Why a prestigious race ended early at Myrtle Beach Speedway
The Myrtle Beach 400 came to a screeching halt Sunday night, and the premature ending had little to do with on-track action.
With inclement weather and several cautions pushing the race later into the night, Myrtle Beach Speedway officials made the decision to end the race early to adhere to an Horry County ordinance that calls for racing to end at 11 p.m.
“If we wanted to go past the 11 o’clock time frame there could be possible fines,” MBS General Manager Steve Zacharias said. “We’ve fought that 11 o’clock curfew for a long time. Sometimes on Saturdays I don’t mind flirting with it a little bit, but on a Sunday when everyone in town has school in the morning and we’ve got 40 cars on the racetrack and we’re still racing at midnight it’s a little outside the lines for the town.”
Zacharias said his staff gave spotters — race team members who relay information to drivers via radio — a 20-minute warning that the 250-lap Late Model showcase would be halted at 11 p.m. After a caution at about 10:50 p.m., Zacharias said his staff notified teams the race would end at 11 p.m. under a green flag or with the next caution, which came just one lap following the announcement.
Simpsonville’s Will Burns was in first place at the time of the caution — with between 25 and 30 laps to go — and therefore was declared the winner who took home $10,000. The event’s prestige among grassroots — and its massive purse — annually draws drivers from all over the country.
“When we ended it early a lot of people had the opinion that they could have won the race and were frustrated at the whole decision, but a call had to be made and it was getting later and later” Zacharias said while pointing out that winning such a race is a big deal regardless of circumstance.
Some on social media have been critical of the decision, though Zacharias said most involved were reasonable about the circumstances.
“The first half of the field, everyone felt like they could win, so the negative feedback comes from them for the most part,” he said. “I think everyone was understanding, but you know how social media is.”
Unincorporated Horry County enacted a noise ordinance to help with the “public health, comfort, convenience, safety, welfare and prosperity of the residents,” according to county law. Excessive car noises are identified as a potentially problematic source of noise.
However, in areas designated for entertainment, the allowed decibels, a standard unit for measuring noise, drops to 65dB from 12 a.m. to 7 a.m. without special permission. This is about the volume level of a vacuum cleaner if you’re standing near it.
Having been washed out Friday and Saturday, Zacharias said his crew started Sunday behind the 8 ball.
“Turn 3 was wet when we got there, so we had to spend the first probably 30 minutes drying it up,” he said. “And then trying to turn a three-day event into a one-day event was tough in itself and then to be backed up — we had 130 cars that needed to run. We did the best to keep up with it the best we could.”
Zacharias said it took a “perfect storm” to force the Myrtle Beach 400 to a controversial ending.
“We’re reviewing the footage right now and we’ll make the adjustments going forward,” he said. “You live and learn. As a speedway, for the last eight years we’ve gone from having nine cars to having over 130 in one weekend. To do that, it takes learning from your mistakes and getting better as it goes on.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 3:31 PM.
