On Friday, everything started off nice. Temperatures were pushing towards the “hot” end of the scale but unlike most events at Beech Bend, it wasn’t sweltering. The autocross course was going, drag racing was underway, and fans were roaming around, checking out the cars, displays and action. In other words, it was a perfect day…right until about one in the afternoon, when a happy little cloud had a happy little accident just above the track. The rain soon passed and the track crew got to work drying off the dragstrip. Meanwhile, up in the tower, Lohnes and I weren’t quite sharing their optimism. Behind the first system was an even bigger rain band, and on radar it looked like a rainbow…you know, the kind of deal where you might want to tie down things like pop-up tents and small children. About two o’clock, the rain started to just dump down. We knew that the drag racing was done for, but the autocrossers weren’t having any of it. Even though the circle track was filling up with water, the racers were out on course, doing their best to hit apexes and keep everything together in the worst possible conditions. These photos prove that the racers were professional about it all…because if it were us, not a single cone would be left standing as we hydroplaned everywhere.