Carnage at the ROAR Nationals!

0 July 30, 2011, 3:26 a.m.

07/30/2011
By Brandon Rohde
LiveRC.com

The 2011 ROAR Electric Paved On-Road Nationals are under way in Jackson, NJ this week, and so far there has been a lot of rain throughout the past week. Thankfully though, Mother Nature did cooperate enough for the racers to get in some descent practice and the first day of qualifying...almost. With only a couple heats left to go in Friday's qualifying, heavy winds and a massive lightning storm moved in. According to Joel Johnson who is racing at the event, "This was the biggest lightning storm I have ever seen in my life. It was striking on 3 sides of the track with cracks of thunder that made you jump." With less than a minute to go in the last heat, officials called the race and hurried drivers back to the pits. Within seconds, a downpour of rain moved in along with huge wind gusts which demolished over half a dozen EZ-Ups, knocked over some tables, and drenched the equipment of racers who had not yet packed up. According to Joel, "It doesn't appear that the track suffered any damage other than heavy water, but there is definitely going to be a fair amount of monetary loss in the form of equipment and portable shelters." We were also told by ROAR officials that power was lost during the last heat for quite some time.

Racing was scheduled to begin Saturday morning, however we expect there to be some delays. We will keep you posted on the status of things right here on LiveRC.com.

On a more personal editorial note, I question why officials kept the racing going when the lightning was so heavy. We talked to a couple racers, all who said the lightning was extreme during the last 3 heats. However, officials were telling everyone to hurry on and off the stand so they could compete the round. With a total of 17 heats, and the last 3 heats being modified sedan, one must question why they could not run those last 3 heats the following morning instead of endangering the racers by putting them up on a 20' tall drivers stand with lightning striking from all sides. In my opinion, its just not worth the risk...

Photo courtesy of Michail Latif.