What happens when you can’t make it to an event or it gets cancelled at the last minute? We’ve been seeing a lot of event cancellations the past couple of weeks due to the unusual winter weather so much of the US has been experiencing. It’s certainly easy to simply sit at home and sulk, but it’s also an opportunity to be productive in other ways.

You can spend your unexpected free time getting some studying done about the circuit you should have been heading to, logging simulator practice on iRacing, or even working on the car. If you still have some to-do items on your car prep list, this is a great opportunity to take care of them. It’s an especially good chance to tackle those details that have been ignored because of a lack of time!

Although none of those options comes close to the satisfaction of actually getting on the race track, all of these aspects can add up to a future event, and potentially the entire season, being much more successful when you finally can get out there.

I had my own plans to be at Barber Motorsports Park during the weekend to work with a team, but their town was so hard-hit by snow and winter weather that they couldn’t make it to the track. Instead of just cancelling the weekend plans altogether, we refocused on driver and car prep for the upcoming first race of the season. The drivers had virtual practice and the car got some necessary items that will help the team be as prepared as possible for the season opener.

Keep in mind that these kinds of cancellations don’t just have to do with the weather: sometimes you get sick, there’s a family emergency, the car isn’t ready to go yet, or you have some other unexpected circumstance that gets between you and the track. Remember, it can be disappointing and frustrating to miss an event, but it’s up to you to keep that extra time from being a total waste.