By 4:15 p.m. everything was going as planned and it appeared everyone, including the competitors, were happy to be at the race track and enjoying a sense of normalcy.
“I think we just have to continue on with our lives. We can’t just give up and let something this stop us from living,” said Mark Johnson, who was on hand to compete in the limited late model division Saturday night. “They’ve not let us gather, like the driver’s meeting, they just did that over the PA. They’ve got extra hand washing soap in the bathrooms. They’re trying to take measures to try and help us be cleaner and hygienic against the coronavirus.”
Moments before qualifying began, the PA announcer stated for those in attendance that Governor Cooper had just banned meetings of more than 100 people in the state for the next two weeks, but the ban was believed to start on Monday and racing Saturday would continue.
“It came as a shock to us when at roughly 4:40 p.m. the announcement came out banning the gatherings, but when the announcement came up on the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, it kind of read, to us, that it was the banning of gatherings and school closings that would begin on March 16,” Piercy later told SPEED SPORT. “That’s the way we interpreted that.”
Following qualifying there was an hour break before racing was slated to begin at 7 p.m. That time was usually set aside for an autograph session, but Piercy had previously cancelled that in the interests of safety.
Unfortunately, before racing could begin, the PA announcer called for the attention of everyone on the property. The ban on gatherings did not begin on Monday, it began immediately. As a result, Saturday’s race at Hickory Motor Speedway was canceled on the spot.
For Piercy, being forced to cancel Saturday’s race was a gut-wrenching decision, but it was a decision he had no choice but to make.
“Of course, we wanted to get the event in. The situation was recommended up to this point and we had taken several procedures so that we could provide a safe environment with hand sanitizers and things like that,” Piercy said. “We have a huge facility and we believed people could spread out and not have to be in very close contact. We were making the situation very acceptable to the problem, COVID-19. Of course, we didn’t want it to spread in any way.”
Piercy said he and his staff attempted to get clarity on the rule regarding the banning of large gatherings, but it wasn’t until the full executive order came out that he realized he would be forced to cancel Saturday’s night of racing.
“We dug further, we called the Sheriff’s Department trying to get some clarity on the ban,” Piercy said. “Well about 40 minutes before the race started, the actual writing of the executive agreement came out, which was clear in the interpretation that it was immediately effective.
“I’m disappointed with the government officials that didn’t give us any contact information to achieve some kind of clarity so that venues like Hickory Motor Speedway and others out there knew exactly what to do when this took place.”
While the cancellation was devastating for Piercy as man in charge at Hickory Motor Speedway, he said he was more upset that his competitors and the fans spent their time and money coming to the track only for the event to be canceled.
“It’s very unfortunate for all the great fans that support Hickory Motor Speedway and the competitors and our workers,” said Piercy, who gave refunds or will honor tickets and pit passes at the next Hickory event. “All of them absolutely love this facility. We hoped we could get this one in because we believe the future is going to be more closings. We wanted to try to get this one in and then move forward with what would happen next.”
For now, what happens next is nothing. There will be no racing in North Carolina for at least the next two weeks, perhaps longer. Piercy had hoped to give fans and competitors something to smile about, but unfortunately on this particular Saturday night, that wasn’t to be.