6 Impacts Of Hurricane Ian On Dirt Racing To Date

With Hurricane Ian causing widespread devastation across the state of Florida, racing is certainly a secondary concern and all of us on staff at Frontstretch are thinking of and praying for the Sunshine State this evening.

For those fortunate not to be dealing with the aftermath or impending landfall, here’s a recap of the impact the storm has already had across the dirt racing community.

ONE: Forget About Racing in Florida

Credit to the Hendry County Speedway for having some humor about the very obvious reality that racing in the state of Florida is going to be on the back burner for a little while. 

Volusia Speedway Park and East Bay Raceway Park have already canceled their weekend’s races, with All-Tech Raceway offering its parking lot up for anyone needing to move vehicles out of flood-prone areas. As for Hendry County, the southern-most dirt track in Florida, it to the best of my knowledge is the most vulnerable dirt track to Ian’s landfall and I have yet to find any updates as to how the track weathered the storm.

TWO: We Still Have the Clay by the Bay

One piece of good news out of Florida is that venerable East Bay, which was expected to be smack in the middle of Ian’s path until the storm made landfall further south of Tampa, reported only minimal damage to the racetrack after the storm cleared out of western Florida.

With East Bay’s days numbered thanks to a pending sale to the mining company that surrounds the land it sits on, it was a welcome relief to hear the few years racers have left with the facility weren’t cut short further.

THREE: WoO Late Models on Hold

Perhaps the highest-profile cancelations caused by Hurricane Ian outside of Florida came on the World of Outlaws late model tour, which was forced to axe their scheduled race dates in South Carolina and Georgia this weekend.

Due to an unfavorable forecast from the impacts of Hurricane Ian, World of Outlaws @CaseCE Late Model Series and track officials have agreed to cancel this weekend’s events at @Cherokee_DirtSC and @SenoiaR.

READ MORE: https://t.co/jglREYPmyj

— World of Outlaws Late Models (@WoOLateModels) September 28, 2022

With no mention of rescheduling in the series’ press release, the only real outcome of the schedule change is a further reduction in races for Tanner English to make up ground on Dennis Erb Jr., who despite being a midwest-centered race team has run well in the South in recent years, including consecutive wins in WhyNot Motorsports…