The show must go on.
And it did, surprisingly, considering the rough weather that hit Grand Forks earlier in the day.
More than 2 inches of rain fell on River Cities Speedway early in the day, but speedway officials managed to pull off Friday night's World of Outlaws show in front of more than 5,000 fans.
The Outlaws raced at RCS for the 18th time Friday night. RCS never has lost an Outlaws' show to weather.
The biggest headache for RCS officials was figuring out where to stage the 30-plus sprints and 20 late models that raced Friday night. The rain, however, did not affect the quarter-mile track greatly.
ADVERTISEMENT
The pits were a mess after the rain. The track infield also was drenched. By mid-afternoon, six pumps were working around the track.
By noon, WoO and RCS officials decided to proceed with the show. Once the sun came out, the race was on to prepare the track, pits and front gate area.
"It would have been difficult to cancel without at least making an effort to race," said Linus Mack, one of the four RCS managing partners.
It wasn't the first time that RCS had to battle weather conditions for a WoO show.
In 2009, rain nearly wiped out the Aug. 21, WoO appearance.
During that show, race cars pitted outside the RCS back gate. A make-shift road was built to get cars on the track and the races were held.
That also proved to be an historic night at RCS.
The track record for speed was set, as Californian Jason Meyers recorded a qualifying time of 9.269 seconds for an average speed of 116.517 mph.
ADVERTISEMENT
