Cairo, NY -- Due to an important Saturday engagement there was no way that I could make it to Nazareth for last year's Bosch Grand Prix any earlier than race day. Of course I wanted to make the most of my abbreviated Nazareth Champ Car weekend so I set the alarm for 2AM and went to bed about 9PM Saturday night. Just prior to turning in I checked the Weather Channel for a final travel update:

For Saturday, April 8, 2000 - A wintry mix of precipitation in the region overnight with rain heavy at times and occasional snow squalls in higher elevations. High pressure will settle into the region by mid-Sunday morning...expect fair, seasonable weather for the balance of the weekend...

With a mere two mountain ranges to cross between my home and the Lehigh Valley -- the Catskills on the New York side of the border with Pennsylvania and the Poconos just a few miles east of Nazareth Speedway -- I over-allowed by two hours driving time and planned to have a leisurely hot oatmeal breakfast at the diner where most of the Champ Car crews stop before heading to the track.

I figured to be at the gate when the paddock and media center opened at 7AM. The sun was expected to pop out hours before the start of the race and with jet-dryers waiting in the wings it figured that Jim Swintal would be waving the green flag right on schedule.

Four-wheel drive? Front wheel drive? Nah! A comfy little S-10 extended cab 4x2 pickup that I had for the weekend would be just the ticket for a rainy overnight drive to Nazareth.

During the first stint I made great time despite the steady rain. But but an hour-or-so into the trip -- about 10 miles from I-84's Route 209 exit at the Pennsylvania border -- I began to ascend a very long, steep hill. Huge snowflakes were pelting the windshield harder and harder with each foot of elevation.

By the time I got to the crest of the 2000-foot-high hill I was not only out of traction but visibility, as well. It was a whiteout!

I would have pulled over but was afraid that I'd never get off the shoulder of the Interstate once I parked the truck there. Besides, I couldn't see where the shoulder was anyway. So I put it in second gear, aimed for what I thought was the middle of the road (definitely a new experience for a right-winger like myself), said a prayer and hoped to make it down the steep three-mile hill in one piece.

"As my altitude decreases visibility and traction should be restored," I thought to myself. That prediction was just as inaccurate as the Weather Channel's.
 

I could see where I was going a bit better than on the mountaintop, but it wasn't exactly raining down there in the Delaware Valley. Large wet snowflakes continued to fall throughout the region. 

By the time I finally ordered my cereal at the Nazareth Diner from a friendly waitress wearing a "Welcome Race Fans" button where her fancy hankie should have been pinned, there were at least two inches of snow on the ground.

As I enjoyed my delicious oatmeal and bottomless cup of super-fresh coffee a guy who introduced himself as Jack walked in and sat down on a revolving stool beside me at the counter. He told me he was an insurance guy. I told him I was a car guy. He gave me his business card...

ASV International Insurance
Promotional Insurance Division
Jack Woodbury, Vice-President

"What, exactly, is promotional insurance," I asked ignorantly as I slipped him one of my own cards.

"Well, Ed, does your dealership ever put up a Corvette as a hole-in-one prize at a local golf tournament? If so, you've probably purchased a form of Promotional Insurance to protect you in case one of the duffers gets lucky. Remember that college kid who won a million dollars by sinking a half-court shot at the Knicks-Cavaliers game last month? A promotional insurance policy, another form of hole-in-one insurance, enabled that kid to go home with his million-dollar check that night with everyone happy for him."

"Very interesting, Jack." I responded. "Hey, could sports people like Nazareth's race promoters purchase some kind of promotional insurance in case they get snowed-out on a spring date when there really shouldn't be any snow?"

"Excuse me, Ed. It was nice chatting with you but I've got to get out to my car now to make a very important cell phone call. That's quite an interesting idea you just came up with about race insurance."

Fast-forward fifty-one weeks from that snowy morning in the Lehigh Valley. Today I received this e-mail press release from Craig Rust, President of Nazareth Speedway:

A snowstorm on April 9 last year resulted in the postponement of the CART FedEx race at Nazareth, PA. This year's race has been scheduled for a much later date - May 4 - but a repeat snowstorm on last year's race date will mean free tickets for fans.

The track will give one free ticket to each fan that calls or visits the speedway's ticket office on Tuesday, April 10…IF one inch or more of snow is officially recorded at the Lehigh Valley International Airport on April 9th this year.

This year, we WANT it to snow on April 9th. The old saying that "Christmas only comes once a year" will hopefully be proven wrong. Maybe we can give a late Christmas present to our fans by giving away a lot of tickets to the Lehigh Valley Grand Prix presented by Toyota. The potential cost to the track has been underwritten by ASV International Insurance as protection against potentially having to distribute thousands of free tickets.

Further down I read this quote:

"This is the first time that we have insured a race track for something weather-related where the big winners are the race fans. Some race track operators will insure their facilities against incremental operational costs that are associated with rainouts but we have never insured anything like this before," said Jack Woodbury, Vice-President of ASV International Insurance."

Some guys have a knack for being in the right place with the right people at the right time.

The rest of us are just flakes.