[Michael Beard]

Welcome to Atco, er, VMP! The weather forecasters have done their standard issue for this event. Two days ago, said clear all three days. Yesterday, changed to 30% chance Fri night after 6pm, so of course it rained at Noon. Track was a little iffy for some this morning, even felt like I turned a tire a little on the bias plys. Some, like John Brimer, however, had no problem and went sky high. As posted previously, they had the jet out last night working on the track, and they did some massive prep this morning, with rosin the width of each lane, both well before and after the starting line. Starting line looked real black, like at Belle Rose this summer. But looked like it wasn't sticking to itself (See Beth's pics). Never seen that look at an IHRA event. Then the rain came, and tomorrow may be more challenging.

I tried a 5" long collector, 3" to 2-1/2", and it was fine the front half of the track, but didn't make power from 400' on. Gonna try no collector tomorrow for kicks tomorrow. May kill some bottom end, which might not be a bad thing...

The right call was made, as it would've been 3 hrs to dry n prep, and by that time it'd get cold and dewy. It's a shame that the rain hit when it did. Behind the 8 ball now! But we'll do our best.