There will be no racing tonight at the Knoxville Raceway, as cold weather here and heavy snow to the north forced the postponement of the official opening night of racing.

Kendra Jacobs from the Knoxville Raceway tells KNIA/KRLS News they were hearing from drivers and teams in the northern states, as well as their own flagman Doug Clark from Sioux Falls, all worried they wouldn’t be able to get through.

“When we were getting phone calls from everybody that were being affected by this storm, we had really had to think about the safety of them coming to Opening Night. Plus the cold here and the high winds which add to that; it just made more sense for us to fold our chances here and just say it’s done for this weekend, we’ll move everything to the following weekend,” Jacobs says.

This postponement follows in the steps of last year, when snow on the intended Opening Night forced another delay.

Because of the weather, all the events scheduled for this weekend have been pushed back a week; the kick-off party will now take place next Friday at 6:00 p.m. at Dyer-Hudson Hall, with practice laps beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Then the Pella Motors/Kraig Ford/Town Crier Opening Night will be held on Saturday, April 20th; the starting time for hot laps will not be determined until closer to this day, in order to account for the weather.