Facing unpleasant forecasts the rest of the weekend with three of the five Selinsgrove Ford Appalachian Mountain Speedweek events already rained out, Jim Bernheisel finds himself in a position no series director or promoter envies.

Chances are the Pennsylvania-based miniseries that began as an eight-race, 10-day minitour likely won’t crown its champion Sunday at Bridgeport (N.J.) Motorsports Park.

“As it stands right now, it’s not looking that way,” the 67-year-old Bernheisel said when describing how Thursday’s washout at Selinsgrove (Pa.) Speedway impacts the miniseries he directs.

• Still Kickin' It At 70: Gary Stuhler Making Year 50 In Racing Special
• 2025 Appalachian Speedweek Points Tracker: See The Standings Here
• American Racer Takes Big Step As App. Speedweek Tire Provider

Even if this weekend’s events aren’t rained out Friday at Bedford (Pa.) Speedway, Saturday at Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, Pa., and Sunday at Bridgeport, Bernheisel is leaning toward extending the miniseries into July.

For starters, the track and series would like to reschedule the 35-lap, $6,000-to-win program as a miniseries points event. It would also open the door for Clinton County Speedway in Mill Hall, Pa., to reschedule its $5,000-to-win miniseries program that rained out last Friday.

Plus, should Bedford, Lincoln and/or Bridgeport rain out this weekend, Bernheisel could find a Thursday-Saturday, Friday-Sunday or even Thursday-Sunday in July to give himself, his sponsors, his crew and drivers adequate closure to 2025 Appalachian Mountain Speedweek.

“Ideally, if we could figure out a way, if we had three tracks, to come back Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Friday, Saturday, Sunday to get it done, that would be ideal,” Bernheisel said. “So, sure. I would love that. Even if we had three tracks interested, or even two interested on a Friday and Saturday, get it done in one weekend.

“Maybe it would take two weekends to do it. It’s all very fluid at this point. I have to gauge the interest.”

All told, Bernheisel is adamant that four races are completed before he crowns a miniseries champion and cashes out his $29,500 point fund.

“That’s what I’m thinking out loud right now,” Bernheisel said. “I have to get at least half of them in. That’s where we’re at.”

Since bringing back the minitour in 2023 after a five-year absence, Bernheisel’s been blessed to complete 13 of 16 miniseries events, with only one event at Bedford rained out last season.

“In the past, we would’ve just closed our points out at the end of our series so we can do the whole presentation — give the trophies, give the checks, call it a day,” Bernheisel said. “This year, we’re going to rethink that. Selinsgrove here, for example, wants to reschedule the race. They and us want to make it a points race.

“We’ve already talked to Clinton County. We were trying to do something this week, but that wasn’t doable. But hey, if we’re going to do it in the future, that becomes doable now. We’ll take a look at that as well.

“Hagerstown (Speedway in Maryland) didn’t want to make (the rescheduled Frank Sagi Tribute on July 12 that rained out last Saturday) a series race, but maybe I’ll go back to them and revisit with them to see what they say. Of course, all of that is up in the air. Now, based on the forecasts, which have been changing like crazy every single day, I don’t want to crown a champion with only two or three races. That doesn’t sound like fun.”

Bernheisel will end up likely looking at dates in July to complete the miniseries because the next two weekends in Pennsylvania are quite busy.

Miniseries regulars Gregg Satterlee and Dan Stone are competing in June 19-21’s Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. and Jay’s Automotive United Late Model Series is at Selinsgrove on June 28.

“I would say we’ll get them done in July,” Bernheisel said. “To make it part of the Speedweek, I don’t want to drag this out. … I would, again, thinking out loud right now because we’ve not faced this situation before, I would hope to get it figured out and have it handled before the end of July.”

Unlike national tours and standalone regional events, Bernheisel’s options are limited, especially as he tries to do what’s best for most of the drivers who have full-time jobs outside of racing.

Most of the 19 drivers who have perfect attendance so far through Thursday’s miniseries event at Selinsgrove have taken off work to support Bernheisel’s efforts.

“Yeah, it’s unfortunate and you can’t control it. It’s a dimension I’ve always hated about racing since I was a little kid as a fan. But it’s life and part of it,” Bernheisel said. “It’s a little more challenging for us because of our compacted schedule. We’re a special series, a shortened-run series. Obviously it’s been brutal on all the racetracks all year, too. I feel for them already. But for us, I feel like it’s doubly brutal because we don’t have a lot of alternatives, making them up, etc.”

Most weather forecasts called for a slim chance of rain Thursday at Selinsgrove. When a cell formulated and moved through the speedway roughly 30 minutes before 7 p.m. warmups and lingered until after 7, track officials attempted to run the half-mile in with packer trucks and tractors.

But after 90 minutes of nonstop track-packing, it became evident that too much rain had been dumped on the half-mile to overcome.

“I’ll give it to ‘em. It’s been an hour and with a bunch of pack vehicles, but there was still 70 feet of racetrack to be run in yet,” Rick Eckert said. “I think you could’ve ran ’til morning to get it where we can race. But hats off to them. They did a great job. Nothing against them, it’s just we had a shower at the wrong time.”

As of Thursday, Indiana, Pa.’s Satterlee narrowly leads Winchester, Va.’s Trever Feathers by 10 points and 19 drivers have perfect attendance. Bernheisel’s point fund is prorated in case of scenarios like this rain-ridden week.

Should four of the eight races be complete, for instance, only half of the point fund will be distributed. So $3,000 (instead of $6,000) would go to the champion, $1,500 (instead of $3,000) would go to second, and so on.

“Our policy for the last two years, if you look at the way it’s laid out, our point fund is based on the amount of races run and designed to be amortized if there were rainouts or cancellations,” Bernheisel said. “In each of the two years where we had rainouts, our sponsors didn’t want their money back. Everybody has been happy, and we paid the whole thing out. We were happy to do so.

“This year, when I saw the forecast, I knew this was going to be a different challenge from that regard. We’ve set the precedent at one rainout. What if it’s two or three? Then it starts to be a challenge, and now we’re already looking at three with only three to go. And the forecast isn’t looking good.”