time it arrives, but it won’t be a pop-up storm.
Boles also said race officials weren’t going to worry too much about weather watches or warnings when it comes to making decisions Sunday morning. The next one, he said, should arrive around 10 a.m.
“I see a big red blob coming here. There’s lightning in it, and the most important thing we can do is let the fans know and stay on top of that,” Boles said. “We rely on what we see in real time to ensure we can make the best decisions for our fans, regardless of what others think.”
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News Source : www.indystar.com
