PHOENIX, Ariz. - The Arizona Region SCCA was required to cancel the Double National/Restricted Regional race at Phoenix International Raceway on January 16-18, 2010 due to an unforeseen safety issue caused by the catch fence renovation project currently underway at the facility.

The region was made aware of the project and was told that the catch fence may be removed at the time of our event. However, on Monday January 11, 2010 we received a series of digital photographs that documented the current state of the project. The image that caused us the most concern was the image showing the front straight where the concrete portion of the wall is apparently due to be heightened. This immediately raised a safety concern due to the exposed rebar on the top of the wall.

The images were forwarded on to Chief Steward Jack Kish and Arizona Deputy Executive Steward Mike Jennings for their review. Mike forwarded the information on to the national office for advice and due to the track situation the decision was made to pull the track certification and the event sanction. Without the ability to hold an event at the track, the region made the decision to cancel the event with the understanding that this decision would cause a significant loss of revenue for the region, cancelled registrations at the CalCub event the following weekend and a financial impact on competitors and workers planning to attend.

The region is regretful that the amount of notice given the participants was very short as the situation was made clear to us only a brief number of hours prior to the decision to cancel and PIR has acknowledged it was their responsibility to inform the region about the situation. We hope that competitors will continue to race with the Arizona Region in the future and we will make every effort to reschedule this double national event as soon as possible.