Rapidly dropping track temperatures forced track officials to postpone eliminations Saturday evening at the 17th annual U.S. Street Nationals presented by Diamond Pistons at Bradenton Motorsports Park. Racing was six pairs into the first round of eliminations in M&M Transmission Pro Mod presented by Carmack Engineering when the track temp dropped out of a safe range.
“Earlier in the week we had a ton of rain and we’ve been fighting the weather ever since then,” said Victor Alvarez, owner and promoter, Bradenton Motorsports Park. “We got a good handle on the track, but it’s just so cold and the sun was going away. Within 15 minutes, we lost 20 degrees of track temp. It was going away really quickly. Rather than put anyone at risk, we decided to call it. If it’s not safe, we just won’t race. We’ll try to race again tomorrow. We’ll do whatever we can. We’re going to do our best to get it done and crown a champion and keep everyone safe.”
Two qualifying sessions were completed in all classes before going into Pro Mod eliminations. First-round winners in Pro Mod included Kevin Rivenbark, Stan Shelton, Randy Adler, Randy Merrick, Stevie “Fast” Jackson, and Ken Quartuccio.
The tentative plan is to continue first round of eliminations in Pro Mod, though the run order and schedule is dependent on the weather. Sunday’s forecast also calls for unseasonably cold conditions.
“We’ll start as early as we can as long as the sun has put enough heat in the track,” Alvarez said. “We’ll pick up where we left off with Pro Mod. It has to be safe. If we can’t run a safe race, we just can’t race. We’ll do whatever we can.
“Thank you to everybody for being understanding,” Alvarez continued. “This is a really tough one. I’m not too upset because we’ve had a lot of good ones. This one is out of our control. We’re going to do everything we can to get it done. It’s not for lack of effort. The whole crew has stepped up and we’re just going to do our best.”
Classes also left to start eliminations are Voss Wheelie Bars Pro Outlaw 632 presented by $hameless Racing, Proline Racing Pro 275 presented by FuelTech USA, Precision Shaft Technologies X275 presented by Mickey Thompson, Rife Sensors Limited Drag Radial presented by Motion Raceworks, TRZ Motorsports Ultra Street presented by Innovative Racecraft, and the 5.50 Index, 6.50 Index, and 7.50 Index classes.
The official event livestream will continue on FloRacing.
For more information including a detailed schedule, visit the Bradenton Motorsports Park Facebook page or www.RaceBMP.com.
This story was originally published on January 29, 2022. 
