ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- There are few things more frustrating for a racing fan than to get rained out at an oval track. Having a road race pushed back a day is an even rarer occurrence and therefore even more exasperating.

Having said that, there was no way the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg could have been safely run Sunday afternoon. There were an estimated 6 inches of standing water at the apex of Turn 9 -- enough to prompt Graham Rahal to ask Dario Franchitti to stop the pace car they were inspecting the track in so that he could snap a picture.

"I guess I wanted [the race] to have an extra day in my first year," joked recently elected St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster.

Fortunately for Foster and HGPSP officials, the race contract with the city of St. Petersburg contains a provision for circumstances like the ones that played out Sunday. Rain started at around 12:30 p.m. and intensified over the next three hours, forcing Andretti Green Promotions to evacuate fans to parking structures and the lobby of the Mahaffey Theater. It rained hard from about 2:15 to 5:00, flooding the track and many of the grassy general admission spectator areas.

AGP will open the gates for free admission to the public when the race is run at 10 a.m. Monday, which hopefully will make up for the fact that access to the city streets used to make up the 1.8-mile course will be delayed for 24 hours.

The race will be broadcast live on ESPN2.

Drivers agreed that IndyCar Series officials made the correct decision to postpone the race.

"I'm disappointed the race didn't happen, but it just wasn't safe for any of us to be on track," Rahal said. "I went around with Dario and Brian Barnhart, and it was nowhere near racing conditions.

"I love driving in the rain and would have been the first to do it, but today it wasn't meant to be."