While driving home from New Egypt's May 11th show, I had these thoughts (or I guess opinions) about the show. My first show at NES was the SDS show. True, it was dusty but the racing was fantastic. Last night (5/11) was my second visit and again, a great show. The track was fast with no dust! The field was tremendous with about 10 to 12 mods scheduled for the consi. Kind of unheard of these days. The racing itself was very exciting and entertaining. Honestly, I was a little skeptical when Fred Vahlsing took back operation of NES. BUT so far, I'm happy to state that Mr. Vahlsing has proven me wrong about his running NES. My negative thoughts are all due to last night's temperatures. Once the sun went down, the temperature started to drop, actually getting chilly for my old bones. NES didn't seem in any hurry or organizational when it came to getting cars on the track for bascially ever race. If you have a chance to catch races at Fonda or Utica Rome on FLO, as one heat race finishes the next race enters the track with the cars lined up in their starting positions. I don't know if NES has a rule that states a car has to start in the rear if they aren't ready when the rest of the field is lined up to take the green. The program may move a lttle quicker if they had this rule. On numerous cautions it seemed that too many caution laps were run after an accident. I understand that racers are given time to change flats or repair minor damage, and they should. But when a hot rod is towed off the track with significant damage, 3 or 4 caution laps do not seem necessary. Last negative I promise. I estimated the intermission lasted 35 to 40 minutes. I know the NES track crew works on the track at intermission to insure the features are run on the best surface possible. I'm no expert on track prep but I felt last night's intermission was a little long. My point is that we are in the part of the racing season where there's a good chance its going to get a little cold when the sun goes down. I'm an old dude I admit it and the cold is my enemy. BUT, I really believe that NES, as well as any speedway, can insure return visits of its patrons (especially the mature ones) if they can move a race night as expeditiously as possible. Again Mr. Vahlsing and NES staff, my negative opinons won't carry nearly as much weight in mid June or July as they do right now. Scott Ely P.S. The bottom line is, I love New Egypt Speedway and plan to go back numerous times.
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