Batesville Motor Speedway
Batesville's Bad Boy 98 pushed to 2012
LOCUST GROVE, Ark. (May 21) — Batesville Motor Speedway's weather-doomed Bad Boy 98 won't be made up this season. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event, scheduled for May 20-21 but washed away by never-ending rains on Friday, has been rescheduled for the same weekend next year.
"We wish we could have gotten the event in this year, as well as all the fans and racers, but Mother Nature just wouldn't allow it," series director Ritchie Lewis said in a press release. | Complete Batesville coverage
The unique event, the brainchild of promoter Mooney Starr, calls for the race's "trophy" to be a new Chevrolet Camaro. In addition, a lucky fan connected to the winning driver will receive a new Ford Mustang.
While practice went off without a hitch Thursday, wet weather that hit Friday afternoon never let up, dumping more than 3 inches of rain on the region that continued overnight, soaking the grounds at the 3/8-mile oval.
Initially the track and series announced the event could be reduced to a single day on Saturday, but continuing rain forced the event to be scrapped altogether. The event is the third in the last four Lucas Oil Series visits to Batesville to be postponed or condensed because of inclement weather.
Next year's Bad Boy 98 is scheduled for May 18-19 as part of the tour's Road to Wheatland.
The Lucas Oil Series will return to Batesville this summer for the 19th annual Comp Cams Topless 100, a $40,000-to-win event scheduled for Aug. 19-20.