On the Wednesday before the 2022 Repco Bathurst 1000, Supercars CEO Shane Howard issued a media release to say that the event would proceed as scheduled on Sunday. At the time this was a big call. NSW state government authorities were warning of widespread flood conditions later in the week for the central west region, and that included Bathurst. A series of dams were expected to spill over as the deluge continued into the weekend; there were warnings of likely evacuations.
By late Saturday afternoon, as race officials and representatives from Supercars toured the water-logged circuit to assess the situation after yet another heavy downpour (and whether or not the top 10 shootout could go ahead), Shane Howard must have been feeling nervous. The ground was already so soaked that the water was going nowhere. The track was undrivable. For the first time in 35 years there would be no top 10 (or top 15) shootout.
Had it kept raining heavily into Sunday, there was a real chance that the race might have had to have been cancelled.
But even then, with the weather clearing
