Mother Nature decided that the Chateau Speedway in Lansing, Minn., should wait one more week before its grand re-opening as she dumped a heavy dose of rain on the facility from Thursday night through Friday afternoon.

Track officials wrestled with the decision on whether or not to race until mid-afternoon before deciding they had to pull the plug.

Crews have done a massive amount of work over the last six weeks in preparing to reopen the facility that has sat idle since last yearl's season finale.

Mark and Annette Wytaske and their staff have put in over 2,000 hours of time and thousands of dollars in improvements and equipment into reworking the grounds and buildings to get ready to open back up for racing.

But the track, which opened in 1956, will sit idle for one more week as more work is put into preparing for next week's planned season opener on Friday, July 20.

Six classes of cars will bring the track back to life at 7:15 with the Summit USRA Weekly Racing Series featuring USRA Modifieds and Out-Pace USRA B-Mods. Pure Stocks, Hornets, Wissota Midwest Modifieds and Street Stocks will also be in action.

The list of changes and improvements planned for the track will continue into the fall after this year's races are run, and into next spring before next season rolls around.

The Chateau Speedway is a semi-banked 1/3-mile gumbo clay oval located 5.0 miles north of Austin, Minn., on US 218 to the Lansing exit, then 1.3 miles east on CR 2, then 0.4 mile south on CR 25, then 0.3 mile east. The physical address is 54219 266th St, Lansing, MN 55950.

For more information, call (507) 440-8237 or (507) 440-8238. You can also find the Chateau Speedway online at www.chateauspeedway.com and social media at www.facebook.com//chateauspeedway and www.twitter.com/chateauspeedway.